Head and butt cars: Cut and paste

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Purchasing classics there

Head and butt cars. That is a term from the past ... Copying and pasting, 'copy / paste' is a slogan nowadays. Every car dealer knew what was meant when talking about a head and butt car. In the past there were fewer rules, so more free thinkers. That was also in the car world.

When prosperity broke out in the XNUMXs, everyone wanted a car. Even the people who had no money for a good car. On the supplier side, the response was flexible. German damaged cars were imported en masse. They had so much front, rear or all-round damage that they were never allowed to kiss the blessed road surface of the Autobahn again in their Heimat.

German dents

Here in the Netherlands they were made worthy to the regulations that were applicable at the time - and that was early and generous - again worthy of sale. At the time, the RDW had reserved a series of license plate letters for damaged cars that came to our country like wrecks imported from Germany. The letters 'DD' on the license plate came from that series. The always imaginative people soon realized that those letters stood for 'German Dent'.

If possible, then it's okay

In the context of entrepreneurship there was a trader in old steel and iron with ambitions. He had made his own stretch and straightening bench from heavy beams, some winches and steel chains. He rented these out a day to some car dealers who were specialized in damaged cars. I still remember how I looked like a adolescent while the head of a Mercedes was 'pulled back to length'. Cold, distorted metal that is again - roughly - modeled makes an unforgettable sound. Think of 'sinister' and 'pain'.

What doesn't know….

The left front wheel was pushed back and up an inch or forty-fifty. And the buyer of the reborn Benz has never known that. Perhaps he was just a little surprised at the tire wear pattern of his pride. From the Mercedes that the whole street was jealous of. The paint gleamed like a mirror. The soil was spotless in a large layer of bitac.

The phenomenon of head and box cars dates from the same time

The Camaro who had bought a few years older boyfriend - a concrete brazier who earned a lot of money - turned out to be such a head and butt car. The recipe for something so beautiful consists of a car with heavy front damage and the same one with heavy rear damage. You cut the two in half. You weld the good halves together and throw away the bad halves.

Technically speaking, such a way of working with the state of the art at that time could have worked if a straightening bench and a very good welder were involved. Little could be said about the welding. Or was it the filler and the tar that made the case look so tight? The Camaro was not straight. He was driving and braking strangely.

Cars were not yet constructed from perfectly calculated crumple zones of different types and thicknesses of steel. But in the corner where the front and rear cars were born, it was often wrong with such an expensive straightener. Please. In this case, the seller also had a learning moment: "Never sell a head and container car to a concrete weaver if you are not prepared to visit twelve angry construction workers."

Nothing changed really

All those thoughts came back when I recently saw two classics with damage on an industrial estate. Out of curiosity I went to have a look in the hall. There the guard dog met me friendly while his owner was concentrating on his work. He was working with extreme precision welding the front of a champagne-colored XJ40 to the dark blue rear of another XJ40. So it remains a matter of paying attention when purchasing used cars. Fortunately, the welder told me the car was being prepared for export.

Head and butt car
Grinding and welding work is of all times

Head and butt car

Head and butt car

Meanwhile on the Citromobile: Tomorrow (Thursday, 2 in May) at 13.00, Harry Martens is posting the on-board video of his crash during the Visual Art Rally on his YouTube channel. This weekend he is taking the crashed DS and his entire rally camp to CitroMobile. That will be the talk of the day!

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5 comments

  1. Head and butt. Well, I have such a car. Front of one Citroën Ami with four cylinder Citroën GS engine. Behind the front doors a back of one Citroën Acadiane.
    As the Citroën that could not have come up with it, then get started!

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