front and rear wings

[stevie78]

just about to restore my 1955 spitscreen but the previous owner (my mums uncle) has put later lights on it front and rear i would really like to put the correct lights back on so does this mean replace the wings aswell as new lights due to other holes that may have been drilled, how can i tell if there the correct wingsthat are on the car (is there a big differance between wings?) and where is a recommended place to buy these parts, cheers, stevie.

[bmcecosse]

Many suppliers - shop around.......varying quality and prices. If you have the skill you can of course weld up the holes if they are in the wrong places for you.

[LouiseM]

You can buy front wings that have been modified to fit the smaller sidelights, but no point in replacing the wings if you don't have to. I think I'm right in thinking that replacing the the earlier rear lights with later ones doesn't involve modifying the wing. The holes for fixing the light unit may be in a slightly different position but you should be able to return to the earlier style rear lights without leaving any extra holes exposed to view.

In relation to the front wings, there are two possibilities. Either later sidelights have been fitted to the original 'small sidelight' wings or later replacement wings, with a bigger hole for the sidelight, have been fitted at some point. Best way to find out is to remove the sidelights and check out the size of the hole. If there is a small round hole then the wings won't need modifying to revert to earlier side lights. If there is an larger elongated hole then the wings will need to be modified. This could be done by welding, as BMC says.

What condition are the wings in? As you are restoring the car are they going to need replacing anyway or are they saveable?

[kennatt]

there is a major difference in rear wings,the series 11 had a high wheel arch,the later,1000s had a low wheel arch,the high wheel arch wings are not available but if you want originallity then I believe others have had low wheel arches modified by cutting and re working the flange back to high wheel arch,there is a noticable difference between the two types,I think the high wheel arch looks odd and have the later low ones on my 55 but then there are other non standard items on mine so not bothered about originallity.

[stevie78]

all four wings are in really good condition it was really more the lights i hoped to change, i'm not to bad with a welder so i'm pretty sure i could fill in any holes,
could someone plz send me a pic of the front and rear lights for my 1955 saloon 2dr so i make sure i get the correct ones when i order them,
thanks again for the information, stevie.