In a previous article I presented the sad story about how long it took to obtain my chrome parts. But finally, earlier this year, they were done and safely back at my garage. Most of the chrome parts had been assembled on the body when it was still in primer. This was to make sure that any adjustments to either the piece or the body could be done while it was still not too painful. Examples of body chrome include the bumpers, the headlight rings, the trim around the front windscreen and the rear hatch, and the drip rails. Again, test fitting is important early in the process as you also want things to attach as smoothly as possible when you are working around fresh paint.
I started with the rear bumper. There is an interesting sequencing problem with the 3.8 litre Etypes. One of the 3 bolts that holds on the left rear bumper cannot be accessed once the gas tank is installed in the boot. As a consequence, although the engine has been installed for some time, I have not been able to start it. That is OK. Once I start the engine, I really want the car to be roadworthy so I can immediately start doing “shake down” runs.
The fitment of the bumper went pretty well. Actually, the most annoying part of the process is getting the thin rubber sealing strip installed between the inner edge of the bumper and the body. When I had finished with both rear bumpers, I moved on to the front bumpers. The front bumpers are held in position with only 2 bolts. The original mounting holes in the body for these bumpers was just a sheet metal fixture. One minor upgrade I made when I did my bodywork was to reinforce the mounting holes with additional metal backing plates. Regardless, the bumpers are largely ornamental and certainly will not withstand much of a knock. Remember in the 80’s when the USDOT mandated 5 mph bumpers? So in the 60’s, the bumpers just weren’t very stout.
One thing I ran into when doing the early fitment of the front bumpers was that they were “droopy”. Although I learned in geometry class that 2 points define a straight line, it is also true that two points can lie on a curve. The bumper droops into an arc that passes through the two mounting holes. This is typically a result of the front turn signal light assembly crowding the bumper. Once you know what you are looking for, some Etype bumpers have a pretty pronounced droop. When I did the original fitment, I actually had to raise the light assembly 3/8” to get the bumpers straight and horizontal. Final assembly continued to fight me in this regard but I was ultimately pleased with the result.
Next I moved on to the headlight chrome finisher rings. A key design element of the early Etypes is the glass enclosed headlights, with chrome finisher rings. I had purchased new rings from SNG, test fit them, ground them as required, and then included them in my chrome order. I knew it was going to happen but when you insert the standard aftermarket rubber gasket between the ring and the body, the ring sits high and the gasket is obvious. I really like the look better if the chrome ring is seated on or very close to the painted bodywork. My solution is the remove rubber from the gasket using my bench grinder until everything fits. The attached picture is testament to the fact that a lot of rubber removal occurred. But the final fitment is great.
Several days of my life were lost performing the work described above. You just have to learn that nothing goes quickly when working on a top level restoration like an Etype!
New Hill Garage 
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