Time for a change.

With other work commitments taking priority, Rarebits will in future be operating as an online business. We will be attending a handful of shows, however telephone enquiries will be difficult.

The upside is that shopping basket ordering will be available via a new website. This will be up and running in the next few days, please bear with us while we add product inventory.

More 1959 Herald stuff!

One for the owners of the earliest Heralds, I've wanted to make these for a long time, but the mould has been incredibly difficult to produce. 

Owners who need them will already have recognised them, but for anyone who is curious, they're gaiters which cover the openings in the top of the bulkhead for the brake and clutch pedals.


I don't expect these to be a major commercial venture, at £20 each they're not something which will be bought on a whim. They are however an essential and otherwise unavailable part for 1959 and early 1960 Heralds.

The soft moulds used to make these are likely to be good for 20-30 pieces before they deteriorate. These should all be completed by the end of next week.

Rare Triumph Projects must go

After 11 years renting a storage barn, I will shortly have to move all of my vehicles to new location.
With this in mind I've decided to put many of my personal projects and parts up for sale. This includes a Courier Van, a 948 Coupe and 1200 Estate, some details on my Rarebits website here:http://www.rarebits4classics.co.uk/Frameset.htm

As regards parts, I have bodyshells, roof panels (inc Coupe), bulkheads, interior trim, gearboxes, diffs, most of which I am really reluctant to move again.

It's all located in Wiltshire, close to RAF Lyneham.

Hey Barb!

..... can you tell what it is yet?

Just an early test, still a month or two away from production.

Progress in polyurethane!

The biggest limitation I've faced with moulding polyurethane components has been bubbles of gas trapped in the finished components. This has meant quite a high reject rate, itself a big issue with a labour intensive process using expensive materials, while other products which couldn't be successfully moulded at all.

Once the polymers are mixed, they need to be placed under a high vacuum to extract gas from the mix, before it starts to cure. A recent upgrades to a larger vacuum pump has allowed me to cast parts which I had previously considered impossible.

The seat block moulds were made last year, but initial testing was unsuccessful and they were put aside. Looks like they're now a viable product......

Having submitted the artwork shortly before Christmas, I've just received the finished instrument column decals from the printers. I think this is the first time anyone's made these for the 948s and other Heralds with the grey switchgear, I've certainly not seen any in the time I've been working with Triumphs!

I've tried to cover all the major types used by Triumph - Spitfires, Heralds (Grey and Black backgrounds), TRs, GT6s, in RHD and LHD form.

These are all printed as pairs, so no mis-matches on colours.

Anyone who's ever built model kits will be familiar with the way these work. Half a minute or so in lukewarm water, and the decal is ready to slide off it's backing into place on the cowl.

I'll have these listed on the website by the end of the week, I'm just waiting on a delivery of glassine envelopes so I can package them safely.

I first looked at doing instrument column decals a few years ago. Those which are currently made seem to be randomly done as waterslide transfers (correct) or sticky backed labels (wrong). The chance of getting a matched pair is pretty remote for most applications!

I've now decided to resurrect this project, and I've completed artwork for all righthand drive Herald and Vitesse variants, including several variants in grey for the early cars. I've included some Spitfire decals as they're another model I have regular access to

The artwork goes to the printers this week, unfortunately I've not been able to get good images for any lefthand drive applications. If anyone can get me good hi-res images of original decals for any other variants, I'll add them onto this order. It's being done as a one-off print run though, so time is tight.