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Re: mirror placement

To: WZEHRIN@CMS.CC.WAYNE.EDU (Will Zehring)
Subject: Re: mirror placement
From: phile@stpaul.gov (Philip J Ethier)
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 16:30:05 -0600 (CST)
Will Zehring writes >

> Where do I put the
> outside mirrors?  I have scanned articles with pix of early early B's
> and none of them had outside mirrors (?).  I will not drive without them

I have seen lots of pictures of Europas with no outside mirrors.  You
apparently have to be an ESPer to drive them.  In a B, or my old
Spridget, you can at least look over your shoulder.  Looking over my
shoulder is very difficult for me in the Europa, and I am rewarded with a
close-up view of my own firewall.

> so, does anyone have a clue where they were most frequently mounted?
> Door? or Fender?

Put them where you can see them, and see something with them.  In the
Europa, I have some flag-style cheapies with truck bubbles.  One is
mounted on the left door, the other on the right fender.  Looks odd, but I
can't see them anywhere else.

> I had the "crack of doom" on the driver's side, had
> it repaired and don't want to see it come back again.  Should I stay
> away from mounting the mirror on the door?  

The "crack of doom" is caused by pulling on the vent window frame to close
the door.  Once you have one, a door mirror can work on making it worse,
but I don't think a healthy original or properly welded door can be
cracked by the mirror.  What you have to do is learn to never close the
door this way, and give passengers a good "crack" if you catch them doing it.

> I think it sort of looks
> vaguely more *vintage* to have the d**n things on the fenders but of course
> rear visibility is reduced.  

The thing to realize about older British cars in America is that they came
here without side mirrors and dealers put them on.  So there is really no
original standard for construction or placement.  The twin Lucas mirrors
on the the fenders do have a vintage look.  I prefer the convex ones.  I
have two reproduction ones, but they both turned out to be right-handers!

> Next question: how many angels can dance...

On a Lucas mirror?


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