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MG MG Y Type - View from mirrors

Suggestion appreciated as to how I can improve rear visibility with mirrors , especially when filtering out from a side road onto a main road .I tried to fit a overtaking type mirror to the door frame channel but without success.

Ed Winters
E Winters

Ed

Do you have wing mirrors fitted to the front wings alreay? They are a good first stop. Positioning them is difficult because of the Lucas 1130 side lights, however you can just fit them in behind the lights. I would not advocate the small round ones, the later ones from the 70s look too big too however you might want to look at http://www.gregorysautoparts.co.uk/catalogue.php?t=0&c=157 and a full list of external mirrors can be seen on http://www.gregorysautoparts.co.uk/catalogue.php?t=1&c=14.

Best wishes

Paul
Paul Barrow

Yes Paul , wing mirrors had been fitted by Miles Harris when he did restoration but they are terrible ,Their angle of view is very narrow .Difficult to see what's going on behind with traffic and changing lane or filtering out onto main road can be challenging.
Anyway does'nt happen often in rural Tyrone.

Ed Winters
E Winters

Car Front Pic

Ed

E Winters

Hi Ed

I wondered what had happened to Miles Harris's car - so you are now the owner. It was featured in the MG Octagon Bulletin in the early 90's and is pictured in Lawsons book on page 67 when he had just acquired the car (a YB?)in 1986. Lovely car and looks really good in your pic. Is that a flying 'midge' on the radiator cap? They really set off the car.

Back to your request I believe that you can still obtain 'passing mirrors' which are affixed to the drainage guttering. They are rectangular in shape and can be easily removed when displaying your car. I used one on a Y that owned many years ago it was simple and could be easily adjusted by hand when travelling.

I'll see if I can find an example and supplier.

Sincerely

Jerry
J P BIRKBECK

Ed

If you follow Paul's link to Gregory Autoparts you can see an example as 'AN OVERTAKING MIRROR' PART NO 00111.

Hope this helps

Jerry
J P BIRKBECK

Ed

Your photo of the front of the car was very useful.

Look at it and you will see that the wing mirrors are rotated so that they are pointing INBOARD. Do you see the securing bolt for the mirror head? It is offset and currently you have that on the outside edge of the mirror hence why I say it is giving you an inboard shot of what is behind you.

Slacken the nut and rotate the mirror round 180 degrees so that the bolt head is on the inboard side of the mirror not the outboard side. This will mean that the mirror pertrudes or sticks out slightly but you will have a much clearer view of what is behind you.

You will need to tighten the nut up slightly and have someone help position the mirror for you, then tighten the nut up securely checking all the time that you, as driver in the driver seat, can maintain a clear view.

Opinion is divided as to whether you should have to slightly move your head to obtain a clear view. I personally believe that a slight deflection of the head to look in a mirror is a good thing and it does mean that you can have slightly more view of what is behind you. When positioning the mirror you should aim to be just able to see the rear of the car in each mirror, then tip the mirror out just a small amount so that the car is no longer visible. That is the correct setting of the mirror.

Mirrors should not be set so that you use them for backing up into tight spaces - for that, open the window and stick your head out to check/have a passenger do the same on their side - a wing mirror is to see what is BEHIND the car, not beside it.

Once the mirrors are set correctly, have your assistant stand behind the car say 3 - 4 foot back off the rear wing and you should be able to see them in the mirror. Have them move to the other side of the car and you should see them in the other mirror. This will ensure that you have a better field of vision with the mirrors you currently have Ed.

Try this and see how much better your rear vision is, and then please come back and let us know. You may find that this now gives you sufficient vision and you no longer need additional mirrors.

Just remember folks do not rely on mirrors when reversing - there is no substitute there for good observation. Using mirrors for this is lazy and not good driving practice. They are intended and designed for you to see what is behind you when y ou are going forwards.

Paul
Paul Barrow

Ed
When I bought Y7207 it had round wing mounted mirrors like yours. However they were flat glasses and as you say had a limited field of view.
I changed them for convex ones and was quite happy with the view thereafter.

Michael
Michael Nicholson

Thank you all for information and will sort out mirrors for safety reasons. A lot of modern car drivers show little consideration for us classic car users.

Yes ,Jerry , my car YB 1041 belonged to the late Miles Harris and I have all his records ,invoices ,photographs from his restoration and research of all things Y.
As well as the Lawsons book ,Dave Lawrence corresponded with Miles when doing research for his book and I have all those letters between them.
Miles was very particular in having everything right and I consider myself priviliged to be the custodian of YB 1041 which is a fine tribute to Miles .

Ed Winters

E Winters

This thread was discussed between 20/01/2012 and 23/01/2012

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