Touching on the Freeway comment about virtually new Schmitts being available is timely. After waiting for some panels for ages and getting Kevin the welder ready and primed Annex Man and myself helped Kevin use the Monocoque jig that has been made to create the first monocoque out of it made entirely from new metal panels and tubes.
It is a logical extension of use for the jig which was made for repairing old frames with new panels. Having proved it was correct and producing several reliably accurate monocoques it was not much stretch of logic to try a set of new parts in it. The result has been better than we hoped.
On measuring up cars for the jig it becomes quickly apparent that Messerschmitts have a suprising degree of variations in the location of their structural and mounting points. This would account for why swapping parts can be difficult as the fit is not as good as you might expect, each car having an element of hand building in its construction. Also it explains why each car drives differently to the others. Clearly some cars are going to be better balanced, steer better etc as the small variance does matter. It has been a matter of record that there are some cars that really do not be have as well as others on the road despite efforts to tune the chassis.
On finishing the monocoque after two days work Kevin measured it across the angles for accuracy. It is bung perfect. The monocoque we were copying was a mint original '60's issue example. It was not square, being out in one dimension by .5mm and the other .2mm, in this case. So we know we are square. There are a few tweaks to do in the build up process to prevent problems. But in general the thing went together well. We will have it on show at Bath and listen to constructive criticism. This might alter the way the thing is stitched together etc. though it looks good to me.
There is a requirement for 5 more new monocoques between us to be produced without money changing hand which will then be run out of the jig and that should result in 5 currently incomplete 'Schmitt kits becoming cars. I am not sure what happens beyond that as to sell the monocoques will create a liability issue I am not going to take on. An answer might be found as I think the availability of a new monocoque might well be of interest to a few folk. I know Oliver H does them but these are already in Britain and look like being a more economical option because of it. I will be doing another 5 myself over the next few years to restore the growlers I have stashed in one of my sheds and clear them away so I can retain my collection of low milage/original Schmitts in some space and finance the stabilisation of those cars, most of which I do not want to restore outright as many might. So I will not be relinquishing the jig in the immediate future as it is part of my project to sort out Schmitts in hand.
Given the number of folk wanting Schmitts and the availability of various options of panels in steel and GRP, not least from Andy Carter, and the option of reshelling a Tri Tech there could be a demand for the use of the jig. The problem then becomes registrations. My cars are real and I have the IDs. Rebuilding a pile of bits of misc Schmitts into one, that gets an age related. When we get onto GRP based cars it starts getting iffy and add a twist and go engine and the water is deep. So there are issues beyond the construction itself. No doubt there will be those who will be against the whole idea and others on middle ground.
Be interested to see if there is feedback from a somewhat neutral site, in terms of Schmitts.