The 'E' Type Forum

Evening All

Was browsing through a selection of borrowed E-Type Club magazines the other day and came across the 100th issue (with Simon Stanton-Yeomans' rather nice V12) that had a little gem of information in that I should like to find more about.

RS Panels said that they had acquired the remains of the prototype E1A from a Coventry scrapyard (a complete rear bulkhead and part of the right rear guard and deck) and they were intending to "resurrect the car , incorporating the original parts into the shell" and stating that it will be featured in the magazine throughout the project. Does anybody know if they've made any further improvements on this or is it still work in progress?

Many Thanks

I'm not a member of the club but read an article elsewhere with pictures of the recovered pieces. The biggest one was smaller than a scatter cushion and the other one was less significant than that. To think that it would be possible to rebuild the car from those bits is like imagining one could ressurect the Titanic from finding a porthole and half a cabin. It can doubtless be done but...

I'm all for it actually.

In all fairness, restorations that have nothing left apart from the bulkheads or indeed those with new bodyshells are no more/no less original than a car which has had 95% of the metal replaced... even if a small amount of the original remains it's still a repair in my mind

So how about if you take that 5% of good metal, and weld it into a perfect, rust free bodyshell. Does that rust free bodyshell now acquire the identity of the donor 5%? If not, why not??!!

Back in the 80s and 90s, many rust free E Types were brought across from dry states in the USA, and quite a few 'became' original RHD cars, by acquiring the chassis plate, ID documentation and the mechanicals / interior of a rotted out original UK car.

Is that rust free car now an original UK car?

This paradox has baffled classic car owners, antique owners and Greek philosophers for over 2000 years now, and we won't sort it out in the next 2 days, but it's a great debate!

Have a look at 'The Ship of Theseus' here....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

Ship of Theseus paradox is very interesting.

It seems to me there is a big difference between something that is maintained over a long period of time using replacement parts and something that has a one-off restoration using virtually nothing original.

If I remember correctly when you visit HMS Victory in Portsmouth they explain that there has always been a continuous programme to replace rotten wood, etc, and that there is probably very little of the original ship left. However most people are still very happy to accept the thing they look at is HMS Victory.

I bought my E-Type off a man who's hobby is searching for old Spitfire parts in fields all over the UK and Europe. He found a Spitfire ID plate in a French field using a metal detector and sold it for about ?50k. Apparently it was worth that much because someone could 're-create' a Spitfire from it. Now in my eyes that's going a bit far in terms of authenticity.

Making a copy of an existing one off is different from making a copy of a much produced work. With the E-Type, or indeed the Spitfire, it is the design which pulls at the heart strings not necessarily where the metal originally came from.

With the Spitfire (and indeed any Warbird) the it's maybe a little different as the data plate is accepted as the thing that confirms identity and proves the all-important provenance.

Also with cars I'm guessing things are a little less strict in that as long as you patch up parts sufficiently that they work and meet MOT standards, off you go. If you're restoring a 70 year old aeroplane to flying condition it's generally accepted that you'll have to throw a lot of it away in order to stand any chance of meeting exacting airworthiness requirements (albeit that you'll then have to rebuild/remanufacture to at least as good if not better than original specification).

Ir reminds me of that old blacksmith who has had the same hammer for 40 years, Just 3 new heads and 10 new handles.

Steve.

Ahh - you mean this: http://tinyurl.com/pgo2dsx