Carrying on from the BN 2 meant a similar "Longbridge look" for the BN
4, with separate armrest, coloured Armacord trunk, coloured sidescreen bag and
of course the same comfortable seats featuring lots of wood and tack-work.
At chassis 41124 the seats got a different wood cushion base but didn't change
outwardly. End of 4-seat BN4 production at the Longbridge plant was Dec '57,
by which time the identical car had been coming off the line at Abingdon for a
month already.
The four-seater continued to be built there at Abingdon for five months
in the Longbridge style, but in the meantime the real push at BMC's "Sports
Car Central" was preparing for a fresh start with the new 2-seater BN 6, a new
chassis number run starting at 500, new one-piece door seals, all-black trunk
lining and new seats eliminating the labour intensive woodwork (and piping
dropping down the inside of the "ears"). And a New Armrest. The BN 6 started
production in Mar 58, overlapping the wind-down of the 4-seater in April by
one month.
The "blue sheets"- the factory Parts List Amendments- are a great source
of interesting bits for this muddy period:
The Longbridge-style separate tunnel carpet and snap-on armrest
continued to be installed on the new BN 6 for 250 cars, until car no.744,
before changing to the sewn-on pad "to improve appearance" (Bulletin for Aug.
13, 1958). The 8x10 b&w publicity photo shows the Longbridge seats combined
with a "transitional" armrest pad- partway between the snap-on and the sewn-on
styles. Interestingly, the blue 100-Six BN 6 (only) Drivers Handbook clearly
shows "old" Longbridge-style seats combined with the "new"sewn-on armrest pad.
The elegant glass Trafalgar washer bottle continued on the BN 6 until car no.
1182 when replaced with Tudor polythene ("Improved pump design" Bulletin 12
Nov 1958).
The official Parts List Amendment word on the new all-metal seats,
however, is "Fitted from the outset of BN 6 production". (Bulletin 21 July
1958).
My point for this whole lengthy diatribe is that the early style seats
were always very near to hand for BN 6 development during this chaotic period
of Nov '57 to Mar '58.
The four-seater BN 4 was finally re-introduced six months later, in Sept
1958, this time to "Abingdon"spec with the new seats, finally an adjustable
passenger seat, one-piece push-on seals, top bows, etc. "to commonize with BN
6" (Bulletin 12 Nov 1958). Both 100-Six models ran side by side - and
alongside the MGA - until Mar 1959.
One more thing. On your excellent site, Derek, you have a very
"astonished" caption for the external door handle lock picture. You are aware
that the "doorlock" BN 4's had a little flip-lever lock on the other side
door, as part of the latch mechanism hidden behind the panel, aren't you?
This allowed for at least a bit of security in being able to lock the car up
completely, despite the sidescreens. (Locks deleted car no.48387)
Best regards,
Peter
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