{"id":1144,"date":"2011-07-27T23:08:33","date_gmt":"2011-07-28T03:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.monocoque-metalworks.com\/main\/?p=1144"},"modified":"2015-02-18T13:28:00","modified_gmt":"2015-02-18T18:28:00","slug":"1961-e-type-ots-roadster-doors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monocoque-metalworks.com\/main\/2011\/07\/1961-e-type-ots-roadster-doors\/","title":{"rendered":"1961 E-Type OTS \u2013 Roadster Doors"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post details the restoration of a pair of doors from a late \u201961 (possibly early \u201962\u2026) roadster.\u00a0 The doors on the early cars have several subtle differences that set them apart from the average Series 1 door, and we\u2019ll restore these doors properly \u2013 keeping all of those features intact.<\/p>\n

These doors belong to a car on the very edge of transition from flat floors to the later floors with the dished footwell.\u00a0 We know this because the car was originally built WITH footwells, but WITHOUT the dished rear lower bulkhead for moving the seat back further \u2013 an interesting combination, and so I guess we know which improvement came first \u2013 if only on one car!<\/p>\n

I grew up in a later 3.8 roadster with footwells, and always had my seat all the way back \u2013 and I\u2019m only 5\u2019-9\u201d!\u00a0 I had two friends about 6\u2019-2\u201d, and both of them found it very tough to drive the car, actually.\u00a0 Recently, I have been sorting out the \u201961 roadster for sale on my website, and from the very first drive, it felt weird\u2026\u00a0 First, I just was dying to get the seat back a few inches!\u00a0 The foot placement didn\u2019t seem too strange at first, but after about 15 minutes, my leg started to cramp up!\u00a0 I guess I\u2019ve gotten used to that because that went away, but I can see why they went with these two changes early in the production of E-Types, and I\u2019m all for it!<\/p>\n

Anyway, back to the doors\u2026\u00a0 The car is currently in Texas, but it must be one of the damper areas of Texas, because they are very rusty.\u00a0 Just about every door that comes through the shop now needs both a new skin and a new lower section of the inner shell.\u00a0 These doors were also badly rusted in the forward, upper portion that forms a drip tray about 8\u201d long below the windshield pillar.\u00a0 This usually happens when the drip tray drain tube gets plugged up and water sits in there.\u00a0 Ironically, these early doors have not one, but TWO EXTRA DRAIN HOLES from the factory, and they\u2019re some of the rustiest I\u2019ve seen yet up there!<\/p>\n

Take a look through the photos to see some of the special features of these early doors, and our correct restoration of them back to 1961 specs:<\/p>\n