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Subject: 1937 LG45 dhc for sale

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Another fine looking car offered at Bonhams, one I missed, but will be following up..

http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20143/lot/242/

The car came with an estimate of £80,000 - 100,000 and did not sell at auction.

Reg No BKU999, looks very good.

Two failed LG45 dhc's in a row at auction. The first car, clearly required lots of work on the body panels and possibly a respray in a better color scheme.

Do these results suggest that the collectors are focussed on the tourers at this price level ?

What price a good LG45 dhc then ?

Simon

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Subject: Re: 1937 LG45 dhc for sale

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Peter - I would very much appreciate your thoughts on these cars please, when you get a moment.

Many thanks

Simon

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Subject: Re: 1937 LG45 dhc for sale

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Simon,
I am not very familiar with details of the LG45, may be an LG45 owner should comment. My personal impression from the auction link is: It looks nice, It seems to be an original DHC (no conversion). I like the colour combination, it has not been restored for a long time (you can see some signs of ageing even on the photos) but still looks quite good, the leather looks fairly new, the air silencer on the engine is missing. How does it run, how are the gearbox and brakes? The hood?. May be it did not sell on auction because the engine looks like not having been touched for a longer time but this may be ok if you get the chance to drive it. It says chassis 12158/G10 what does the G10 mean? is that the G10 gearbox used on the V12 too? Test drive it and buy it for a good price...

Subject: Re: 1937 LG45 dhc for sale

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Peter hi

Thanks for your thoughts.

Yes, this is a genuine dhc and not a chopped down saloon.

I am planning to see the car shortly, it is an older restoration, back in the 1990's I have been told. The car is road taxed, so will be interesting...

The LG45 also came with the G10 gearbox, same as on the LG6 and V12 models, which I have been told by several club members is a good box.

I am torn between this car and the LG6; the latter with similar chassis, internal layout and build to the V!2, and also sensible position accelerator pedal.

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Subject: Re: 1937 LG45 dhc for sale

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Hi Simon,

It does look quite a nice car. 37,511 miles on the clock. I wonder if that's correct? One or two things to look at.

The leather looks new but appears to be well done. The door pull strap is in the wrong place but that's a minor detail. Not sure what all that extra chrome is by the pocket in the door - some sort of extra security I imagine?
It does look quite low at the back which suggests the springs need retempering.
As Peter commented the air silencer is missing. Not sure why that horn is on the bulkhead. That is a horn (the red thing)? The jack oil tank appears to be missing also the shock absorber spill valve (the two holes on the bulkhead below the fuel pipe). This would suggest the jacks are missing and the luvax shocks too. The jacks are replaceable (the club has some) should you wish to replace them but the luvax shocks would be much harder to find.
Check the doors for fit. If they have dropped or scape on the sill or front post the likely cause is the hinge post (B post) is rotting. Have a look underneath - the bottom end of the B post is exposed so you can see if there is rot. They tend to rot from the bottom up.

David

Subject: Re: 1937 LG45 dhc for sale

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David good morning,

I will email you with my details directly so we can talk.

Thank you for your thoughts.

Kind regards

Simon

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Subject: Re: 1937 LG45 dhc for sale

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Simon,

I have some experience of LG45s as I have three of these cars. Having quickly looked at the engine photo there is enough to raise concerns of non-originality and lack of attention to detail, this all may be cosmetic but I would want to look at the car's service history and see what and who had done the work and check as much as I could. The G10 is a good box but very expensive to repair and spares are rare, unlike the earlier G9 box. The DHC is a much heavier car than the tourer and the doors (B posts especially vulnerable) many have already been steel braced but excessive door flex is not unusual. Assuming the major items are sound I would like to have £10K to sort the car out to ensure reliable motoring - less if you intend to complete all the labour yourself. I would strongly suggest you get a professional marque expert to inspect the car. Values are very difficult to assess but a sorted LG Tourer would be just below M45 levels I guess (say £110K) a good saloon perhaps £75K and a DHC somewhere in the middle - this can only be a most approx guide. Happy to discuss further and indeed help if I can.

Good luck,

Stephen

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Subject: Re: 1937 LG45 dhc for sale

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Folks

Having had one LG and an M45, I agree with everything Stephen says. The photos of the one under discussion shows that the underbonnet area is scruffy with poor detail such as lack of air cleaners. These bits can generally be found but as Stephen says, it's a pointer to the car's service history. I particularly resonate with his comments about the heavy doors and to B post. These should be firmly bolted through to the chassis.

I also agree with Stephen's suggestion to budget for £10k for sorting the car out, though this may be much less if one is prepared to work through the car oneself. You just have to be patient.

Look particularly at the wiring as it is a particularly vile job to renew this harness on an LG45. After all, would you live in a house with the original 1937 rubber sheathed wiring? With my LG 45, this was the first job - I was really worried about fire.

May I also add the the "brown shower test". If you can, take the car on a fast run for about 15 miles so everything is fully warmed up. During this fast run, pull into a lay-by and enjoy the brown shower! When the hot engine is revving nicely, the pump will pull the water through the radiator, but of course at tick-over the pump stops but the thermo-syphon will continue to pile water into the header tank. The LG 45 radiator cap does not seal particularly well, and if the radiator is sludged up, the whole of the front of the car will get showered in boiling hot brown water. If you have slowed due to traffic congestion, this can be very embarrassing as well as dangerous if the windscreen suddenly becomes opaque! The solution is to de-scale the radiator with Fernox DS3. This involves taking it off and blanking the bottom hose aperture and putting in a hot solution of de-scaler. This is a long job as a badly scaled radiator will need quite a number of treatments.

Then of course you will find the various aluminium water plates are porous. These are all available from the Club, but some items such as the transfer ports will need drilling to match the alignment of the holes in the block and head.

If the car has not been used for some time, the damper and the front of the engine may not operate, especially of it has been doused with brown water.

When hot, engine oil pressure might be quite negligible, but David Hine says this is not always serious.

There are other fun items to sort out, and when these are done, the LG 45 is a delight for long-distance motoring at around 3 miles to the litre fuel consumption.

Enjoy!

Anything more to add, chaps?

Colin M34

Subject: Re: 1937 LG45 dhc for sale

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I only have to add a comment concerning the brown shower Colin describes: Boiling when idling after hard driving can hapen even if the sludge has been removed from the engine and the radiator descaled. I have that in my V12 engine which will get a complete overhaul sooner or later. I had removed the plates from the block and all the sludge, I descaled with help of an external pump two times not only the radiator but also the block and cylinder head. But the effect Colin describes is still there. Overall water temperature reamains low but when idling after a strong go it may boil over. I see two reasons: Some internal water channels (e.g. in the cylinder head) have become very thin due to built up of scale and rust plus very important: the water pump has become ineffective due to corrosion to the rotor blades. I cured that for the moment with an electrical water pump, which works fine (if I switch it on when needed).
But all this is not specific to the LG45 discussed, it is a general thing. May be we should start a new topic for this.

Subject: Re: 1937 LG45 dhc for sale

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Hi Peter, a bit off topic, but the V12 impeller is bronze, so won't corrode. A far more likely culprit is the water pump body, made from pretty poor quality aluminium, so prone to heavy corrosion given the slightest opportunity...an obvious example is the water jacket plates.
A high speed run, especially on a hot day, will generate a lot of heat, which the cooling system will cope with (perhaps only just!). Coming to a halt fairly abruptly leaves a lot of latent heat in the engine, with suddenly only a trickle of water from the pump, now only idling...and of course, only the fan to provide airflow through the radiator...again only idling.
Cheers
Laurence