For now, I lumped all the pre-war cars together, I would LOVE for there to be enough demand to split it into groups (hint...hint, post here about your pre-war Singer)
I have left the Everflex to get used informally to its new home before taking the plunge and fixing it. This is to allow me to work on the screen woodwork as I need to get a template made and off to Rob Roan as soon as possible. John Griffiths sent me pictures of his car and he agrees that the attached sketch is correct: the outer flange of the surround seals against piping running around the opening and this is secured by a piece of hardwood along the bottom of the screen (piece #1 on the sketch) and by the screen hinge pillars at each edge. Further pieces of hardwood, which will be visible from inside the car, run around the opening to form an inner frame with a seal against which the channel holding the glass will seat.
To be correct piece #1 should really butt up against the back of the dash but I didn't quite understand the geography when I made the dash and its a little too short to overlap. I don't think it will notice when everything is in place.
I have made piece #1 which is being varnished at the moment so when that is dry I'll fix it with its piping in place with a couple of screws plus the screen hinges so that I can make the template of the opening.
Screen template is not necessary I suddenly realised as the screen that came with the car is fine in terms of depth but its just too short to span the opening. So I will take the old one to Rob with a measurement for the length that is required and it should all work out fine.
So I had another go at the roof using Everflex which went far better so I will finish this version off. I managed to get the trim at the rear back on using the original screw holes but I need to drill the original gutter for screws as it was originally nailed on and them had the top section turned over to hide the heads. You can't get anything like the right section so re-use is the only option and anyway that is what I like to do where possible. Although I looks a bit untidy around the corners of the peak the part you will see has moulded over quite nicely.
I need to complete the pinning of the Everflex to the piping along the body and then carefully trim it so the piping bead is visible as this shows under the gutter. I will need to be careful and take my time: my current plan is to cut a piece of thin metal to slip between the piping and the Everflex to act as a cutting board.
Thanks chaps - yes I think this is the right stuff. On a closer examination of my guttering I realised that it is a brass outer which is filled with lead. Presumably the nails were pre-set into the lead but with their used and corroded condition that isn't going to work a second time. So I have ordered 3mm stainless steel raised head countersunk screws which I will use to re-fix it. I could use brass ones but they have a habit of shearing off so I'll go for stainless as a starter at least. If I don't like the look I can always substitute brass ones after the stainless have cut the thread for them.
The other issue is that the guttering across the beak is missing so I have to work up an alternative. Colin Borley tells me that on the Seniors the gutter stops around the edge of the beak and a half round bead runs along the front to let the rain just pour off. I may work on that principle as I doubt if I can make the right shape to match the original along the sides. It will just need a transition piece to be whittled up which i can probably manage.
Hi Colin, The arrangement of guttering & projection over windscreen was the same as Colin B describes on my 1931 Junior saloon....if that's any help?
Bill
I have re-fixed one side of guttering using the original material but drilled to take 3mm screws. It went better than I had feared and looks fairly tidy: using stainless screws was great as they penetrated the aluminum and ash without pre-drilling so no awkward swapping of drills and screwdrivers while holding the guttering in place.
I trimmed the Everflex off over the rear of the roof which has meant I scraped paint off the aluminum section so that will need to be re-painted. I suspect I should have pinned the material and trimmed it before fixing the section but we live and learn! There are a couple of wrinkles at the rear and the shot of the roof shows that sometime in her troubled life she acquired a slight depression in this area, which is why the Everflex won't sit flat. They say it can shrink up to 4% so that would help to take some of this out. One more side to do and then I'll be waiting for the strip of aluminum to arrive so I can finish off over the front.
Roof pretty much finished with a strip of aluminium along the front to complete the guttering. This required quite a bit of shaping to my surprise but looks OK. I'll touch up the screw heads with black. I have followed Mr Borley's advice to paint this strip in black to match the roof rather than in blue to match the body, but I'm not painting the original lead-filled guttering .
There are always things you would like to have got slightly tidier but I also realise that I am probably more critical of such details than a viewer who looks at the whole car. I will take the rear half-round strip off to repaint it and also to trim the vinyl back a little further but otherwise I'm moving into the the interior.
My wife and I have agreed that we will stick to the original interior colours so far as we can tell from scraps of evidence - dark blue door cards and seats with pale cream headlining. I also have carpet samples on the original door cards and seat backs which are on the pale side to match the headlining.
Rob Roan has my old screen as a pattern and is making me a new one in stainless steel in parallel with making one for his 10/26. It was useful for both of us as Rob was able to see how the original screen was put together and will use the same technique for the two new ones.
I have ordered some samples of carpet, headlining and seat covering from Martrim who look like a really good supplier (they provided the Everflex at a very reasonable price) and I have started to strip the front seats down. I have decided that the leather covering is too far gone to be re-used so they are both being stripped to the bone ready for repair and complete re-covering. The sash cramp is holding the sides in place while I think about how to improve on the original design.
Luckily I have all but one piece of the original wood trim from the interior, so that is all having a clean up before a light stain and several coats of silk marine varnish. The missing piece is from the bottom of the rear window and is a mirror of the top piece. I think my band saw will be great for cutting this out.
Headlining and vinyl ordered from Martrim so I can get going with door cards and other parts of the interior when they are delivered. Fortunately I took lots of pictures of what arrived so I will go through all of those and make a plan of action. Its the headlining that bothers me the most and its quite expensive so I really need to get it right first time!
Hi Colin it is wonderful to read your progress and even more to be able to share our enthusiasm via zoom last week.Trev