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Mirror mirror on the door, which is the fairest of you all..


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15 hours ago, Dave McDonald said:

My TR5 has that style of mirror, on the drivers door only, when I bought it 23 years ago. Fine in the UK. I fitted one to the passenger door before my first trip to the Continent about a year later but have failed to get it adjusted correctly ever since. There just isn't enough rotation/tilt on the ball section. I've tried rotating the stalk in the door hole, I've tried the arm curved upwards and curved downwards. Makes no difference, can only see either sky or the hedges 10 feet away from the kerb, not what I want when I want to pull out on the Continent.

Snap -  my TR4A has them as well and while the drivers side one works well I have also given up trying to see anything other than hedges or the sky out of the passenger side - I think the problem is that they are not "handed" so a passenger side is not an option.  

Edited by ANFRUSSELL
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Hi TRTom, the Vitaloni mirrors do look very smart, and look 'period' on a TR6. They are available from Europa spares, at £36.00 each. I've been thinking of replacing the bullet mirrors on my '6 with them. Do they vibrate whilst driving? I've seen photo's of cars (incl 'works' Lancia rally cars from the '80s) fitted with those mirrors, assisted by a steady bar.

Cheers,

Paul.

Edited by TR Paul
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7 hours ago, TR Paul said:

Hi TRTom, the Vitaloni mirrors do look very smart, and look 'period' on a TR6. They are available from Europa spares, at £36.00 each. I've been thinking of replacing the bullet mirrors on my '6 with them. Do they vibrate whilst driving? I've seen 'photos of cars (incl 'works' Lancia rally cars from the '80s) fitted with those mirrors, assisted by a steady bar.

Cheers,

Paul.

Hi Paul,

Good spot, ref Europa.

These mirrors do not vibrate at all. There is a screw which must be tightened (well), to prevent the mirror from moving. An additional fibre washer may help in this area (if needed).

There is movement within the glass too, so you can articulate to whatever position is required for driving.

 

They really do work, and more than adequate for UK and driving on the continent.

 

I have never bothered with the additional bar, and from memory, they do not include that bar that provides additional support. I think with that fitted it may look a bit agricultural ?

 

Good luck.

 

Cheers.

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Great thanks,Tom.  Most of the steady bars I've seen do look agricultural (other than the ones the Lancia boys used!),  being just strips of ''Meccano' style exhaust bracketry.

All the best,

Paul.

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I’ve just spent a day trying to get my bullet mirrors adjusted and I’m now very pleased with the view.  Both mirrors are very steady (no wobble or shake) when driving, and show a good image down the side of the car which is something I thought I would never be able achieve.  The only problem is the small glass area which means they are perfect for looking almost directly behind the car on either side but aren’t a patch on modern mirrors vision just because they are so much smaller.  The conclusion I draw is that you need to move your head more (mainly front and rear) to vary the view to each side using the bullet mirrors.  This, to me, feels in keeping with the more physical effort of driving a classic car compared to a modern, where by just using moving your eyes you can see so much more with the modern mirrors.
 

I’m not advocating bullet mirrors as being the best classic mirror (because the Tex or variations on the Tex having more glass area will inherently have more rearward vision), but what I am saying is when set up properly, the combination of bullet mirrors and the central rear view mirror give perfectly good visibility for most of the time.

cheers

dave :ph34r:

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  • 3 weeks later...

My TR5 has that style of mirror, on the drivers door only, when I bought it 23 years ago. Fine in the UK. I fitted one to the passenger door before my first trip to the Continent about a year later but have failed to get it adjusted correctly ever since. There just isn't enough rotation/tilt on the ball section. I've tried rotating the stalk in the door hole, I've tried the arm curved upwards and curved downwards. Makes no difference, can only see either sky or the hedges 10 feet away from the kerb, not what I want when I want to pull out on the Continent.

Car currently under full restoration with doors, like everything else, soda blasted and primed. Considering having the 3/4" dia holes welded up and fitting something more workable but also looking to maintain period look. So how do the Tex mirrors fix? 

Dave McD

On 4/29/2020 at 12:34 PM, ANFRUSSELL said:

Snap -  my TR4A has them as well and while the drivers side one works well I have also given up trying to see anything other than hedges or the sky out of the passenger side - I think the problem is that they are not "handed" so a passenger side is not an option.  

As above, I decided to sort out the N/S Wingard door mirror alignment problem while the car is in primer. I realised that the mirror base needed to be rotated to give the correct alignment down the side of the car but that, due to lack of rotation range on the ball fixing on the mirror back, this resulted in it looking up into the sky. It needed tilting backwards/downwards to give the correct elevation. The technical assessment of how much tilt involved pieces of cardboard Shredded Wheat box. I found that about 4 mm of tilt was enough.

I purchased a 30mm diameter bar of hard black PVC from a local plastics company drilled the centre and cut 2 wedges tapered from 2 - 6mm thick, one for the outside and one for the inside. See photo. This left just enough thread on the mirror stem to still get a secure fixing. This seems to have worked better than I could have imagined so I will persevere with the correct Wingard mirror.

Dave McD

   

IMG_0235.JPG

IMG_0234.JPG

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Dave, 

I agree that looks like a very clever but also a very simple solution and as we all know simple solutions are often the best.

 I am going to try and replicate it on mine and hopefully start to see whats behind me rather than what is in the hedge or in the sky.

Thanks for sharing.

Andrew 

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  • 1 year later...

Hey MR AarhausTR6 don't knock Cyclists! We are Saints! ...When I bought my 6 way back in 1972 it had those so called 'Bullet Mirrors' halfway down the front wings, which were totally useless! I had to fit new wings! I just have a 1970 F1 style mirror on the door, works fine!  

TR6 Ian 1.JPG

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3 hours ago, Mikerla said:

 

Are you still loving these mirrors? Any downside? I am considering these and the Baby Tornados

Hi Mike,

As per my PM, yes, still happy with them, and I think they look great with the de-bumpered look, etc.  There are a few TR6's I have seen now with these fitted.

Cheers.

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On 4/28/2020 at 8:36 AM, Mk2 Chopper said:

Great pictures Gordon, could you see much out of them being wing mirrors? 

Also the number plate, are they white raised plastic digits? 

Gareth

Sorry only just seen your post, its so long ago now that I cant remember seeing through the wing mirrors probably more use when reversing, the number plate yes white raised plastic digits, still got one in the garage.

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Hi Tom,

Have to say the Vitaloni mirrors do look good and also available in chrome at circa double the price. By any chance do you know the centres of the fixings, I can ask Europa spares of course?

cheers

Derek

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31 minutes ago, saffrontr said:

Hi Tom,

Have to say the Vitaloni mirrors do look good and also available in chrome at circa double the price. By any chance do you know the centres of the fixings, I can ask Europa spares of course?

cheers

Derek

Hi Derek,

So sorry, I don't. Can measure next time I get the car out, or see you at Malvern ?

 

Cheers.

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3 hours ago, Gordon Bayley said:

Sorry only just seen your post, its so long ago now that I cant remember seeing through the wing mirrors probably more use when reversing, the number plate yes white raised plastic digits, still got one in the garage.

Thanks for coming back about this.... eventually :D.

I think I'm going to get a set of those plates. 

Gareth

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