2815 Recent purcahse of a mark ii have a few questions

[Barry Wolk]

I did a little research and I think they may have been made at the Ionia Mfg. plant before it burned and was replaced with the plant next door that built the rest of the Mark IIs. Coachbuilt.com says that the company was acquired in '53 by M-B, but that doesn't jibe with the production dates.

I'm beginning to remember more about the letter. It spoke of being very concerned that the smaller firm wouldn't be able to keep up with production as they had already lagged in delivery. I seem to distinctly remember that there was a complaint about a car that had one door an inch longer than the other.

I'm wondering if M-B made the prototypes with Continental's dies and then got them back. Possibly they shopped for a builder and got a better price than M-B and let the initial production contract to them, but pulled it when they didn't perform and transferred the dies back to M-B.

I just recently read that there was a die material change that saved them $600 a car. This may have been the turning point.

[Pat Marshall]

Check out the history for 2289 owned by Don Mitchell pres of Mitchell Bentley. There's a story about the company and the mark II

[Barry Wolk]

Does anyone here remember the story about 3 bodies being left over at M-B?

[Barry Wolk]

Someone just posted this on the H.A.M.B. in response to my request for body info. These were wood body bucks.

Looks like they miniaturized Roger next to his wood model.

[Shawn Newcomb]

Only from a mention in one of your old posts on the subject.

[Barry Wolk]

Got a link?

[Shawn Newcomb]

This was from the thread I mentioned being from @ 3years ago. -Shawn

I can't remember the name of the original body maker. The letters I read showed deep concern as to whether the original firm would be able to keep up with production demands. They went to Mitchell because they had larger capacity. However, I also read that they were very unhappy with the fit and finish of the Mitchell bodies, especially the amount of lead and how well it was finished. Many bodies had to be redone at Continental's shops before they were painted. I also read that there were several bodies in white left over at Mitchell's facility when the program ended. I saw a letter from Mitchell asking about the disposition of those bodies, but I never saw a response..I suppose a prototype fender could have gotten into the parts stream at some point.
__________________
Barry Wolk
Farmington Hills, MI

[Barry Wolk]

Well, that's a good clue. We'll just look for correspondence from Mitchell. That will be legible as some of the documents were probably 4th page carbons. Remember carbon paper?