GSM Chasis after so many years
Extract from GSM Club newsletter - 1990
This must be a fact to
consider, come to think it is 30 years since the first ones rolled out of the
factory. So what, a chassis is after all a sturdy metal construction which was
designed to take whatever stresses and strains and unless battered during some
or other excursion over boulders or other nasty obstacles, what could effect it
in any way ?
Maybe we should take in regard what these chassis were manufactured of. They
were made of irrigation tubing, manufactured by Andrach and Sons of Nigel. The
pipe had a diameter of 89mm and was of a 1,8mm guage. this tubing made up the
major part of the chassis and was gusseted to strengthen corner joins with
plating of approximately the same gauge. You will agree that this was not a
heavy gauge of material at all.
Once the chassis had been completed, it was painted and the body was moulded
onto it in a number of places with strips of fiber glass leaving the rest of it
bare.
When this car was put into use it was subjected to the elements of another
nature. It got wet, it had air travelling over it at great speeds. Even when
travelling on tarred roads, small particles of dust, sand, grit, or you name it,
were flung as from the spout of a sandblaster onto it, slowly removing paint,
rubberizing or whatever it was coated with. The corner joints were gusseted to
strengthen the frame made up of sheet metal approximately the same gauge as the
tubing. These pockets were a perfect place in which sand, dust, and moisture
collected. All these things were the perfect factors that erosion depends on.
And that is exactly what happened. Corrosion, it's ugly name rust, set in and
after 30 years imagine what gauge material is left.
In the case of my car - a 1959 chassis, it was discovered that because of the
knocks it had taken over the years, it was broken in a few places, plus the
abovementioned factors in the rust game that it actually has had it. When it was
cleaned up cracks in the welding of joins were discovered all round. The upright
part carrying the boot had just about corroded away. Where previous owners tried
to weld it, with the body still intact, contortion has taken place. The corner
joints were gusseted to strengthen the frame made up of metal sheeting
approximately the same gauge as the tubing. Now this doesn't sound very
promising, does it? Despair drove me to thoughts of suicide and thoughts of
giving up the restoration of the car kept me awake for as many nights as I would
like to forget. This sad tale is however not meant to drive you to tears but to
advise you to make a close inspection of the chassis of your car and to make you
aware of the fact that the G.S.M. chassis needs looking after.
The happy part of my tale is that with the devoted help of Mike de Lange it was
possible to reconstruct, rebuild or restore the weather-beaten frame and that
maladies of the chassis can be fixed. So far those who are in the process of
rebuilding their cars, having separated body from chassis, now is the time to
make it good as new.
While one has the opportunity (like yours truly) every possible technique of
preventing corrosion should be taken. This is also your change to bring it back
to original by removing all additions previous owners have made over the years
in their attempts to fit whatever engines and gearboxes they managed to conjure
up.
Lucas van Wyk - 1990
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