Fabricating a Series 1 deck lid

[87mj]

I recently purchased a complete series 1 car...complete except for the rear hatch.

Can a series 1 hatch be fabricated from a mid '71 hatch (with vertical defrost) ? I have a '71 hatch. A body shop could easily cut holes to support the hatch vents. It seems like finding a rust free series 1 deck would be about impossible. The body shop can't get me in until July so I have time.

i should also mention the donor car  i would taking the hatch from is very restorable also which tugs at my emotions a little.

Do exhaust fumes enter the cabin through those hatch vents? 

Thanks

 

 

 

[Mark Maras]

 The vert. defrost ran thru at least Aug of 71. I haven't seen the inside of an early hatch in years but as I recall there is ducting inside the hatch to prevent exhaust from entering the cabin. the clips that hold the ducts in place rust away and until a short time ago were not available. One of our members recently had a limited number of the clips manufactured and is currently doing another batch. You'll need the clips and ducts if you're going to try to modify a hatch.

 The exhaust will find it's way into the rear given ANY opportunity.

[Patcon]

I think it would be hard to fabricate the holes for the vents in the hatch. They have a lip to help with oil canning. They would also have to be located accurately. I don't know what they would look like without the lips. The hatch ducts and grills can be pretty expensive too.

I have seen some early hatches for sale recently and some of the asking prices were out of sight!

[Hardway]

I agree with Patcon.  The cost and complexity of the re-creating a early hatch plus all of the duct work and parts can be very expensive.  Depending on your plans for the car you could run a regular hatch for now and keep on the look out for a S-1 hatch, preferably complete.  Due to their rarity you may be looking at the possibility of having to buy an entire car just to get the hatch and parts.  Hopefully it does not come to that.  Take a look at my thread from earlier this year.  It has lots of information and pictures regarding the series-1 hatch and related parts.

http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/57001-series-1-hatch-vent-duct-clips-restoration-info-needed/