Reutter Badge rivets

[Etienne Kerkhoffs]

The Reutter badge on the 'Tim Goodrich Speedster', discussed before, is fastened with rivets that look aluminum. At least they are silver coloured. The badge rivets in Neil's book look more brass. The rivets that are included with the NLA/Stoddard badge are brass as well.

What should they be, aluminum, brass or even some other material?

Tim Goodrich Speedster:

[Joris Koning]

Brass chrome plated.......

[Brad Ripley]

Wrong. Rivets are aluminum, gold anodized.

[Joris Koning]

Brad, i have looked at many all original cars over the years and have never seen any alu anodized rivets.

[Brad Ripley]

I have originals as proof. I would not have have made several thousand reproductions without originals for samples. Note, the yellow anodize rubs off the head of the rivet over the years. Check old original rivets for the yellow under the head and the shaft.

[Roland Paterson]

Hi. I'm still learning. What's the best way to attach these rivets? Thanks

[Etienne Kerkhoffs]

Roland, these rivets are attached with speed nuts (normal type, not the U-form).

Joris and Brad, can it be that the rivets changed from pre-A/early A to T2?

[Steve Vogel]

Thought I would throw a pic of mine into the thread. Original as best I can tell - 1956.
SV

[Etienne Kerkhoffs]

Steve, your badge looks a little different from the one posted on top of this post (black stripe under upper arm, underside horse's head, stomach/chest of the rider, the letter 'r' of Coachwork.........)

I must say that the one on top of this post is very similar to the one in Neil's book and the one I have (of which Frank Jung, author of the Reutter book, confirmed that it's an original one).

So now comes the question, which badge is original.......

[Joris Koning]

Well for what it is worth, I was in contact with Tim earlier today and he mentioned in all of his years dealing with these cars he has only seen chrome plated brass rivets.

[David Ramatowski]

I have never seen chrome plated brass rivets in almost 30 years of working on these cars, on and off.

[Joris Schweitzer]

Wouldn't a color that blends with the background make more sense? Similar logic was applied with other hardware like nuts and bolts.

[Roland Paterson]

Didnt realise they were made this small.... Could someone please advise of the correct part number? Thanks very much

[Jim Stephenson]

My unrestored 57 T1 coupe with 41K original miles has aluminum rivets which I am 99% sure have never been changed.

Thank You
Jim Stephenson

[Chuck House]

Very few cars still have their original badge and rivets. Here are some photos...

The above photo is of a documented 16K mile T1 where the badge has never been off. It still has the silver plating on the heads, although if you look carefully, you'll see some spots of yellow underneath.

The above photo is of another original badge and rivets. The plating has been worn/polished off these rivets showing the base material - brass.

The above two photos are of loose, original rivets. Note that behind the head and where the shank passes through the body still has the silver plating with brass showing elsewhere.

These are three different sets of original rivets. All are brass with a silver plating. I really can't tell what the silver plating is without testing. It could be chrome as Joris indicates or maybe silver cad plated as it looks a bit dull and seems to come off easily. Maybe Reutter used different rivets occasionally but I've only seen this type.