Interior Door Handles on a 5 ?

1969SE5 · Post by **1969SE5** » Fri Mar 01, 2019 2:24 pm

Hi Chaps

when i bought my 69 5 , it had metal interior door close handles, which looked wrong and i replaced with Cortina style, but just come across this advert on ebay .... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RELIANT-SCIM ... rk:40:pf:0 which has started the thought process again.... would the early 500 cars have had different handles ?

Post by **roymck** » Fri Mar 01, 2019 4:29 pm

Don’t remember mine having any handles , used the armrest to pull the door shut and yes it was a pre 500.
The EBay parts are the same as fitted to my MGB , as the add said suitable for fitting to a SE5 , that doesn’t mean they were ever fitted .

Post by **Roger Pennington** » Fri Mar 01, 2019 6:01 pm

FWIW, here's No 004, (photographed in 2016) (obviously I can't give any absolute guarantees on it's originality, nor that what's typical of one is typical of all....)

: GTE no 004.jpg (167.13 KiB) Viewed 1582 times

Post by **scim_rebel** » Fri Mar 01, 2019 6:24 pm

I had no reason to believe that 004 wasn't completely original in that particular area (one of the relatively few!) and the combination of handles/armrests shown are typical of all early cars as far as I have seen.

Post by **AJL Electronics** » Fri Mar 01, 2019 6:26 pm

That is the same as the car I have in for work at the moment. I think that the hinged handles were a later change.

Post by **Roger Pennington** » Fri Mar 01, 2019 6:41 pm

I couldn't find them in the Se5 Parts List (though I guess that doesn't prove they weren't fitted later, for a short period of time, perhaps)

Post by **Roger Pennington** » Fri Mar 01, 2019 6:50 pm

In fact they do seem to appear in the Se5a parts list, along with a note saying " Up to Chassis number 454030" which I think is the last Se5a before the uprated engine came in. So they may only be early Se5a, unless they filtered in earlier?

Post by **Will Anderson** » Fri Mar 01, 2019 7:43 pm

I have an original 1972 SE5a which has the door pull handles similar to the eBay type above and my 1973 SE5a has the type shown in Roger's picture. My 72 car is post the uprated engine and I just always assumed that the early cars had the door pull and at some point between 72 and 73 they changed to the armrest type.

Post by **Roger Pennington** » Fri Mar 01, 2019 9:00 pm

Sounds as though the armrest went away and then staged a comeback! The Armrest (part no 204924 in black) is listed in the Se5 parts list (tieing-in with my photo above) and then the same armrest, with the same part no, is listed in the Se5a parts list, with the note "from chassis number 931001 (which is the one after the one listed as the end date for the handle above.)

Also I've done a bit more checking and Don's book says the uprated engine came in at 453501

Post by **Will Anderson** » Fri Mar 01, 2019 9:31 pm

Well, the 72 car is 4537xx and the 73 is 93x20xx so that would tie in.

Post by **speedy555** » Fri Mar 01, 2019 9:58 pm

I've had the hinged ones on a 1972 car, but all the rest including the 2x 1970 se5's I have are the armrest type

1969SE5 · Post by **1969SE5** » Sat Mar 02, 2019 12:01 am

armrest ones are what I have fitted, same as the photo, will stick with that, took me ages to find them as well !!