Feel free to link it. Thanks Mart for taking the time to comment. Its quite a rare car because as I showed in the little history above there were only ever 314 made. This one has race history. The last SS100 with similar history sold for a million US dollars. It was done well, the firm that did the restoration is thirty miles from here and I know the guy who did the body, he is one of the last Rolls Royce trained coachbuilders so he knows his stuff but the car is not as accurate as this one, details on the wings and other parts are not right. I have been working on SS100s for more than twenty years and have done quite a few (replica and original) I used only original parts to copy for this car as you will see. As I said above this is a valuable car and the timber I showed above should have been replaced, the skin is nailed to the timber in that area so there would have been nothing to nail to. The work on the ash frame should have been done accurately. It is a pity it was not brought to us before it was touched, we could have done a much better job, not because we are better craftsmen but because we like things to be done right. David
There was a lot more work than I have shown done to the frame and we managed to make it pretty good but its harder to work backwards from someone else's botch ups and inaccurate work than it is to repair problems caused by rot and fatigue. The owner also added strengthening pieces to the frame - something I just would not do on a car like this. the frames for the doors are flimsy but are plenty strong enough once the skins are on without adding lumps of extra wood. The frame is very light and quite spindly ( thats how they managed to get the magic 100 MPH in 1936 from a road going car) . The thing is the people who built these knew what they were doing, once the skin is on the frame it becomes a very strong 'box'. As long as the wood is in good condition I see no reason to add anything to it. If it is not in good condition replace the parts that need to be replaced. Well that how I work. David
I am probably in the minority but I actually would have liked to see more of the repairs and reconstruction you did on the wood. Not sexy stuff but educational. I have seen some interesting attempts people have made to fix a piece of furniture to avoid disassembling and repairing loose joints - like adding "strengthening pieces" - without understanding how the whole thing was designed and supposed to work.
The back of the frame was disassembled and once we established that one side was pretty accurate and un-modified we made up new timbers for the other side to match. In this way everything was made symmetrical so came out square. Much of what we did was to replace small damaged areas and make sure that no rot was left. Much like what I have shown just more of it!. Like I said not my favorite way of working but it made the frame sound and usable. I agree with what you say people do things without really understanding the effect on the frame as a whole. David. I have to add that most of this work was done by James, who has a good few years experience of working on restorations including woodwork. I learned to do ash frame work at college but we don't do complete frames at the moment. David
The wings of this car were pretty rotten, but the customer thought they were good enough to save save me from customers who have not got a clue, don't get me wrong anything can be saved if you are prepared to spend enough money on it but... Well here are some photos of the original SS100 wings... Above- this is the edge which is a weak area on these wings. Been patched up many times I should think. Above- there is a steel stone guard on the underside of this area which causes the wings to rot, if you can see this on the outside its going to be a lot worse between the two panels. Above- a closer view of the same area, the rivets are a feature on these wings and these ones have at some point been beaten below the surface of the panel and filled over. Above and below- some of the many patches to be found all over the wings. David
Really? I am surprised the owner is selling he seemed to love it. Be interesting to see what it goes for. David
I did say save me from customers who have no idea. Don't worry I soon put him straight. I made new wings but first I had to fit these wings and work on them to get them as close to the proper shape as possible before making a set of bucks. David
Next I fitted all four wings to the car and took a good look at them. It is possible to tell where damage has occurred and because metal has memory to rectify the damage. this is what I did to get the wings fitting and sitting as good as possible. I compared each side with the other and looked at the damage on each to get an idea of what was the right shape. I am very familiar with the cars but this is the first time I could work with an original SS100 ash frame on an original chassis with original wings so I also worked from period photos and factory drawings to rectify any misshapen areas. The wings were pretty good really as far as shape was concerned the hardest part was to make sure the front arch area was correct. I had another original rear wing that I have had for years to refer to and I got another original front wing in for repairs part way through the work so I was able to check some details from this. This is probably the only time I will ever be able to have an original car with original wings in to copy for making bucks so I made sure that I ended up with very accurate bucks. It is possible to buy wings from other places but none of them fit or are the right shape. ( I have had to fit a good few wings made elsewhere over the years when the customer has supplied them) David
I took many patterns and profiles to make sure I ended up with the most accurate SS100 wings possible. This is the early stages... All the stations for the bucks were cut from 3/4" exterior quality ply. David
They are very sporty looking... here is a replica I built a couple of years ago... The wings on this car were supplied by the customer they may look OK now but it took me weeks to make them look something like the right shape and to get them to fit the car. That is why when I got the chance to make bucks for the wings for the SS100 from all original parts I decided to do it. I did the bucks at ny own expense but now I have the ability to make wings that are the right shape and fit as they should. David
The bucks give me something accurate to work on and I can use them over and over. This is the rear wing buck. David
Thanks David for sharing this build. I'm glad there will be the bucks from this project so these cars have a future in years hence.
Thanks, it was fairly straightforward to make the rear ones the front ones were a lot more difficult. I have more photo's I will post soon. David
I spent quite a lot of time looking at other SS100s on the net when doing this car and its a shame but many have wings which are not the correct shape. Lots have petrol tanks that do not have the correct details as well. I am glad you like the bucks. David
Here area a few more photos of the almost finished rear buck... This is a solid unit so that I can work on it with it standing on its own, David
This thread is simply wonderful David - it gives a real insight in what is really involved in coachbuilding. I am in awe of both your woodworking and metalshaping skills and, with this new project, it plays right into my passion for vintage Swallow Sidecars and Jaguars....
David... I have a request. I would love it if you posted a thread or even just added a photo gallery to your profile, with pictures of the bucks and hammer forms you've made! I love the art of buck building! I'm always looking for clever ideas for building complicated bucks and forms. Looking great!
Hi scootermcrad, I have a few photos of various bucks in the various threads I have on the hamb. I will see if I can find time to make a new thread. David
I made the front buck which was a very difficult task. It's funny but with hind sight I can see how I could have solved the difficulties I was experiencing but at the time I really went through a hard time with it. David
The wings are not that complex but I needed the bucks to be accurate so that any wing I make in the future are accurate and fit as well as possible. David
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