Vitolini California's Anyone?

I had exactly the same problem and had to make my own set of aluminium spacers for both sides to lift the back of the mirror up. I painted them black to match the rest of the car. It took a while, but turned out pretty good. Only slight problem for me is that the base of the new mirrors doesn't cover the indentations in the paint from the old mirrors - so I probably should have made the tilted bases a bit larger to just cover it (or I need to get a 'chips away' guy to carefully fix up the paint blemishes from the old mirrors.
Cheers, Tim.

Will,

Another method is to take the mirror apart and file the plastic slot so that it moves further in the housing. It's really easy. I mounted my passenger mirror so that it looked right on the car before I thought to check if I could actually see out of it! I didn't feel like drilling two more holes right next to them.

The new California mirrors are not nearly as nice quality as the original ones. They are now shiney looking.

Have a look at the Lancia Stratos, it uses the California mirror but has a completely different mountings and looks really cool. I dont know if they are available, but Hawk cars make replicas so maybe they have them? I have a pic but I am not on my computer at the moment.

Johnny

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny Woods:
The new California mirrors are not nearly as nice quality as the original ones. They are now shiney looking.
Johnny

But the Vitaloni ones do cost twice as much too...

Is the quality of the california style mirrors (those shiny ones) really worse compared to the Vitaloni's?

Marlin, I agree, nutcerts are the best way. I didn't have them 10 years ago when I finished my car. The sheet metal screws have held up fine though.

The shiny mirrors I refer to are the new Vitaloni Californians. They are not nearly as nice as the old ones. I think you would be able to make them look better with a satin paint.

Johnny

quote:

Do NOT use 'SheetMetal' Screws to Hold Down Your Mirrors! Especially if You plan to take Your cat well over 100 MPH. What I used

Marlin, the speed limit is 55. I would never go to 100mph. That would be illegal

Anybody who has Vitalonis (or the replicas) mounted both sides.

I have one on the left side only, would like to have one at the right side too, but do wonder whether you can get the right one in an angle good enough to actually see something in it. If not, then I might as well go for an other style of mirror.

Someone with experience around here?

Hi Kid,
I have one on the right hand side also and had to angle it somewhat in towards the car to get it so I could see out of it properly. I took the arm out of the base and fettled it a bit to get it to lower a bit more, but that wasn't really necessary. The main problem is angling it in towards the car (I wanted to use the existing holes in the door and not drill new ones).
I briefly considered taking the mirror apart to see if I could get some more movement of the glass, but didn't know how it was arranged inside and if I could get it back together - but looking at Johnny's post I think that is definitely the way forward - take it apart and carefully file the slot a bit bigger and then reassemble it. That is what I will be doing shortly! The only possible negative with that is from an appearance perspective you may not like it if the glass angles out past the edge of the mirror housing.
Apart from that, I think you should definitely test mount the mirror. I know of at least one Pantera owner (not me) that drilled the holes too far forward on the door on the right hand side - the frame of the quater window is in the middle of the mirror's image which is somewhat anoying for him. Sit in the car in the normal driving position with hands on the wheel and back on the seat back and get someone to move the mirror around in different spots and with different angles to make sure you can see properly and then get out and see how it is positioned and if you like it or not - and if not then decide how to either modify the mirror or make a spacer plate etc. This may save some tears
Good luck!
Cheers, Tim.

quote:

I think you should definitely test mount the mirror.......get someone to move the mirror around in different spots and with different angles

Or I think the double sided sticky foam tape would also work just fine.

And allow you to test drive for real world results - just don't go for any land speed attempts with just the foam tape...

Larry

Thanks for the input - much appreciated

quote:

Originally posted by LF - TP 2511:
Or I think the double sided sticky foam tape would also work just fine.

I was actually thinking about having someone running next to the car holding the mirror - bad idea I hear you say...?

I put the Vitalonis on both sides of my car. But unfortunately I too did not sit in the car to test fit them. I placed them too far back on the door.So consequently I had to make a wedge shaped plate out of bondo with the exact dimensions of the base. I can see great out of the drivers side, but have yet to fix the passengers side which points directly at the ground!