Side Louvres

The front wings have a recessed area where side louvres are fitted. ON the offside this is purely for show on the GD but on the nearside there are holes drilled for ventilation purposes for the heater matrix.

There are nice polished covers to be fitted here but with the car being white in colour I though it would look a bit artificaial if they were just fixed in place. I had also seen some other Cobras where the owners had painted the recess matt black to make it look like the louvres actually led through to the engine bay and I decided to copy this approach.

I contemplated whether or not to spray the rebate or just the flat section and decided on the latter. My logic being that if the vents were 'real' then the aluminium wing would be rolled into this shape and would therefore be in body colour.

The side of the car was fully masked and then several coats of matt black paint were applied. I had a slight problem wiht blistering on the off side but i overcame this by rubbing down, filling and respraying.

And here is the finished result. I wont be fitting the grills until after IVA as this is anohter of the strict requirements and a simple blanking plate will be fitted (no sharp edges). Bit of a strange one for IVA in my opinion given BMW 'M' cars and Aston's have side vents amongst others.