It's probably more down to how the bonnet was made. Back then a half inch out was probably about as good as they could get such a complex pressing.

The wings were probably adjusted to meet with the bonnet, there is loads of movement fore and aft in the wing bolts.

Hi Paddy,

I do have those rubber blocks, you can see the lower part of one at the top of the second picture. However, they don't appear to touch the inside of the bonnet and I don't have any marks showing contact with the valence either. I guess its just down to how the bonnet is positioned.

Hi Andy,

From your pics it looks like you have a bit missing.

The metal part on the side of the radiator should have a rubber block on the front. This presses against the inside of the bonnet and should ensure the panel doesn't vibrate.

The two small blocks should sit firmly on the valence panel and ensure the grill sits level. I guess this is to mitigate the effect of the bonnet warping on the ZA, because the prop mechanism only acts on one side of the bonnet.

Attached is a pic of my car with the block and the mark where the small rubber sits.

Paddy

I have always wondered what the Design Dept. thinking was when they came up with the rubber buffers for the front of the Magnette bonnet? (See photo 1) They are spaced 18 inches apart which places them in the gaps either side of the radiator when the bonnet is shut. Consequently the nicely rounded rubber faces do not touch the sides of the radiator - or anything else for that matter. There is no contact with the radiator cradle nor the front valence (although it is a near miss here) but there IS metal to metal contact (on my car at least) between the backs of the buffer mounting arms and the "D" plates on the front wings (See photo 2).

It makes me think that something went awry at the design stage for there to be rubber buffers which do nothing and allow metal to metal contact.

Andy