LBL 6D navigator dash panel

[Selb]

Hi Ronnie and Nev. I’m not sure where I found the photo Probably online. I’ve been researching the car since 2014 for a replica project and I’m about 95% finished.
I noted the single centre dash screw is screwed in from underneath in a more vertical plane which doesn’t correspond to the angle of the shield which is more ‘45 deg’. My thoughts are that the shield has a bent lip which sits flush with the facia of the panel then two supplementary screws were drilled at the correct angle through the radius of the upper panel. I think the clocks are secured lower and independently.
I noticed the 66D dash had 4 upper fixing screws (nice photo!) but have never seen evidence of a shield fitted. Maybe Henry Liddon had a particular requirement… or Aaltonen didn’t like the glare from the P lights on his windscreen.

[Ronnie]

LBL66D Nav dash is fixed with 4 upper screws which would make sense to mount the shield, where the Gaydon 6D has 3 fixing screws.

Hi Ronnie and Nev. I’m not sure where I found the photo Probably online. I’ve been researching the car since 2014 for a replica project and I’m about 95% finished.
I noted the single centre dash screw is screwed in from underneath in a more vertical plane which doesn’t correspond to the angle of the shield which is more ‘45 deg’. My thoughts are that the shield has a bent lip which sits flush with the facia of the panel then two supplementary screws were drilled at the correct angle through the radius of the upper panel. I think the clocks are secured lower and independently.
I noticed the 66D dash had 4 upper fixing screws (nice photo!) but have never seen evidence of a shield fitted. Maybe Henry Liddon had a particular requirement… or Aaltonen didn’t like the glare from the P lights on his windscreen.

The two cars 6D and 66D are like chalk and cheese in many ways with regards minor prep details, as probably all of the other team cars every mechanic had his own way to do the job route and protect the pipe work, these cars were evolving with every build. I also note in selb's first picture the windscreen appears cracked the blue wires on 6D's screen now indicate late 70's-80's, so any pictures taken at shows or Sion park should show this detail before the screen was changed.

[Smithmaps]

This is my original, and it is flat and just sits between the panel, secured by the centre screw. It only has the one hole, and theoretically could be quickly removable.

[Ronnie]

This is my original, and it is flat and just sits between the panel, secured by the centre screw. It only has the one hole, and theoretically could be quickly removable.

Hi Guy, is this an Aaltonen or Liddon car by any chance, or did they all have one as part of the equipment

[Nevsmini]

The current 66D and the period photo show the dashes are a perfect match. The top lip of the Nav dash is curved to fit the top dash rail nicely, so if the anti glare shield has this same curve and fitted between the dash and top rail 1 screw would hold it in place fine and the curve would stop it from swivelling left or right on the single screw. From the LRX cars on the P light shined down to eliminate this problem. The fact the shield is only fitted to 6D I would imagine it was only a problem for Liddon possibly because he wore glasses.

[Nevsmini]

From my experience with the ORX cars the Nav dash and drivers dash in all 4 cars are identical. The only difference being the dymo tape labeling and fixing screw locations. So appears the mechanics were handed the dashes made up just to fit them and label them. Even the bonnet brackets for the Monte plates in 68 were all made identical but the mechanics fitted them in different locations on the bonnet. So all 8 brackets for the 4 cars are the same.
Looking at the LBL dashes this also seam to be the same. Identical dashes just fitted different and labeled different.

[Selb]

Thanks for the photos and comments!. Great picture Guy, l love to see original features-can't beat it. It's interesting to see the upper lip of your dash panel was folded straight and not curved to fit the radius of the Mini upper dash rail! It certainly makes the shield easy to fit behind the dash panel with the centrally located screw evenly spaced. As Nev noted the 6D and 66D panels appear to be curved to fit the above radius.

The 'central' upper dash screw on 6D is offset further to the right of centre between the clocks than LRX. This may have presented a problem, especially with the curved lip of the upper dash panel?. I think the glare shield must have been a very late installment in the preparation of 6D or they would have used a 4 screw install like 66D!?

Is 6D the first car to be fitted with such a shield I wonder, as LRX was obviously prepared about 3 months later? I note your shield features radii at the top where 6D was relatively rectangular- I wonder if Roy Brown prepared both cars and if not, may explain the differences. Obviously Henry Liddon was the navigator of both, so it may have been a feature he insisted on. I reckon the fitting would have been a 5 minute afterthought!.

I agree the navigator panels of this generation of car were pretty uniform at this stage of development, probably using a stencil to make the holes, as there's not much room behind the dash for the lower components if drilled incorrectly. Familiarity of layout for the navigators would have been useful considering they were swapping cars so regularly!

The driver's dash panels differed subtly however. 6D had an extra switch on the lower row on the right for the headlamp washer (which wasn't connected in the end), and the rev-counters were drilled at different heights-probably due to the height difference between Timo and Rauno?

The ORX anecdote is interesting. I guess by this stage they didn't want to be caught with their pants down regarding the vertical plate fitment as they had to fabricate the brackets on site at the various start points in '67. a uniform fitment seems logical.

[Smithmaps]

My car has works dashes in, which date from December 1965, and the top lip has no radius.
Cars evolved by date. But also the interior fittings were re used event to event and car to car.

If a car was stripped, often all the bits went under the mechanics bench to be used again.

[Selb]

Thanks Guy. Makes sense. I think I need to save my pennies and return to my old stomping ground in the UK. I think a Beaulieu trip is on the cards and a trip to Gaydon too. Thanks everyone for their feedback snd photos.