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1963 Harrington Lemans -time to do something

agmason

Donation Time
A Harrington Le Mans without the side spear is like a day without beer, not worth living or having one in your garage. I mean, without the side spear you may as well have an Alpine with the Astro fastback top on it. Its like wearing a black Tuxedo with brown shoes, it just doesn't look right.
 

bernd_st

Bronze Level Sponsor
agree ! Have heard many opinions about the HLM , the low rear line , the strange side trim , etc. Either you like it or dislike. There is nothing in between. To be honest it also took me several years to discover the beauty of this somewhat weird british design.
The trims belong to the car - no doubt.
By the way we had a repro done over here for the side finishers earlier and since I found an original in UK the last year it´s a kind of left over. I may consider to pass it to a serious guy who will help the crowd with a proper & reasonably priced reproduction run. The company which did it over here is still in the biz but not sure whether they would go the hard way again. Let´s gather the number of serious buyers at first. Think we would need at least 10 sets in order to kick off a serious reproduction...
 

puff4

Platinum Level Sponsor
A Harrington Le Mans without the side spear is like a day without beer, not worth living or having one in your garage. I mean, without the side spear you may as well have an Alpine with the Astro fastback top on it. Its like wearing a black Tuxedo with brown shoes, it just doesn't look right.

Yeah, it's like a woman without a mustache.
 

napa 1

Donation Time
A Harrington Le Mans without the side spear is like a day without beer, not worth living or having one in your garage. I mean, without the side spear you may as well have an Alpine with the Astro fastback top on it. Its like wearing a black Tuxedo with brown shoes, it just doesn't look right.

I like your thinking.

Bernd, which part of the trim did you have reproduced?
 

65beam

Donation Time
lemans

well dude, i have never been a person to drink beer nor do i smoke. so we disagree on something else. i do own two harringtons which is something most of you don't own. say what you want, i like the clean,uncluttered look of my car without the trim. and for those that subscribe to BRITISH MARQUE, there is a photo of one of my other cars. check it out. page 4. OH! wait a minute! no one has answered my question yet! any ideas from the experts as to why they used the side trim? eric,i have asked jean for a drum of 118 octane gas for christmas. really fuels the fire!
 

jumpinjan

Bronze Level Sponsor
Bob,
I think the trim is directly over the body seam. I wonder if a crack developed, and they covered it with the trim?
Jan
 

agmason

Donation Time
"well dude, i have never been a person to drink beer nor do i smoke."

Beam,

The smoking part I can understand, but not drink beer and work on British cars! I didn't think its possible not to drink beer after getting frustrated with British car engineering. If we ever meet I will buy you a Guiness.
 

65sunbeam

SAOCA Membership Director
Diamond Level Sponsor
Bob I had to laugh when I read about the drum of gas you want for Christmas!
I remember us talking about "pouring gas on the fire" when we talked with Rande B. at the Maine United. I really think the trim is all about hiding that long body seam between the fiberglass and the steel body. They would then not have to work very hard to make it invisible with the materials in use during that time. Remember Rootes during that era would use lead on all body seams and you sure can't lead over fiberglass! Looking at my one Harrington that needs restoration I can see where the bondo that Rootes applied to those seams is breaking up and actually peeling away from the metal. I think Jan said at one time that they used a special type bondo then for those seams? I guess after 50 years that it is allowed to break up....Eric
 

napa 1

Donation Time
OH! wait a minute! no one has answered my question yet! any ideas from the experts as to why they used the side trim?

I think that has been answered ....the trim was added 'cause it is so darn good looking ;)
As it follows the seam exactly, there is no doubt that it was added to cover the seam in case a crack developed, and the door piece and front spear give it some continuation and balance so that it highlights the design of the car rather than taking away from it.
Anyway, regardless of why it was added, it is now a crutial element to its character and heritage so it would be great if we could get some of the pieces reproduced.

Like a tiger without it's stripes...animal and car.
 

alpine_64

Donation Time
OH! wait a minute! no one has answered my question yet! any ideas from the experts as to why they used the side trim? !

Bob,

If you read my post from 3 daays earlier:

"Also, correct me if i'm wrong, but wasn't the spear and trim just a method to hide the join lines of the fibreglass to metal"
 

65beam

Donation Time
lemans

john,
i'm glad you guys like my car. you've given it a lot of attention. i thank you for that. the kid says it will stay as is after it becomes his car. he has a lot of fun with it when folks ask him " what is it? " especially when he just blew their doors off. he said today that it's the only one of it's kind. have you seen the silver lemans with the very unique paint job and V6 that is in california? it also has no side trim.
 

napa 1

Donation Time
This trim discussion is just for fun of course. I love your red one Bob, don't know if i've seen a picture of the other one. The pictures I have of it are beautiful and give me inspiration to keep plugging along on mine. I appreciate your input and assistance with all things Le Mans. Thanks.

Where is the silver one located? I did see a picture of a silver one once that had just the door and spear trim, but not the rear trim, is that the one? If so, it looks great in silver--although I think that one was in Europe
 

65beam

Donation Time
lemans

john,
the silver car i believe is in southern california. it was at suni last year. it has a V6, five speed and a very nice non standard interior. i have photos so i'll dig them out and post them.
 

V6 JOSE

Donation Time
Hi Bob,

Please do. I would love to see those pictures. I never thought anyone would have the temerity to convert a Harrington.

Jose


john,
the silver car i believe is in southern california. it was at suni last year. it has a V6, five speed and a very nice non standard interior. i have photos so i'll dig them out and post them.
 
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