how to finish the surface on a 356 t1 rear view mirror?

[Jeroen van der Velden]

is there anyone who knows what would be the original aluminium finish on a 1956 t1 interior rear view mirror.
should it be polished or sanded?

thank a lot, Jeroen

[Paul Kust]

I had obsessed over this and finally just bought a repro.
They are a soft brushed finish, as when polished you could get reflection in the windscreen.
Here is an example that Sierra Madre Collection sells for $140.00
These do look nice and I was unable to get the back of mine the right texture no matter what I tried, it was in rough shape to start with and the repro has the beveled mirrior edge that I would of had to replace also.

[Brad Ripley]

I'm told that the back of the repro mirror was made dull to satisfy European regulators. Originals were polished.
I don't know about the beveled edge being wrong. AFAIK, there is a slight bevel around the glass in all the interior mirrors.

[Paul Kust]

Brad, not to mean that I would have to replace the beveled mirrior, just replace it as mine was broken and it is correct, my original did not look to be polished on the back side, it sure looked to be brushed but now you make me doubt myself and I will see if I can find the photos I took of it prior to trying to refinish it.

[Paul Kust]

This is not my mirror although it looks similar to the one photo that I found, same overall condition and the aluminium had more of a satin finish than an overall bright polished look as the later mirrors. In Neil's Book the picture of the mirror looks to have a polished look but it is not a bright polish.
Anyone with other photos of original 356A mirrors out there?

[James Davies]

Agree with Brad that the 1950-53 coupe mirror shown above and the 356A coupe mirror (which started being used sometime in the 513xx chassis in Oct 1953) both had highly polished aluminum backs. Aluminum loses its luster over time, so most look kinda dull today. The original from my '53 looks just like the photo above. But originally these were polished. One can see this in period photos and on well-preserved original cars. See photos below of the polished mirror an early 1954 coupe, photos taken in 1955.

Cabriolet and Speedster mirror backs were also polished during this period.

Keeping these polished and bright is one of the uses of Simichrome recommended by Reutter in their "body care" booklets that came with the cars. =)

[Brad Ripley]

Having purchased these mirrors new from the OE manufacturer back in the day, I can certify the backs were polished.

[Mike Wilson]

James and Brad:

Your observations make sense. I would suspect the same holds true for the B/C mirrors unless the anti-glare police mandated a dull finish.

[Jeroen van der Velden]

Thank you all for the information. I will go for the polished finish!

[James Davies]

Brad, do you recall who the OE manufacturer was for these mirrors? Very curious, as it might shed light on who the manufacturer of the round clip mirrors was too. These clip mirrors were a factory option from as early as 1952 onward.

[Jeroen van der Velden]

Ready

[Brad Ripley]

Mirror company was W. Mall K.G., Markgröningen, Germany.

[Victor Ingram]

Jeroen,
Great job!

[James Davies]

Thanks Brad!

And looks great Jeroen!

[Wil Mittelbach]

James and Brad:
Your observations make sense. I would suspect the same holds true for the B/C mirrors unless the anti-glare police mandated a dull finish.

Quite right Mike; since B/C mirror backs are chrome plated, and not a polished aluminum.