Radiator header tank assembly

[eb007]

Have you already seen such radiator header tank on an early E Type ?
Is it the part number C16998 fitted from chassis
850001 to 850656
875001 to 879043
860001 to 861090
885001 to 888240
If yes how is it possible that I have seen this model only two times ?

[Heuer]

Not original factory fit. An after-market replacement.

[eb007]

Many thanks

[Heuer]

If it is of any consolation that is a genuine Marston Excelsior radiator!

[Moeregaard]

That header tank appears to have been made by a radiator shop that was lucky enough to have a skilled sheet-metal fabricator under its roof. My '65 FHC had a similar tank when I bought it in 1982, and the radiator tanks had obviously been made by the same individual. I re-cored that radiator once, and the local shop was so impressed with those tanks that he re-used them.

In many cases, particularly here in the U.S. in the 1970s and early '80s, it was far cheaper to have these items made that it was to go looking for NOS items sitting on some dusty shelf--and the factory header tanks used on E-Types were best described as "consumable" items for many years.