Okrasa Special

[steve wright]

ah, i'd looked for these as I'd seen them on the Aston Martin Zagato, but any sets I've seen are eye-wateringly expensive. Any ideas where I could buy a set of those?

[scotal]

ah, i'd looked for these as I'd seen them on the Aston Martin Zagato, but any sets I've seen are eye-wateringly expensive. Any ideas where I could buy a set of those?

Fiat?

[911hillclimber]

Nahh, Renault Twingo style!

Of course the handle design will be crucial to this side view of this car. Small and light so an Italian source is needed. The little FIAT is perfect. V early Alfa too. I think it needs more than a push button?

I used to do door locks and handles when i worked for Wilmot Breeden so i know how tricky this stuff can become to get it to work.

It is all safety critical too! Doors will fly open with chassis flex.

[smallspeed]

they were around £50 each from fiat main dealers but thats going back a couple of years. we fitted some to an mg midget, as they're similar to the very early mg-b handles i think

you can get them from other places (ebay.de has a good selection, weirdly enough, you can search barchetta ???? - can't remember the german for handle ) but not sure if there's lots of aftermarket versions floating around. doesn't seem worth getting "knock-offs" to save 20eur!

also barchettaparts is a pretty good guy to deal with. he has a set for sale at the moment with 1/2 the door pannels with them!

barchetta parts, door handles

sounds weird, but for the extra £50 you might save yourself a lot of hassle getting them with the door pannel section, as it would save fabricating the cut-outs and mountings?.. you could just mount the whole lot behind the pannel..

hth.. ben

ps.. i frickin' love those door handles, they're SO cool

[smallspeed]

PPS.. for the door latch mechanism, you might want to take a look at the mercedes w123 door latches. they're massively over-engineered for that car, BUT they're a very clever design (patented i believe). They use a peg which located the door and lines the catch up as its closing. This then forms part of the structure; if you had an A shaped frame with two legs on the hinge points at the leading edge of the door, and the latch on the pointy-bit of the "A", the chassis would effectively be braced across the door opening when closed. This was the idea behind it, effectively introducing side impact bars.. because its semi-self-aligning aswell, it might save a little trouble with that side of things?

you can sort of see what i mean from these pictures..

top one shows the latch, with the "pin" at the top and the latch below (with a nice chrome surround )
bottom one shows the striker; the pin goes into the hole in the front, and the latch locks into the striker plate from underneath

[Lightweight_911]

Too modern IMO - Steve's idea of the simple push button/recess is a better option:

[ims101]

The other option is to have no outside door handle or button like a Healey Frog Eye? Keeps the lines nice and clean!



Now found one with Elton John driving

[MdR]

My goodness that's a big picture.

The other option is to have no outside door handle or button like a Healey Frog Eye? Keeps the lines nice and clean!

Just out of curiosity - how does that work from a legal standpoint?
http://www.ukmot.com/mot_check.asp#information3
"Both front doors must be capable of being opened from the inside and outside and all doors must latch securely. "

[ims101]

I couldn't find a better example sorry but elton driving it made my laugh
As far as I am aware (someone tell me if I'm wrong) if a car was made/manufactured like that then is OK like cars without seat belts don't have to have them fitted to pass an MOT. So if this car doesn't have to have an IVA test to get it registered then I would think it doesn't matter. If it's got to go through IVA then what the door handles look like is irrelevant

[Rustbucket]

HI-
I had a morris minor pickup which was de-locked.
I had it running solenoid catches that popped the door open via a keyring, was very cool on a petrol station forecourt...............

I had a steel rod running from the solenoid down to under the floor pan, (along with a hidden button) so if something was amiss I could still open in mechanically.

The MOT people didnt like it but all agreed it was down to my own risk, and I could always say it was fitted after the test ( not that that would prob wash in court, to be honest)

[Mick Cliff]

"Both front doors must be capable of being opened from the inside and outside and all doors must latch securely. "

Front doors on very early Spridgets can be opened from the outside by sliding the plastic side screens.
OK until it's freezing and the (usually wet) felt in the slide channel 'grips' the plastic! Work around was to undo one of the hood fasteners and get your hand in that way.

[Pandora]

Lotus Elite door handles are beutifully simple - a press buttow with a finger catch below. right sort of period too.

[Lightweight_911]

I agree - from back on p17:

That style of handle was also used on the Abarth-Simcas -

It's probably much too early to be discussing fine details like door handles but I envisaged something similar to either the original Lotus Elite (which I think came from the Hillman Husky van):



or the Alfa GTA

[Macaulay]

Awesome progress Barry!

(I better start saving up some cash to come over and see it in the flesh.)

[steve wright]

Hey Macauley, nice to see you back on the Forum. Hope we're doing your drawings justice