ORIGINALITY CHALLENGE
ASWE walk around to the rear of the 1960 Mk 2 3.8-litre in Carmen Red, owner and former RAF navigator Alan Bowman points to the tiny cast copper warning sign recessed into the rear bumper, which is intended to alert a driver behind the car to the fact that this vehicle is equipped with disc brakes. This novelty is one aspect, but he’s also keen to point out that the bumpers, over-riders, spotlight rims and B-post trims have all been re-chromed by Prestige Electro-Plating, and the warning sign replated and re-enamelled by Pamela David Enamels.
There seems to be a story to tell about almost every aspect of this car, and there’s a theme that recurs – Alan’s desire to retain originality and ensure that good-quality genuine parts are used whenever original parts cannot be restored. That explains why he went to such great lengths to restore the internal rear-view mirror. Instead of fitting an aftermarket replacement, he had the original mirror resilvered by Orion Optics.
The upkeep of this Mk 2 hasn’t always been so challenging. When he decided to change its rusty doors during the mid-Seventies, he found a full set in a scrapyard in Newcastle for £5 each, taken from an otherwise fine car that had been written off by a serious front-end collision.
The repairs for this Mk 2 have, in some ways, been an ongoing lesson in preservation, problem solving and maintaining high standards. Towards the end of the Sixties, when corrosion had seemingly got the
