Now it is my turn to apologise. Tired memory. I misunderstood, misconstrued or just plain forgot the detail.

Here is exactly what Crouch commented. It is the rear floor that was double skinned over the Mk2.





All this added substantial weight ~ some 336 lbs. Triple sill structure is mentioned elsewhere.

 

Glyn I still do not understand what Crouch meant by "The rear floor was double skinned" and which part do you think he was calling the "rear floor"?

I can see what he means about the boot floor being deeply ribbed which is the section immediately above the rear subframe. We can see that in the photo. We can also see what he means by centralising the spare wheel well but which section is the "rear floor"? The area under the rear seats is raised with a lot of cross section strengthening but the actual floor under the seats and in front of the rear seat is still only single sheet.

Do you think this was perhaps pre construction when the were mocking up the Utah3 and was deleted as not necessary when the S Type finally went in to production? In your extensive library of photos do you have one of the underside of a Mk2 in a similar stripped out state as mine so we can compare the two?

Confused of Torquay.

 

All I can think is that he means the section between the cross bar/rail under the front seats to the rear seat backrest panel. I seem to remember a picture of Orlando's car that might have shown this when he had transmission fluid leaking through the floor to the depression under the rear lower seat squab from his incontinent DG. On reflection of working on my car I think it is evident from under the car. I'm going to examine my picture collection. See the holes in the outer skin below your rear seat raised pressing above.

I don't really have any Mk2 pictures & certainly not underbody. My thousands of pics are all S Type. I will certainly have a close look next time my car is on a hoist.

 

The nearest thing that I can see to double skinning the floor is the panel (see some of the photos above) in front of the rear jacking point. It looks as if it was intended more to close the mud trap of the seat pan and jacking point than add strength. Interestingly, I can't find it in the S-type parts catalogue. The ribbed (or fluted) panel over the axle is different from the one in the Mk2, but how much of that is to do with strength and how much just to reposition it isn't clear. And as everyone has said, there's loads of extra bracing to carry the suspension loads.

I've heard mention of extra bracing under the rear seat of some Mk2s. It may be something that came and went depending on manufacturing convenience of the Pressed Steel Company.

 

The trouble with the parts manual is that even if a portion of the floor was double skinned they would probably show it as a single manufactured part. Who knows?? Sorry if I have created even more confusion.

According to the books the S Type shell weighed some 336 lbs more than the Mk2