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Locking Glovebox Fabrication Project

My first 1967 Spitfire, which I purchased from my sister in 1976, was fitted with a dealer-installed locking glovebox (such as the one shown here). I really liked it and decided that I'd like to have one for my current Spitfire, but didn't realize how hard to find they are these days.

Originally manufactured by Amco as a dealer-installed accessory, you can still find them here and there if you look hard enough -- and are willing to pay the price. I was offered one like this one for $50, but decided to create my own. I also saw one recently on eBay that sold for $100! They're only made out of 1/2" plywood, painted with black crinkle finish, for goodness sakes!

Seeing how the original was built serves as an invaluable reference, I think. If you want a locking glovebox for your Spitfire like this one, but are unable to find one for sale (at least at a reasonable price), take heart. With some basic woodworking tools like a jig saw and belt sander, you can easily create your own locking glovebox for about $15 and it only takes a few hours. Plus, you can truly make it your own with some neat modifications. I'll show you how I made mine:

3/19/00 -- A helpful list member mailed me a template of the glovebox he has -- but hasn't installed yet -- traced on a brown shopping bag. The template was very detailed and included the shape of the installation bracket, where the holes were drilled, where the plate was bent, etc. (The above photos were found on eBay after I completed my project.) The door hinges used on the original were unusual and probably hard to find, so I opted for a set of small chrome hinges that I purchased at Home Depot, along with the plywood. You should be able to find suitable material to fashion the brackets with there as well. The black krinkle paint was found at Kragen Auto parts -- and is truly great stuff!

Besides saving a few bucks and the enjoyment of doing it myself, the other reason I decided to create my own glovebox is because my car is right hand drive. Finding a NOS Amco kit for a right hand drive Spitfire would be next to, if not downright impossible. Fortunately, all that's required when fabricating the face of the compartment is to reverse it, so it works on my left parcel tray instead of the right parcel tray. Looking at the photos above though, I'm certain that I could simply reverse the brackets and hinges, fill the original holes and paint over them. But I really wasn't interested in paying fifty bucks for something that I could literally recreate myself for a fraction of the cost.

Once I set out to make my own, I decided to make it more of a custom job by altering the look and shape of the glovebox door to compliment the lines of the dash. Don't laugh, but to create the rounded corners on the right side of the opening, I just sort of did a freehand sketch with pencil a few times until I got it right. I angled the opening to match the curve of the dash while maintaining the same spacing from the opening to the edge of the wood.

The original Amco box offered a fairly austere rectangular opening, 1.5" from the outer edge of the facing. While the front area is painted in black crinkle, the door itself will (eventually) be faced with the beautiful tiger maple that will also grace the instrument cluster and dash support. The dash surround has already been painted as you can see. I did that today after cutting and sanding the basic shape and cutting out the door (which I just laid back inside for the photo).

To accelerate the crinkle paint curing process, I baked the piece in our kitchen oven at 200 degrees for about 15 minutes (while my wife was out of the house -- psssst -- don't tell!). This really isn't necessary, though. A couple of hours baking in the sun will achieve the same results.

I'm also contemplating the reprise of the chrome Spitfire Mk3 boot lid emblem somewhere on the glovebox door to further add to the custom look. I think I might actually make two interchangeable doors -- one with the tiger maple and another with black crinkle and the Spitfire logo.

Today, I managed to cut out the main piece and sketched the opening for the door before drilling a hole, then inserting my jigsaw blade to cut the door out. The drill hole will be filled before the door is veneered with the tiger maple. Below is a rough idea of how it will look. Please note that the door is not attached (duh!) and that the parcel tray is not installed either at this juncture. The dash pictured is not the tiger maple and is only temporarily fitted.

Finding the appropriate material to fashion the brackets might be easier than I thought. A good friend of mine, Bear Williams, gave me a bunch of verticle blind "weights", which are actually small, strong, yet bendable steel plates about 2" X 3.5" I took my 7-year-old son Mac on a little jaunt on the two lane road by the agricultural preserve near my home today. Mac is the age I was when I first rode in a Spitfire. That notion brings a big smile to my face. Here's Mac, displaying the one indispensible accessory for every British sportscar!

Since my mishap with the wheel last month, I've installed shoulder harnesses and a rollbar. Once I drove a hundred miles without killing myself, my good wife relented and un-banished the kids from ever riding in the Spitfire. This has brought a great many smiles between my children and I all the way round.

3/20/00 -- I've basically taken the day off from the Spitfire and devoted it to actually getting some paying work done! However, I managed to take some measurements for those wishing to create their own glovebox. I'll provide bracket dimensions later, but for now, here are the dimensions. Got a left hand drive Spitfire? Just turn the template around!

