« Reply #3 on: April 23, 2011, 11:59:33 am »
As far as I am aware the hard top on the Dart was never fixed in position but opened from the front in a reverse action of a Bond Bug. They are very rare. There was no prevision of a door as standard. A door was offered as an option but it was hinged at the bottom like a Lotus 11, not surprising as Stan Brown worked with Colin Chapman on that project before moving to Australia and producing the car buck for Buckle. One of my Darts used to have a door but it has been glassed in. I can understand why as while the Buckle floor-pan exhibits a number of extra body panels to stiffen it up over a Standard Dingolfing item the body-shell still needs to be rigid to add stiffness to the whole assembled body-shell/floor-pan. Interestingly I think some of the later 'kit' Darts created do not feature these modifications to the floor and might thus suffer from scuttle shake and movement in action. The car pictured has doors that do not match the aperture shape I have seen. I would therefore suggest some evidence would be needed to support a claim this car is as original.
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