FS EU Hartwell style latch for the GT40

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OttoRT

Supporter
After rebuilding my GT40 Mk1 I have som sets Hartwell latches leftover of from my build, I would like to sell. I was not really satisfied with the available ones on the market, so I managed to get some remanufactured in the original style. They were a bit expensive to get made especially because I had the PRESS handle cast in aluminum, which was a large part of the cost of doing them, but I think the result is worth the effort.
Most of the copies I have seen have the Press handle letters CNC cut ,and I this bit should look and feel correct. Judge for your self. I have 4 sets available but will be happy to sell them individually one at the time. I have anchor plates for both front and rear. The price for one latch is 280 US$ plus shipping from Europe, including the anchor plate for front or rear as needed.
Let me know if anybody is interested.
 

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OttoRT

Supporter
so $1120 US plus shipping?
so you have the narrow (front) and wide (rear) lower mounting brackets?
Hi Ryan .
$1120 for a whole set of 4 , including the right front and rear anchor plates .( Se picture) I have checked the rates for a UPS package to the US. The current rate is 80US$ and about 40 US$ with the postal service. The problem right now is with the Postal service, is that there is some disruption of service due to the coronavirus. UPS seems to be working.
 

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Agostino

Supporter
Hi Otto,
just want to thank you for the nice deal, the set I have received is simply spectacular, a very good part on my shelf to complete my project.
 

OttoRT

Supporter
Hi Agustino.
Glad to be of service. I am happy that you liked them. I still got a couple of sets left, if you known somebody that needs them.
 

Charlie Farley

Supporter
Hi Otto,

It must have been extremely helpful to have my Hartwells to hand. Takes all the hard work out of guessing the best way to make the,
gauges of materials, you know, all those hours of wasted prototyping..
Thanks
 

Charlie Farley

Supporter
Hi Otto,

It must have been extremely helpful to have my Hartwells to hand. Takes all the hard work out of guessing the best way to make the,
gauges of materials, you know, all those hours of wasted prototyping..
Thanks
After rebuilding my GT40 Mk1 I have som sets Hartwell latches leftover of from my build, I would like to sell. I was not really satisfied with the available ones on the market, so I managed to get some remanufactured in the original style. They were a bit expensive to get made especially because I had the PRESS handle cast in aluminum, which was a large part of the cost of doing them, but I think the result is worth the effort.
Most of the copies I have seen have the Press handle letters CNC cut ,and I this bit should look and feel correct. Judge for your self. I have 4 sets available but will be happy to sell them individually one at the time. I have anchor plates for both front and rear. The price for one latch is 280 US$ plus shipping from Europe, including the anchor plate for front or rear as needed.
Let me know if anybody is interested.

' Some sets ' you say, hmm.. now why would someone make multiple sets for only one chassis ? A vendor maybe ? Now that's a good idea.. say only 4 sets ( hopefully no one will twig that i will make more ) and avoid becoming a sponsoring vendor & paying the site what is stipulated... i guess the only remaining hurdle to jump is then swallowing pride and ripping of another's hard work... Hey, there are more immediate problems in this world at the moment, no one will notice.
 

OttoRT

Supporter
Hi Charlie. I only had them made because the ones I got from you broke because the press handle is made in tin. I brought at set from one of your colleagues, but but the press handle was CNC cut, and I was not happy with those either. So I had my own set made. As you can may be able to see the press handle is different from yours , and the anchor plates are different to, so no, they are not a copy your version, and I do only have 4 (now 3) sets avaliable .
I you want to buy some, I can probably have some more made, at competitive prices, since the really expensive part was to have casting for the aluminium press bit made. Just let m we know if you want a bach.
 
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Dan Winkworth

Supporter
The CAD files for these latches is easily available for download online for free and anyone going to the expense of making them would obviously make a few extra to cover the cost. Charlie it sounds like if your product was a better quality in the first place this would never have happened anyway. Stop moaning and look at what your trying to sell.
 

Charlie Farley

Supporter
Stop moaning and look at what your trying to sell.
Dan, you can't possibly be in an educated position to comment. You are not in possession of all the facts. You were not a party to any of the dealings between otto and myself. Reminds me somewhat on all the 'expert' opinions flying around about this virus.
 

Charlie Farley

Supporter
You have chosen to 'un' neatly side step the issue of coughing up the $ 600 to be eligible to be a Vendor. As to your assertion that my PRESS piece broke. Well, what the heck do you expect if you drop it on to concrete off a ladder, when getting the box down off a shelf. Your acquaintance let that slip some months later. ( Or was the damage done during dismantling to reverse engineer ?)

I do understand that once you had dismantled that damaged latch and sent me photos of your dismantling efforts, you had further damaged the casing, that you had an even bigger problem on your hands. But wouldn't the easiest option have been to send it back for repair ? Especially as you maintained you had a deadline to complete the chassis build. I can only imagine that deadline became even shorter, having to spend valuable building time progressing a copy of the latches. As to any differences, i know full well that you copied one of the PRESS pieces from the remaining 3 you didn't manage to break. That insight is due to the advantage of knowing the tweaks and idiosyncrasies one incorporates during fettling & manufacture, which do change as they evolve. You have more chance of winning the State Lottery, than stumbling, blind, upon those aspects. I'm guessing here, but did you mill out those feet brackets on your home kit ? Kinda reminds me of the boots that Hermann Munster wore.

