Series 1 bonnet needed

[PaulColeman]

I am going to need a 'new' bonnet for my 1965 FHC as my original is totally scrap. Given the option of ?5,000 for a new one I think I'm going to try and find a usable secondhand one. Where's the best place to look for one? Is it just a case of keeping an eye on eBay?

thanks, Paul.

[christopher storey]

The problem with s/h bonnets is that each one was individually tailored to the car it was fitted to. Thus whether one will fit your car is a matter of chance. This perhaps does not matter so much if the bonnet you get is longer than the one which would have been needed for your car, but if it is already shorter than that required, or it the wings are too shallow for your car , you are in big trouble, requiring some very skilful welding to get it to fit . If you are going to buy one s/h , very very careful measurement is called for before purchase . The other big problem is that there are a lot of bonnets out there which are full of filler but look quite sound , and/or they have significant erosion in the bits which you cannot see, particularly those parts between the ducts and the upper surface of the bonnet which have a major tendency to become pitted by condensation

[vee12eman]

Hi Paul,

Christopher is spot on with his comments, notwithstanding this I did successfully fit a S/H bonnet. However, after a few weeks of looking at it, despite having built the car to fit the bonnet (so to speak), by measuring and making sure the sill overhang (the portion of sill forward of the bulkhead was the same length as the portion of bonet/front wing behind the wheel arch), I realised that although the measurements were accurate enough, the rear vertical edge of my bonnet was not parallel with the bulkhead and I had to do some of the tricky welding Chris mentioned. I also had to re-profile the rear of the wheel arch to suit.

Further, my bonnet pan was beyond repair (on the "new" bonnet) and this should have been over 600 quid to replace, though I got lucky with a New Old Stock panel on ebay for 80 quid, on which I was the sole bidder.

Now if you get a bonnet with little rust and enough overhang, and you are skilled enough to fit and fettle it yourself, then a S/H bonnet is a viable option - mine eventually cost me around 1500 pounds, otherwise you might be better off getting someone else to do it for you using a new bonnet - bear in mind the bulkhead will need lead-loading/filling to suit even a new bonnet and you then have to paint almost the whole car, not an issue if that is already planned, but a big one if you hadn't. By the way, even a new bonnet requires fettling by cutting to suit the individual car - they are made deliberately long to allow this.

Good luck, keep us posted.

Regards,

Simon

[PaulColeman]

Thanks for the replies. I realise they're tailored to fit each car but if I can find one with enough metal on the back edge compared with my original then hopefully it could be usable. The whole car is being restored so paint and lead loading isn't an issue. It needs a whole host of other panels anyway so... in for a penny... in for a pound... errrr probably several thousand of them actually hahaha

It does bother me with regard to finding one that's not a mass of filler though I must admit. Been there, done that...

Paul.