New E Type Bonnets Being Made

[vee eight]

A group of us made a visit to British Motor Heritage in Witney Oxfordshire a few weeks ago and was surprised to see that they have the rights to produce new E Type bonnets for all of the different series. I believe they are pressed away from the factory and assembled at the factory into a complete finished bonnet.


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[christopher storey]

They have been making them for quite a few years, and as far as I know, they bought some of the tooling from Abbey Panels. However, that tooling was very old , and other bits that are made ( mostly Hutsons who supply also to Martin Robey ) may be just as good if not better.

[andrewh]

yes and they still can't build them correctly. I have had one bonnet with spacing washers between the wing and centre panel on one side and none on the other. Another bonnet where the aperture for the air supply to the radiator was too small to accept a correct original motif bar by 3/4 inch, and the task of fitting headlight chromes and bumpers is extremely time consuming as they are not made correctly. yes, its good they are making them, but if they made them correctly it would be even better. If I told you the hours to correct the wrongs your hair would curl. And yet some of the manufactures of alloy bonnets get the right straight off. Not worth the money for a bit of pressed tin thats not right in my view. Captive market though.

[Atomlinson275]

I bought a new 'Jaguar Land Rover Classic' bonnet and had quite a few issues with it.

The head lamp chrome fastener captive nuts didn't line up with either an original chrome bezel or the aftermarket ones?







Then the side light cluster, on one side, wouldn't fit?





Then the closing catch captive nuts were in the wrong place and had to be moved.







Apart from these problems, it was fine!!
I do find it hard to understand why they don't have a jig for these discrete items that they can fit up to check that fixings are in the right place. Its not rocket science.
So my £10,000 bonnet ended up costing me considerably more for all the extra fettling. Not to mention the fitting and trimming costs which are expected. The company I used for doing the work were exceptional. Unlike the muppets making the bonnets. A little effort by BMH and some quality control would be nice.
After all Jaguar wouldn't get away with it for their modern car panels.
As you say 'captive market' and its better than nothing, that's for sure.

[1954Etype]

Don’t forget to strip the bonnet down to paint the bare metal between the flanges

[Atomlinson275]

Hi Angus,

Good point.
I have been reasured by JLC that their bonnets are 'e-coated'.

"With e-coating, the substrate is immersed in a bath that may consist of paint, epoxy or other water-based solution. An electric current is then used to attract the particles that are suspended in the liquid solution and deposit them onto the surface of the substrate"

Looks like it's a quality coating that should cover all surfaces.
I'll give them some credit for that!!
Probs any warranty I had is now null and void due to having to cut and weld it!!?