Griff lower (under-car) bonnet vent

[lordofthewings]

As a potential Griff owner I am still learning about many of the model variants. There seem to be differences under the nose, the 400’s I have seen are smooth, whereas a pre-cat 430 that I saw had a subsidiary vent with what looked like a piece of chicken wire fixed into it. It was too dark to take a photo from ground level, but having searched PH I have found pics of both the “smooth” and vented variants from underneath. Can anyone give me a quick tutorial on this please ?

[lordofthewings]

Classic Chim said:

I didn’t even notice the mesh. That’s not standard as far as I’m aware.

I found a pic in the Shackleton Griffith book showing an early [March 1992] press demonstrator Griff. If you look carefully at the pic it shows the “subsidiary vent” as I have called it, with sure enough some mesh (plus a hangy-down bit of stuff). I guess that makes it OK -- the reason I was asking is that if it was a retro-fit (i.e. cut-out by a previous owner of the car I was viewing, as a cooling aid) wouldn't that reduce the structural integrity of the whole nose of the car ?

[lordofthewings]

MisterT said:

Is the picture of the red car a Griff or Chimaera?

Having lifted the pic off a different PH thread, I can't recall which -- but surely the Chim bonnet looks different in that area ? (and OK I'm waiting for the Specsavers cracks).

[lordofthewings]

Ooops, looks like I've been wasting your time fellow-PH'ers. So I'll go ahead and be much more interested in the car I was viewing , chicken wire 'n' all