MKII electric cooling fan

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Franchi

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The MKII sales literature, England edition, shows under (Optional Extras) “electronically operated cooling fan”. Anyone ever seen one, or a part number etc. for one?

David

https://www.catmbr.org/cat-forum/attachments/img-7405-jpg.14635/
 
I have seen that and wondered about it as well! In an earlier sales brochure for the Mk1 or Mk1a it listed a handbrake warning lamp as an option.... I also wonder in anyone has ever come across one of those!
 
I wonder if that list was for European delivery of Mk II Tigers. The brochure lists white wall tires and heating equipment as factory ordered extras, but I thought all Tigers were delivered to the US (and maybe all of North America) with them as standard. At the bottom of the brochure is "Ref:6001/EX/LHD", which makes me wonder if it refers to export, lefthand drive.

Still, it would be very interesting to find out what was the electric cooling fan. (I wonder if a Lucas electric cooling fan would heat up the water in the radiator.)
 
There were so few LHD export Mk2 cars to destinations outside of North America (USA and Canada) that I would think that optional equipment for a solely Euro destination wouldn't have been cost effective or even considered. Of course, Rootes would have had to made lighting considerations for France and the Continent. France would have required yellow headlamp lenses and Europe would have had to have asymmetrical projecting lenses... Italy would have required clear lenses, in front anyway for indicators, but I don't think any MK2's went to Italy! German cars (and French ones) usually had a supplemental chassis tag and a lot of them also had secondary stampings of the chassis number into the engine bulkhead. Germany required axle weight load information on chassis tags of imported cars after about 1963... French cars often had supplemental noise emission devices for ignition systems (extra shielding and noise capacitors)... Some British cars were supplied with smaller displacement engines (usually de-stroked) to avoid taxation problems for large displacement engines (over 2.8 liters). Of course, this would not have been possible with the Tiger!

There were a couple of cars that went to Rhodesia but they weren't Mk2's... They had Alpine side emblems like the German cars due to the (German) Messerschmidt trademark on the Tiger name.

Outside of the Hartwell 6 there weren't any UK spec Mk2's. My Mk2 was shipped to Ontario, Canada new... But in all respects it is a standard N/A LHD spec Tiger.

I don't think the fan would have been to heat the water up... BMC used to supply fans with more blades to cars destined for hot climates. They called them "tropical fans". it's very interesting that the Healeys from '64-'67 had 12 and 16 blade fans, as opposed to 4, for Germany and Switzerland. Not exactly what I would call hot climates!!

The '64 Aston Martin DB5 I have in for resto right now has a secondary electric fan, but that is because it was fit with factory A/C... It was the '64 New York show car, so obviously N/A spec.
 
The brochure refers to the Sunbeam Alpine V8 Mk II. I do not believe the Mk II Tigers sold in North America were ever referred to as "Alpines", but maybe that term was used for the Mk IIs being shipped off to Germany. It makes me think that the brochure was not intended for use in North America, though.

But a Lucas fan might work as well as Lucas refrigerators.
 
Austin Healer said:
Outside of the Hartwell 6 there weren't any UK spec Mk2's. My Mk2 was shipped to Ontario, Canada new... But in all respects it is a standard N/A LHD spec Tiger.
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A correction...the Hartwell 6 were not UK spec, they were caught in the docks and Hartwell got them... converted them to RHD and on some added some options and even a vinyl hardtop on some.

There were some UK spec MKII.. the metropolitan police got some, a few select dealers also got some for personal use and there was the prototypes which went George Grant as a personal car that he wrote the long term road test on.
 
michael-king said:
A correction...the Hartwell 6 were not UK spec, they were caught in the docks and Hartwell got them... converted them to RHD and on some added some options and even a vinyl hardtop on some.

There were some UK spec MKII.. the metropolitan police got some, a few select dealers also got some for personal use and there was the prototypes which went George Grant as a personal car that he wrote the long term road test on.
Click to expand...
this is true... but their identity tags were overstamped "HRO"
 
The South African CKD cars had two cooling fans... They were basically Smiths heater fan motors with different fan blade units. I imagine that the cooling fans listed in the Mk2 sales brochure were very similar and probably a development of the S. African CKD cars. How these were activated is unknown, were they engaged thermostatically (otter switch) or by a simple switch on the dash?

There is a picture in the Book of Norman of a S. African fan and these look to be the same as the system used on series 1 E-type Jaguars (although the blades used are different). The Jaguar fans were tripped by an Otter switch.

Just how much benefit a Smiths heater fan motor (or a couple of them) provided is unknown... I can't believe that they would have pushed enough air to have really made any difference!

MGB went to electric cooling fans on the rubber bumper cars. (post '75). I remember that in 1981 my brother had a nearly new '80 MGB LE. The cooling fans would stay on even after he shut of the engine... My daughter has a '79 Spitfire that is the same.
 
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