Herald/ Vitesse Doors?

[buckyjohn]

Hi this might seem a silly question but are all the Herald models and Vitesse models doors interchangeable ? 8)

[Jason]

Yes, the differences are only in the interior trim I think.

[heraldcoupe]

They're all interchangeable, but there are lots and lots of detail differences according to the year the cars were made. Not a problem to most people, but a big issue if you're trying to correctly restore an early example.
Anti burst catches are unique to Convertibles an export models, but like the door glasses they are easily changed,

Cheers,
Bill.

[ahebron]

I had a pair of very early coupe doors that had a slightly different upper leading edge in front of the quarter light. I tried them on my Vitesse and they definitely had something different about them.

Adrian

[Stodders]

I would try them for fit before you paint them.  Many doors, especially if they have had new door skins fitted at any time which most will have will quite likely be slightly different.  This is most apparent where it fits around the A pillar and the top corner of the bonnet. A bit of work before you paint it will make a massive difference to the final finish.  Also check the rear bottom corner.  It is quite common for this to stick out when the door is shut.  There are many reasons why this happens but again it can be the result of new door skins.  Again worth correcting before painting

[Straight Six]

heraldcoupe wrote:

there are lots and lots of detail differences according to the year the cars were made. Cheers,
Bill.

Do tell more Bill; I love little details like that! And I've always wondered why one of my doors of early '60's vintage has a piece of thick wire running internally between the drain channels while the other door of late vintage does not.

[Paudman]

Straight_Six wrote:

I've always wondered why one of my doors of early '60's vintage has a piece of thick wire running internally between the drain channels while the other door of late vintage does not.

That’s to hold them together, a kind of spring-tensioner to keep the glass pressed into the runners.

[heraldcoupe]

That piece of wire should be fitted to all Herald/Vitesse doors, as described above it stops the runners spreading apart.

There are no differences in shape or size of the doors. The earliest cars had flat front corners and lacked the large round holes under the quarterlights where people often fit speakers. The holes appeared with the first peaked corners very soon after production began.
At the back face of the door, the top mounting for the glass runner was fixed by a crosshead screw located through a dimple in the frame. This was deleted around Q3 of 1959, the frame now had a hole blanked by a grommet, with a bracket for the runner welded internally to the door frame.
Similarly at the front of the door, the quarterlight mounting was initially a crosshead screw through a dimple. This again changed to a bracket behind a grommetted hole from about Q2 of 1960, the peaked front corners reverted to flat ones (I think) at the same time.
There were big differences in the shapes of cut-outs in the frame, the early type lasted until 1962(ish), I'm fairly certain they coincided with the change to the new door lock design. The vertical brace inside the door frame was initially located by screws, welded on later doors. Again this may have happened at the same time as the locks and/or cutouts. The brace against the door skin was located by screws in the base throughout production.

I think that covers it all, most of it only becomes interesting if you start messing about with the earliest Heralds,

Cheers,
Bill.

[Straight Six]

Thank you. Being a bit of an anorak I find it all very interesting despite not owning an early Herald.