At the time of purchase, the Toledo was equipped with a Wingard, ceiling-mounted, black-plastic, interior rear-view mirror and a single stainless-steel TEX door-mirror fitted to the offside (i.e. driver’s side) door, but I felt handicapped by the lack of a rear-view mirror on the nearside; especially when driving on motorways, dual-carriageways, roundabouts or one-way streets, where rearward vision on the nearside can often be critical and looking over one’s left shoulder isn’t always safe or practical.
After approximately two years of regularly travelling to and from Cranfield at the weekends (i.e. Friday & Sunday evenings), over an 80 mile cross-country route, I had become wearied by not having a nearside, external rear-view door mirror (unlike our 1973 VW 1600 Type 2 campervan, on which it was a standard factory fitment), so it was fortunate that on one of my visits to Halfords, during autumn 1983, I came across a TEX brand, stainless-steel, offside accessory door-mirror, of a similar pattern to my existing TEX, stainless-steel, offside door-mirror.
Although at first glance, the accessory mirror appeared almost identical, there were noticeable differences as follows:
• Convex, blue-tinted anti-dazzle lens, instead of plane, un-tinted lens;
• Black-plastic contoured mounting-gasket, instead of white-plastic gasket;
• Different shape of mirror-housing mounting base.
Recognising the advantage of having convex, blue-tinted anti-dazzle lenses and not wishing to have non-matching mirrors, I bought a matching pair of the TEX brand, stainless-steel, offside & nearside accessory door-mirrors and kept my original offside mirror as a spare. The details marked on the original packaging, were as follows:
TEX Parts Ltd.
Witney Trading Estate
Station Lane
Witney
Oxfordshire
OX8 6YD.
TEX ‘ANTI-DAZZLE’ Door Mirror
Part No. M68890 – –
RIGHT HAND CONVEX POLISHED
TEX ‘ANTI-DAZZLE’ Door Mirror
Part No. M68891 – –
LEFT HAND CONVEX POLISHED
With both of these fitted, I felt much more confident on the roads, having eliminated at least some of the rear-quarter blind-spots. The tinted anti-dazzle feature, was also much appreciated during night driving, when cars approaching from behind with their headlamps on main beam, had previously been the major source of glare - visual discomfort. Sometimes I experienced similar discomfort, from low winter-sun.
I would also have appreciated an interior rear-view mirror, with an anti-dazzle feature, but at that time was unaware that at least some Triumph Dolomite models were equipped with a “dipping” interior rear-view mirror, one of which I have since acquired.
For my own interest, I recently did an Internet search to see what I could find regarding the TEX door mirrors. It appears that the same accessory door mirrors, with the same part numbers, fitted with convex, tinted mirror lenses, are still available. Not only that, but there are mirrors of the same type in black-painted finish, rather than polished stainless-steel, albeit with slightly different part numbers. One can also obtain spare parts for the mirrors.
Door Mirror - Polished Stainless Steel - M68XXX
https://www.motoringclassics.co.uk/inde ... 68891.html
Tex Door Mirror - Black - M68XXXE
https://www.motoringclassics.co.uk/tex- ... rror-black
Tex Replacement Glass - M977XXQ
https://www.motoringclassics.co.uk/replacement-glass
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01ANT6DCQ/ ... 526_931641
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01ANTBQYQ/ ... 581_931857
http://texautomotive.com/classic_exterior_mirrors.html
http://texautomotive.com/classic_mirror_spares.html
http://texautomotive.com/mirror_glass.html
The TEX company’s current contact details, are as follows:
Tex Automotive Limited
Cotswold Business Park
Range Road
Witney
Oxfordshire
OX29 0YB
England
Tel: +44 (0)1993 893500
Fax: +44 (0)1993 707222
Email:
info@texautomotive.com
Website:
http://texautomotive.com
Had there been mirrors available, of an appropriate size and fitting, for the Triumph Toledo front doors and/or front wings, I would have preferred to retro-fit and/or substitute, Zanetti or other brand of twin-lens mirrors (i.e. two mirrors in a single housing, positioned relative to one another at a fixed pre-set angle), about which I had learned several years earlier.
I was able to obtain one of a commercial-vehicle type, to substitute onto our 1973 VW Type 2 campervan. Nowadays, most if not all large commercial-vans, are factory-fitted with twin-lens mirrors. Used in conjunction with a Fresnel lens attached to the inside surface of the rear window, these twin-lens door mirrors, virtually eliminate the rear-quarter blind-spots.
A few years later, I salvaged from a Ford Transit, owned by one of the workshop technicians at Cranfield, some genuine wing-mounted, hinged-stem, Zanetti, twin-lens, towing mirrors, which he didn’t want, of a size that were more appropriate to a car than a commercial-van. When I commented upon them, he said that he intended to replace them and I could have them at no cost, provided I removed them without causing any damage to the vehicle. That was a challenge I couldn’t resist!
Although the stainless-steel mirror housings were in near-perfect condition, the chrome-plated, cast-alloy mirror-stems were badly blistered and there were non-original, substitute screw fittings which were not very secure, so I have still yet to resolve, whether these mirrors can be adequately refurbished, and if necessary adapted, for use on my Triumph Toledo. It might be possible to obtain alternative mounting-stems which are compatible with the Zanetti mirror housings.
_________________
Regards.
Nigel A. Skeet
Independent tutor of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering, for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.
https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308177758
Upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (Toledo / Dolomite HL / Sprint hybrid)
Onetime member + magazine editor & technical editor of Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club