Quarter Light Mirrors

HI everyone.

Please help the Elf Village Idiot.

I bought some lovely quarter light mirrors, and...what the heck, I can't make them fit!

This is what they look like:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Clamp-on-Classic-Car-Quarterlight-Rectangular-Stadium-Type-Convex-Mirror-/200758134108?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2ebe1e055c

As usual I appear to have made a rookie mistake.

What sort should I have bought? I was trying to avoid the front wing style ones, I love the look of them but the thought of drilling Coco's wings gives me the cold sweats. So I thought the clamp on ones would be peachy, not anticipating the problem which is basically that you can't face them in the right direction.

DOH! Any advice, suggestions welcome.

I take it that they point towards the ground when fitted. If there's not enough movement in the ball joint to get the right angle you might be stuffed.

Edit: they're advertised as quarterlight mirrors, so are designed to fit on the vertical frame of the quarterlights. Unfortunately, the majority, of Minis don't have quarterlights, so I don't think they will work.

You're probably going to want something like these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MINI-Classic-Rectangular-Overtaking-Mirror-Clip-/220620913105#ht_500wt_1180

Or these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-Clamp-Clip-Overtaking-Mirror-Fits-Classic-MINI-/150622058788#ht_643wt_1398

It seems the major difference is the angle of the clamp in relation to the face of the mirror. I wonder if the ones you have could be bent at an angle to make them work?

Yes, Jono_h - you're quite right, as you say, mine doesn't have quarterlights, but I deluded myself into thinking that they would fit on the rain channel / front pillar (argh, not even sure what it's called, the bit of bodywork to either side of the windscreen!!) as it has a convenient place to put such a clamp.

Red Riley - I don't think there's anything I can do to bend these to the right angle because they basically face the wrong way completely. I love the ones you suggested, particularly the circular ones, but I think they will have the same problem. The bit I am trying to clamp it to requires that the mirror faces the same direction as the clamp, in other words on the circular ones, if you could take the mirror off and reassemble it back to front it might work.

I was sure I had seen others here with similar clamp on mirrors, but I must have been mistaken.

In my opinion ,or from experience I should say, the first ones are rubbish, the screws are too small and the vibration is bad, I had them on my first minivan in the 60's.
I don't like the wing mirrors either, the wings today ,particularly replacement ones are too thin and can rust away quickly if the holes are not treated properly. You have to have some one adjust them whilst you sit in the car.

I do think those I suggested will work, as they are made for Minis.
Here is a picture of how they mount on the car, from classic-car-accessories.co.uk


They sell just the clamp arm Ref: CME0642 as well. Perhaps you could change the arm on the ones you have now.



They hav lots of other options as well, just make sure that whatever you get, it says it's made to fit a Mini. They even have specially angled plinths to adapt standard door mirrors.

Just for the record, I LOVE my Desmo Boomerang wing mirrors.


3 out of 4 Elf/Hornets agree!

Those pics are so cool. You can tell you love them, you could be an advert!
Where did you find them?

Coco_ChanElf wrote:Those pics are so cool. You can tell you love them, you could be an advert!
Where did you find them?

Ebay, of course. They pop up from time to time, in fact I just checked and there are a pair on ebay just now.
Tex springback mirrors are very similar to the Desmos and are still available new. Classic-car-accessories.co.uk has a bunch of different ones.

Ali - see my reply in the facebook group

Jase