Recently I've been discussing the 10" wheel versions of the coupe with a number of people -- Stuart, Andy etc -- with a view to potentially recreating an earlier model. Initial approaches regarding new moulds and mods to the chassis jig indicate that a significant amount of investment would be required. As I can't imagine a scenario where anyone would want to build a car for the road -- I think IVA would be more difficult with a Cox than the later cars -- the only application I can see is in spare parts or some one who might want to build an historic racer. Most suppliers work on a minimum order -- usually 5 units -- and amortisation of the tooling costs would make the parts significantly more expensive so before making any decisions I thought I thought I'd start this post. So:

How many people actually have an early car?
Which version? original Cox/Heerey/early SB car?
Would anyone actually want to build a new car for historic racing or similar purpose?

If you don't want to declare interest on the site please PM me

I'm having a "strategic review" of the project with some ex-colleagues next week -- over a beer needless to say -- so any input would be appreciated

Thanks

Steve Shield

Hi Steve,
I did run my Cox using 175 x 13 -70 Pirelli P7 in the mid 1980's, almost the same rolling radius as 165 x 10, but had to fit arch extensions to keep the scrutes happy
John

Hi Steve,
I have an early Cox - chassis No.8
It has an unmolested original body (no flared arches) and as such it can only really take very narrow wheels.
Cooper S brakes and spaced rear drums would make even standard Mini wheels stick out beyond the wheel arches.

Most Coxes and 10" Coupes I see have had wider arches fitted by their owners at some point.

I can't see a great demand for the original version unless for a historically accurate replacement.

The early Cox sheet steel rear tower version of the chassis may not be too popular either.
Possibly make a 10" version chassis with the space frame rear for replacement on the few remaining rusty ones?

Added to the problem of obtaining the Mk1 screen glass, I can't see the demand.

I'd love to get only the wheel arches of a early Cox GTM for using them on my modified GTM Coupé. They will be used as base for wider arches looking like the older (pretty) narrow ones.

Can anybody of the cox owners provide me a set of cox style wheelarches or moulds for laminating the arches on my own?

dietmar

The front and rear body sections are all one piece, i.e. here are no separate wheel arches....

I know, but I don't need the whole clamshells. I just want to modify a 13" clam to suit 10" wheels. The sills will be modified, too.

You can buy arch extensions from Mini Spare etc and bond them on this is what I did with my old cox when using 13" wheels
John

Of course I could do that, but I don't want to. I'd like to have the look of the original Cox arches.
I'm going to achieve that by using Cox arches while widening the wings. As I'm professionally working with carbon and glass fibre, this would be an easy task for me to do. If there is no option, getting hands on the needed arches, I will have to sculpt them on my own.

@kano nordie: I know a Cox like that, but I personally don't like the used wheel arches. It looks like putting together what doesn't belong together - they where made for Minis, not GTMs. But thats only my personal point of view.

As I'm going to heavily modify my GTM, this project might also be not everybodys taste. More about the mods and the ongoing rebuild will be presented soon in a special topic.

dietmar