Btw, did you ever find those parts you claimed repeatedly i didn't send you ? Luckily for both of us, i take item by item photos of each shipment and yours has been the only shipment in 15 years that was said to be missing contents . You then made the exact order for a friend's build, some months later, less the 'missing' parts you adamantly claimed had not been sent, whilst maintaining i had not shipped them.. i can only surmise. And yet i see my missing parts on your chassis photos.

It seems that this exercise in copying, is just a further similar step in the same vein, as witnessed by your attempt to do the same with my steering wheel badge on this forum in June last year. I guess a leopard never changes its ....
 

Dan Winkworth

Supporter
Dan, you can't possibly be in an educated position to comment. You are not in possession of all the facts. You were not a party to any of the dealings between otto and myself. Reminds me somewhat on all the 'expert' opinions flying around about this virus.

I’m not in an educated person ???
who do you think you are!!

The CAD files for these latches are available for free download. Simple fact! Google is your friend. (I doubt you have many others)

If you made a quality part it would not fall apart even if dropped on a concrete floor and this would not be an issue.

if you want to continue making a fool of yourself please go for it !!

You’re just upset that someone else is providing a product that you wrongly thought you had exclusive rights to.




Dan, you can't possibly be in an educated position to comment. You are not in possession of all the facts. You were not a party to any of the dealings between otto and myself. Reminds me somewhat on all the 'expert' opinions flying around about this virus.

Excuse me !!
I’m Not educated !!!
If you want to go with insults I can throw them at you them all day long.

but it’s a simple fact the CAD files for these latches are available for free to download to anyone that wants them. Google if your friend ( I doubt you have many real friends )

if you made quality part it would not fall apart if dropped on a concrete floor.

Regardless of this you have no right to accuse someone of “ripping you off” just because you wrongly thought you were the only person that could make these.
 

Charlie Farley

Supporter
Dan, i typed in ' an educated position' , as in having all the facts behind this issue. I think you misread what i wrote...
You were not a party to the protracted details, there is more to this situation, than is immediately obvious.
Sorry if you felt upset, but i did chose my words carefully. You will see they were not meant to offend.
Best
 

OttoRT

Supporter
You have chosen to 'un' neatly side step the issue of coughing up the $ 600 to be eligible to be a Vendor. As to your assertion that my PRESS piece broke. Well, what the heck do you expect if you drop it on to concrete off a ladder, when getting the box down off a shelf. Your acquaintance let that slip some months later. ( Or was the damage done during dismantling to reverse engineer ?)

I do understand that once you had dismantled that damaged latch and sent me photos of your dismantling efforts, you had further damaged the casing, that you had an even bigger problem on your hands. But wouldn't the easiest option have been to send it back for repair ? Especially as you maintained you had a deadline to complete the chassis build. I can only imagine that deadline became even shorter, having to spend valuable building time progressing a copy of the latches. As to any differences, i know full well that you copied one of the PRESS pieces from the remaining 3 you didn't manage to break. That insight is due to the advantage of knowing the tweaks and idiosyncrasies one incorporates during fettling & manufacture, which do change as they evolve. You have more chance of winning the State Lottery, than stumbling, blind, upon those aspects. I'm guessing here, but did you mill out those feet brackets on your home kit ? Kinda reminds me of the boots that Hermann Munster wore.

Btw, did you ever find those parts you claimed repeatedly i didn't send you ? Luckily for both of us, i take item by item photos of each shipment and yours has been the only shipment in 15 years that was said to be missing contents . You then made the exact order for a friend's build, some months later, less the 'missing' parts you adamantly claimed had not been sent, whilst maintaining i had not shipped them.. i can only surmise. And yet i see my missing parts on your chassis photos.

It seems that this exercise in copying, is just a further similar step in the same vein, as witnessed by your attempt to do the same with my steering wheel badge on this forum in June last year. I guess a leopard never changes its ....
Hi Charlie.
I would like to respond to your accusations one by one.
1: When the first of your laches broke, I dismantled it, hoping I could the press handle welded up, and discovered it made from tin.
You were kind to repair the part for 145 £ including handling and shipping.
When the second press handle broke (see picture ) I realized that your version of the Hartwell latch, was not strong enough for a (My) racing car, and I ordered a new set from one of your competitors.
Not being completely satisfied with those either, I decided to have my own manufactured.
I have photographed the second broken one side by side with my version( your piece did not come with the scratches) . As you can see the spring is located differently, and the PRESS bit has been completely redesigned. The angled P have been straightened out ( which may not be historically correct) and as I have already mentioned the anchor plates are different. So while I have tried to make the part as close to the original Hartwell Latch as possible it is not simply a copy of yours.
2: As for the missing shipment, we had some correspondence about that and came to an understanding where I paid you 50% of the original price for a new shipment of the missing parts, so you should not be surprised to find them sitting in my car. Please check our correspondence. I think your memory is paying you a trick, because I did not order anything from you after that shipment.
3: I have not attempted to copy your steering badge, I did, however, shown some photographs of your design on this site trying to help another member make one for himself, in a mistaken attempt to be helpful. I have apologized for both on this forum and to you privatly for this transgression.
I hope this will settle the matter.
 

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Randy V

Moderator-Admin
Staff member
Admin
Lifetime Supporter
Thread is locked. Take it to PM. Unless Ron states otherwise, we will not be stopping people from making their own parts or having a limited quantity commissioned and are trying to recover their expenses. If you have a problem with this - take it to Ron Earp.
Thanks..
 
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