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Keith Durston
United Kingdom
712 Posts |
 Posted - 12/11/2022 : 09:49:18
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I am currently trying to restore my Sportsmans Coupe which like so many other Coupes had lost its body by the time that I bought it in the 1960s. Over 500 Coupes were built originally with a very small number (believed to be 37) metal panelled. There are only believed to be 3 cars which still have their original bodies albeit all have been substantially rebuilt and of these 3 one is a fabric bodied version. The bodies were clearly very fragile and deteriorated to the point that they needed to be replaced. There are many Coupe chassis still around mostly bearing 2 seater bodies. The point of this introduction is to try and help find out if anybody has a Sportsmans Coupe windscreen hidden under their bench as with so many Coupe chassis still about I feel that someone must have retained the windscreen of the rotted out coupe body before they put a new open body on. Windscreens I feel sure would not have deteriorated to the extent that they looked as though they should have been thrown away! I have attached a couple of photos to help jog distant memories and any help tracking a screen down would be much appreciated. Somewhere I am hoping that one or more of the 500 odd missing screens might surface!
Hopeful but realistic Keith!
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Ian Grace
USA
661 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2022 : 15:36:19
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Sorry I cannot help much Keith, but is GF 8075 C/M1319 that was restored in the eighties by Dave Cooksey and I think it might be in Japan now? A pity if it is so far away.
I'm not sure that Roger Burnett is a member of this forum, so I will relay your need to him. You never know. |
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Keith Durston
United Kingdom
712 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2022 : 17:01:20
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Ian, GF 8075 is CM1319 and was the car that Gerry Gougan had restored by Dave Cooksey I believe. Where it is now I don't know. There is a Sportsmans Coupe in Japan which I think is in a musuem but it has a replica body on it that I think was supplied by Barry Walker and made by Steve Gilbert.
My hope is that, as most of us "MG nuts" seem not to throw anything away that might be useable in the future, someone has one lurking hidden somewhere. I have spoken to Roger Burnett but my impression was that his car was all there before its rebuild and when it came out of storage there weren't extra pieces lying about but if you can ask I would be grateful.
Keith |
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Ian Grace
USA
661 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2022 : 19:20:18
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Thanks for the info Keith.
I think the coupe you refer to in the Japanese museum is C/M1973 (below) in the Kawaguchiko Motor Museum (Nobuo Harada). My notes state, "imported into Japan pre-war, ex-Tokugawa family, Baron Kobayakawa. Restoration commenced in 2008".
I have contacted Roger - just in case. Pat Widdup in NZ is contemplating recreating a coupe - not much body left - except the windscreen ...
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AFM781
United Kingdom
195 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2022 : 19:40:32
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| YC7352 which has a "home made" Sportsmans Coupe build up from the study of contemporary photographs it has a solid frame over the windscreen thus forming a proper "A" frame. Was this on any of the original bodies? There is a factory photograph of five saloons, side by side, these show there were differences between the five, unfortunately the only copy I can find is so small it is not possible to see what the differences between there might have been in the windscreen area. |
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Ian Grace
USA
661 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2022 : 21:21:19
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( Edited to resize and make viewing easier, if you wish it changed back or a bit bigger? let me know. Rich) |
Edited by - mgmog on 12/11/2022 22:30:55 |
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Keith Durston
United Kingdom
712 Posts |
Posted - 12/11/2022 : 22:55:51
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David, I believe that there were at least two different types of body with some having the fixed forward spar above the screen and some without. Roger Burnett's car CM2917 has the fixed spar and yet Geoff Mansfields car CM2981 does not but is a later car. As all the period photos of the early cars seem to show the spar being part of the sunshine roof it doesn't follow that it was changed so all the later cars had the fixed spar. Despite these differences the screen framework on both variants appears to be the same.
Keith |
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tonym
United Kingdom
654 Posts |
Posted - 13/11/2022 : 14:48:32
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The Sportsmans Coupe when at Gerry Gougan's in 1991
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AFM781
United Kingdom
195 Posts |
Posted - 13/11/2022 : 19:25:03
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| It has been suggested that the small number of saloons remaining is because during the war people tended to put covers over open cars if they were left outside, but the saloons were just left, hence they suffered from the elements and thus rotted far more rapidly. |
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