if it is any help, I had a car tittled as a 1980, with big black bumpers, no
chrome what so ever, except for the hood latches, My sister also had a car
titled
as a 79, same biig black bumpers, same chrome latches
Andrew Mace wrote:
> The question:
>
> > >I noticed that the bonnet catches on the '80 Spits were painted body color.
> > >Was this a late factory change or just part of the advertising?
>
> On Sun, 16 May 1999, Laura G. noted:
>
> > In my handy dandy spitfire book by Michael Cook, all it says is that the 79
> > and into 80 model years carried "virtually no chrome trim at all."
> >
> > I really haven't seen many '80s (or '79s) . I do seem to vaguely remember
> > seeing a spit once that had bonnet catches painted the same colour as the
> > body.
>
> I'll guess that Mike Cook's reference here is to the fact that the late
> "Federal" Spitfires had gained the large black safety bumpers, replacing
> the chrome bumpers of before. By 1979, those chrome bumpers were about
> the only "bright" trim left on the Spitfires.
>
> As to the bonnet latches, this has intrigued me for years. So far as I
> can tell, on all but possibly some of the earlier 948 Heralds, the
> latches were put in place on the bonnets and the exposed chrome covered
> (perhaps with a wax substance as Rich suggested, or otherwise masked
> off), then the color coats applied to the body. As far as I've seen on
> Spitfires of all years, that practice never (theoretically) changed.
>
> However, I used to frequent my local Triumph dealers back in the 1970s --
> right up until it closed in the early 1980s (by that time I already had a
> small fleet of Triumphs to keep running). Naturally I would spend much
> time looking at the new cars. From around the 1975 model year on
> (approximately), I would estimate that anywhere from 20-40% or more of
> the new Spitfires that came through that dealer had bonnet latches that
> remained painted as well as the rest of the car (insert your own comments
> here about BLMC quality control of the era). But it wasn't consistent.
> Sometimes just about every Spitfire on the lot would have painted
> latches, and sometimes just about none of them would.
>
> So: intentional? No, I rather doubt it. Common? See above percentages as
> a very rough guess. "Correct" as in acceptable in Concours judging? Well,
> maybe not. I'll defend it on a car that appears to be original and never
> repainted, but I have no documentation beyond my own memory, so my
> defense probably won't get you very far! :-)
>
> --Andy
>
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> * Andrew Mace, President and *
> * 10/Herald/Vitesse (Sports 6) Consultant *
> * Vintage Triumph Register <www.vtr.org> *
> * amace@unix2.nysed.gov *
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