WOOD YOU BELIEVE IT

I knew that working on the 1935 Lanchester LA 10 would require some basic engineering and electrical knowledge but it had not crossed my mind that some woodworking skills would also be helpful.

My Lanchester has a metal skin over a wood frame, with a wooden floor, wood-lined boot space, wooden dashboard/bulkhead and wood framed seats, and I wonder if any cars have failed their M.O.T. Test because of woodworm infestation or dry rot?

A sobering thought, but I had to laugh when I actually found evidence of woodworm infestation sometime in the past. I now apply a proprietary treatment to the wood as a matter of course when it is exposed and I have also done a couple of actual woodworking jobs.

The wood in the boot area had at sometime been replaced with hardboard and while this was O.K. I decided to upgrade to plywood. There were two hardboard side panels, a large hardboard sheet separating the boot from the back of the rear seats and a small plywood construction protecting the top of the petrol tank filler pipe where it came through the side of the car which looked a bit grotty.

The boot floor was solid wood and I was pleased to find this perfectly sound, so it remained untouched apart from a coat of paint.

The old hardboard and plywood shapes became templates and the new sections were then carefully sawed, drilled, painted and screwed into position.

Other than that, the only other woodwork - and that's pushing it a bit, (a metal bracket and a block of wood - A) was beneath the dashboard, among the spaghetti to accomodate a water temperature gauge - but I do stay alert listening for the dreaded death watch beetle.

An Earthy Tale

One aspect of wood framed cars to bear in mind is possible difficulties with 'earth' connections. A steel bodyshell attached to a steel frame is likely to provide a better path to earth, and back to the appropriate battery terminal, than a steel shell over wood with limited metal to metal contact.

It may be therefore that a good earth connection between appliance and bodyshell is, by itself, not always enough.

For example when I had a rear light on the blink, it transpired that one of the bolts holding the light fitting to a rear panel of the car - which was part of the overall steel bodyshell - had come adrift from a wire which was also making earth contact with the steel chassis. Sort of "belt and braces" but worth remembering if you've tried everything and the new or replacement appliance fitted to your wood framed vehicle stubbornly refuses to co-operate.

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