As we continue on our quest for Concours Gold status for AN5L 501, we sometimes come across components of the concours process that can become a bit of a grey area. On some things, the judging standards aren’t very clear on how a part is assembled, or what hardware is used, or whether a component was used only on early cars or only on late cars, and we have to use other research methods to draw a conclusion on how that component should be handled.
We want this car to be exactly accurate, to win the gold medal in Concours judging of course, but also to leave behind a Bugeye legacy that looks exactly like the day it left the production line. Long after all cars are electric or flying or teleporting for that matter, we hope that Bugeye #1 will be the gold standard for anyone who wants to know how these things were long ago once built.
Take, for instance, the floor mats. 501 arrived in our midst with a very good replacement for the factory floor mats installed. However, one part of the floor mat wasn’t present: the snaps to hold the floor mat to the floor pan. The standards outline that there should be snaps present and that there should be six per mat, but it doesnt say where those snaps should be placed on the mat.
Lucky for us, we have one of the best research tools for the job in this particular instance: an original set of floor mats. We have had these mats in our inventory for many years specifically for a purpose like this. When we took the mats out of their box, we were surprised to find that the mat actually had seven snaps instead of six! With this original piece, we could accurately complete our facsimile, and equip 501 with the next best thing to an original rubber floor covering!
