At 01:11 PM 6/6/05 -0600, Will DeDalis wrote:
>"#10961/A stamped on hinge, I have four that came with the car in parts. All four have one leg that is offset with bend. I bought a door for parts, and it has hinges that do not have this offset. Which is which?"

I think the hinges are supposed to be flat on both sides. I have seen some with a bend, but I presume the bend was "installed" by some DPO having problems with alignment.

Hold the hinge so the wings are parallel. Measure the overall thickness across the mounting surfaces. If they are all the same overall thickness they should be interchangeable. If there is a slight bend on the front arm about at the door post corner, this may be accidental damage caused from forcibly opening the door too far, or it might be intentionally modified to allow opening farther. More bend might be accompanied by more shim at installation.

There is one other difference to look for. I have two different types on my car. These are visibly different in the area of the small ears where the hinge pin passes through, and the arrangement of the stops. The one shown at left above will open to a greater angle than the one at right (about 85 degrees vs 75 degrees) before hitting the stops. This is a factory change at Coupe 52916 in June 1958 and Roadster 56069 in September 1958, specifically to allow the doors to open farther for easier entry/exit. You need to use two the same on one door. If you use one of each, one will hit the stop first, and all of the door stop load will be taken on the one hinge, possibly breaking the hinge.