Door mirror position?

[Harveyzone]

Hi all,

Probably a silly question, but are there any templates out there for where a door mirror would be fitted on a Spitfire 1500?

I know I can get them in an appropriate place by eye and a bit of trial and error, but I would like them to be as near as possible to where the factory would have fitted them. I would have thought someone would have published a template or some distances that I could use, but Google has revealed nothing.

I want to get it right before I start drilling holes :) .

Cheers,
Tom.

[Pete Lee]

From safety I fit mine where I get the best view. This means the drivers side is positioned closer to the bonnet than the passengers side.

It's a personal preference.

[Harveyzone]

Cheers Pete, but I really wanted to know the original factory fixing location, and will use this as a start point. I fully intend to try it first, and if I think it is not an appropriate place to fix them I will move it from there, but would still like to know where they would have been fitted. There may even be some filler plugs in the doors where they have previously been fitted.

Does anyone know?

Many thanks,
Tom.

[Pete Lee]

If I remember correctly triumph only fitted a mirror on the drivers side as standard. I don't believe there are any predrilled holes.  The mirrors are secured by self tapping screws.

Back in the 70s my mkiv only had one mirror, it came from a ford cortina, my mkiii did not have any mirrors.

[Sheepy]

Place them best for you!

You see so many spits with them in different places, so I would not worry so much.
Better so you can see with them, than have them in the "correct" position.

[Harveyzone]

I've just been looking in John Thomason's "Guide to Originality", and even in there it shows them in two positions.  Page 87 (5.6) has them lower and further back than page 88 (5.12).

So perhaps there was never a standard place for them, hence the lack of information on it, although it surprises me that there wasn't, especially after they became a standard accessory.

It reckons that they were always an option on the drivers side on 1500s (part of the luxury pack), and became standard after FH80000 (January 1976). I thought that I had read that a passenger side one was also an option, and became standard on the very late cars, but I cannot find reference to that, so I may have remembered wrongly.

[rotoflex]

Driver side door mirrors were fitted by the factory as standard for US cars to satisfy federal regulations.

You might look at US versions of your car to get an idea of the factory mounting location.

[1967 MkIII]

Agree with the others, put them where you see best. Also suggest you steer clear of bullet type mirrors. they look the part but offer a very small field of vision. When I tried them on the doors I could see so little that I moved them about 1/4 to 1/3 way along the wing.

Then again, depends how much you use them.

I'm still not happy with them and (when the resto is eventually done) will seek the larger rectangular type that clamp to the door.

Cheers
Steve

[uksnatcher]

Bullets are fine as long as you replace the flat glass with a convex one. I like mine  :)

Replacement glasses here:
http://www.classic-car-accessories.co.uk/acatalog/EXTERIOR_MIRRORS.html
Pair about a fiver delivered,Ref: CME1600