Had the '38 SS out for a little drive last night. This morning noticed a hole in the roof, right hand side above the B post. I guess there was plastic body filler in there which popped off.
Cleaned it out, trying to identify the thread.
Too large for 3/8-20 BSF or 3/8-18 UNC but too small for 7/16. Not M10x1.50 too small, nor M12x1.50 too large, though the pitch seems right. Might be 11mm x 1.50 which is in Machinery’s Handbook but not in French or German thread lists. Who would use 11mm?
The hole is 15/32" or 12mm, drilled through the inner brace of the B post.
So what was on the roof?
Nothing on the other side, though I suppose there could be one covered by Bondo. This car was repainted probably in the 1960s so whatever the hole was for dates from before that period when the car was black or before that ivory.
The roof lamps fitted in the UK that I’ve seen tend to be more in the centre of the roof with adjusting handles inside and not in the side area. Here is one on a 1948 Triumph.
Curiosity got me, so I removed the left hand sunroof trim wood and pulled down the headliner there, so I could see and feel in there.
No hole in the left side at all.
So just on the right side.
Could it have been a spot light or something operated by the driver with his hand out the window?
Police siren?
Taxicab For Hire sign?
Not a roof rack or tent anyway. I’ve seen one of those roof tents on a Land Rover at the Chicago British Car Festival. But the Landie people love all those attachments.
Could it be for an aerial for a radio? My 1948 MK IV has something similar through the roof - with the control of the position of the antena made by a handle inside above the driver on the roof liner (next to the wood trim of the sun roof). It was fixed from behind by a large nut, with a coax type cable running under the roof line material. Perhaps if not an aerial controlled from inside you could put your hand through the window and grab hold of a static version and twist its position to tune into your favourite radio station. I guess that radio reception was so poor in those days you had to keep adjusting the aerial to pick up a signal when you drove along.
Is this the type of fixing nut left behind in your roof hole?
On mine I took off the bakalite handle and unscrewed the aerial off the roof before going inside to release the roof liner and retrieve the nut and coax cable. Perhaps someone left yours behind and simply plastered over the top of it !!
Perhaps then you can discount anything electrical if there are no signs of cables, or anything heavy on the roof if there is only one fixing point discovered. Here is a WW2 gas conversion that might float more on the roof and only need one fixing!!
David, That’s a very interesting suggestion. So the fixings for the gas bag are all external and the hole in the roof is the inlet for the gas supply? I could almost believe it but my little grey cells tell me that the hole, she should be on the other side of le voiture where les carburettors reside.
Price new was 12/6.
I bet I was the only one at that swap meet that could have found a place for it on his car, but it would have been on the right hand side (off side) and I never park on the street over night anyway.
As you all will remember, David Goodolgrandad figured it all out.
Well done Rob for finding a “new, unused, old stock” lamp - seek and ye shall find!!!
The Lucas roof lamp I think was a universal fitting - being symmetrical, and the clear and red lenses screw off and could be swapped over (so will fit left or right on the car roof).
My moto - if you see it, buy it. You never know when you’ll find another or when you might need it, and if you specifically need to find one you probably can’t get one for for your old classic car. Problem is you need a big garage to store the parts “just in case”.
