Okrasa Special

Bruce M · Post by **Bruce M** » Tue May 03, 2011 9:55 am

wow... the top line of the "boot" really looks good now. The height and especially the new crown blends in with the rest of the lines perfectly.

I also think the tapered lip, fading out before the return valence, will give the rear trailing edge the ideal vertical backward tilt but allowing the flat panel to remain more vertical.

The tricky bit could be the lower rear corners. Perhaps the rear panel could flow smoothly down and around into the rear arch without a crease line. Then edge the cut out for the exhaust with a small lip that curves into the lower edge of the rear panel.

Also..... that doesn't look like a 904 tail so no worries there.

steve wright · Post by **steve wright** » Tue May 03, 2011 1:31 pm

thanks for the tips on the black masking tape guys, great pointer! Is that a cooper or Lotus in the 2D?

Pandora · Post by **Pandora** » Tue May 03, 2011 5:43 pm

neither. it's my old project, a one off from the early '60s

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/racecar/pandora/

steve wright · Post by **steve wright** » Tue May 03, 2011 5:45 pm

sorry, yes you had put this up before hadn't you. lovely - a real peach of a car. if we get the Special looking half as good as that I'll be thrilled.

Barry · Post by **Barry** » Tue May 03, 2011 11:50 pm

Bruce M wrote:
I also think the tapered lip, fading out before the return valence, will give the rear trailing edge the ideal vertical backward tilt but allowing the flat panel to remain more vertical.

The tricky bit could be the lower rear corners. Perhaps the rear panel could flow smoothly down and around into the rear arch without a crease line. Then edge the cut out for the exhaust with a small lip that curves into the lower edge of the rear panel.

A good point about the rear tilt: the new tail really will help in this regard.

You're bang on the money though Bruce (again), we had quite a chat about exactly the lower rear corners would be treated, but I'm assuming that once the known 'hard points' are dummied up (kamm end, upper area of the rear wing), the lower area will more or less follow.

I do think though that we've reached that rather nice point of knowing that the broad brushstrokes are right, even if we do have to finesse the details.

A great weight off my mind, and I'm sure Steve feels the same.

Barry · Post by **Barry** » Tue May 03, 2011 11:51 pm

Pandora wrote:neither. it's my old project, a one off from the early '60s

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/racecar/pandora/

Oh, that's handy, I was going to ask you if you had a story of the project somewhere

. Will have a look this week

.

Bruce M · Post by **Bruce M** » Wed May 04, 2011 2:49 pm

At the risk of overstaying my welcome..... another crayon sketch appeared at lunchtime.

I had to adjust the sides & corners from Steve's "work in progress" photo to line up with the C pillar. In this version the line that forms the edge of the rear panel aligns with the C-pillar and the kamm edge crowns slightly beyond it. A slightly different look and means the outer line is less tipped in towards the top. The rear corners flow down and round into the arch in one swoop with no crease (well that what it supposed to look like

). The exhaust cut out is edged with a small lip to give it definition and echo the diagonal lines in the tail/C pillar. The rear corners are possibly a bit fat though and the cut-out could be widened to reduce that.

Just another idea in the pot though, and something to feed your creative juices.

911hillclimber · Post by **911hillclimber** » Wed May 04, 2011 6:25 pm

That looks tantilizingly close!
Rectangular plate would be better and the slight 'hump' of the rear wings works for me.

Get rollin'!

Barry · Post by **Barry** » Wed May 04, 2011 6:52 pm

Bruce M wrote:At the risk of overstaying my welcome..... another crayon sketch appeared at lunchtime.

Oh for God's sake

I'll copy it across to myworkshop laptop, and take it with me next time: hopefully Steve will have had a chance to map out his thoughts on the car as well. I have to say that overall it does feel as though this area (in the very broadest terms: basic style, size, height etc) has found it's level, even if the detailing is still to be resolved.

What Steve thought with the rear is that we'll kick off with the whole area below the kamm filled in. This way we can keep playing around with number plates, different lights, and I guess some matt-black film, until things look right.

There are a couple of things that Steve and Ian (Mr Engine) will have to decide upon over the next few months, and that is the design and position of the exhaust(s), and what we might need in terms of ventilation of rear arches (and engine?).

Therefore, there will be a whole load of edditing going on around the rear, but luckily for me, that won't really be an issue until the I need to weld the kamm, bootlid and rear wings into a complete clamshell. Up until that point, just as long as the main shape is O.K., and the kamm can be returned to the hammerform (in case we want to raise / recess light unit areas, or flange grill-openings etc) these things won't really stop things moving on for now.

Thanks Bruce, once again

.

steve wright · Post by **steve wright** » Fri May 06, 2011 8:36 am

ah ha! coincidentally Bruce that's exactly what I ended up with on Wed evening, albeit using carboard and gaffer tape. I agree the rear corners being too wide and two exhausts works well. I tried four megaphones but it looked a little OTT

Bruce M · Post by **Bruce M** » Fri May 06, 2011 10:17 am

The issue with the rear corners above seems to be it makes the tyres look really weedy. With a fat tyre it looks fine

I found if the rear return is a couple of inches shorter at the cut out up to the existing arch about 1/2 way across the tyre width (making the bottom edge a little more horizontal and a slightly sharper turn into the arch) it looks a lot better. It breaks the curve a touch suggesting a smaller wheel arch depth. Making the cut-out wider seemed to also cause problems.

I'm sure Barry will be happy to leave you to twiddle about with tape while he gets on with abusing metal.

steve wright · Post by **steve wright** » Fri May 06, 2011 12:19 pm

Thanks Bruce, all good counsel. Below is a picture of the latest acquisition, not a Porsche but it's a whole heap more comfortable to sleep in! It's original and to standard spec, and in reasonable condition. It's quite amazing how it generates reaction out on the road: I've never experienced so many happy smiling people waving.

[img][img]http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac13 ... 42a281.jpg[/img][/img]
[img][img]http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac13 ... 20a90e.jpg[/img][/img]
[img][img]http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac13 ... a05578.jpg[/img][/img]

Post by **Bootsy** » Fri May 06, 2011 12:31 pm

Beautiful Steve, I have a soft spot for Westies and that one looks wonderful.

sladey · Post by **sladey** » Fri May 06, 2011 10:48 pm

I agree on the tail - it's gone from being just a part of the car to being a feature - looks cool

steve wright · Post by **steve wright** » Sun May 08, 2011 9:39 pm

thanks Tom. an Aussie bus that seems to have had a gentle life so it's a joy to drive and lovely to work on. hopefully we'll have many happy hours driving and camping in her.

forgot to mention - a weekend of progress on the car: conclusion on the design, and Barry has redone the rear hammerform, welded a new top loop of heavier gauge wire to form the rear lip of the Kamm Tail, as well as host of other things. I'll let him detail what he's been up to. One of the little routines Barry and I have got into is to leave each other working notes on the bench, so we can leave thoughts as well as results. On saturday there was the usual note from Barry, I noted the time as 10pm so thought "blimey that's a long day given he turned up at 10am". Then I noticed the postscript, at 2.30am! Barry couldn't sleep so had come back to sort a couple of things that were bugging him

Talk about committed to the cause!