4/9/00 -- While waiting for the tiger maple door for my dash to arrive, and since I can't install it yet anyway (until the new dash is installed, parcel trays re-installed, etc., I decided to go ahead and cut out a door to match the finish of the surround today. I also removed, bead blasted and painted the Spitfire Mk3 logo that came off a spare boot lid I purchased recently (the original chrome wasn't very pretty). I also went out and bought a couple of chrome hinges and a mailbox lock which had to be modified somewhat. Here's how it turned out.

The trickiest part was cutting out the notches for the hinges -- and getting the hinge screws to go down straight into the face of the glovebox. Neither of these endeavors turned out perfectly -- but fortunately, the black crinkle paint hides the flaws very nicely.

A stubby little phillips screwdriver or some sort of an angle adapter would have been nice to have to drive those screws down straight. Adding the logo to the door was something I debated about, but in the interests of fun and practice, I added the metal pieces anyway. I'm hopefully receiving the tiger maple door to match the rest of the dash later this week (as of 5/11/00 it still hasn't arrived) and I doubt that I'll add the lettering to it -- but I thought that the logo might make a nice accent for the black crinkle painted door.

The mailbox lock that I purchased from Home Depot came with four or five different cams, allowing me to find one that worked perfectly. Drilling the hole through the plywood was a bit tricky, since the lock itself is more of an oblong sort of shape. The packaging for the lock did not indicate what size of hole to drill, so I narrowed it down to either a 5/8ths or 3/4" bit. Unfortunately, I started with the 5/8ths and it turned out to be too small. I don't have a drill press, so there was really no way to drill the larger hole, since the bit would be flopping all over the place.

I have a rasp attachment for my hand held drill and started to take out some more wood around the top and bottom of the opening. Just when I thought that I had a nice pressure fit and began to lightly tap the lock through the whole with my hammer, the back side of the plywood began to splinter! I ended up getting everything put together all right, pulled off the splintered pieces and filled with wood putty before sanding and painting the back of the door. It all turned out fine, but was more work than it had to be. The lock itself had to have two new grooves cut into the sides of the barrel, since the stock grooves are meant for use with the locking clip on thin sheetmetal, not 1/2" plywood. Fortunately, the barrel was just barely long enough to accomodate the modification and I cut the new grooves with a narrow cutoff wheel attached to my drill.

It's going to be fun to actually have this glovebox installed. The craftsman who resurfaced my dash says that it should be arriving this coming Wednesday. As soon as I install the new dash facia, I can put everything else back together, including the parcel trays and the glovebox. My interior will then be complete -- at least until I get ready to take the car in for body panel replacement and paint. Then, everything will have to come out again...

4/14/00 -- I think you'll agree that the glovebox assembly looks much better in the car than it did sitting on the carpet in the photo above.

5/11/00 - I finally, permanently installed the glovebox yesterday afternoon, using three brackets and pop rivets. Remember, my parcel trays are made of sheetmetal -- a gift from the previous owner. I placed two mounting brackets on the bottom -- one on each side -- and one on the top in the middle, which also serves as the door stop and locking backplate. I painted that piece with the same black krinkle finish paint after bending it to fit against the back of the glovebox face and over the top of the glovebox face, resting on the lip of the dashboard sheetmetal.

To attach the top bracket, I need to drill a small hole along the bottom lip of my dashboard. Rather than drill through the vinyl, I removed two surrounding retaining clips, carefully peeled back the original vinyl and drilled the hole through the dash sheetmetal. Using a small screw, nut and washer, I attached the top bracket and after tightening, replaced the dash vinyl over the top of the screw and reattached the clips for a very clean look. I then screwed the back of the top bracket into the back of the glovebox door using small wood screws from the inside, which wasn't as difficult as it sounds. About 1/2" of the bracket overhangs the top opening of the glovebox door and it looks great.

The bottom brackets took just a bit more time to get just right. I drilled holes in the aforementioned vertical blind plates (for mounting to the glovebox face) and used my bench vice and hammer to bend them at just the right angles needed to fit the back of the glovebox facing and the parcel tray. Once the proper angles were attained, I screwed the brackets to the back of the glovebox with a single screw on each side.

Important: I attached these brackets before positioning the glovebox in place, before attaching the top bracket (I don't think it would be possible to attach the lower brackets any other way after the glovebox was in place). To attach the bottom brackets through the parcel tray, I drilled 1/8" holes through the bottom of the parcel tray and through the brackets above. Then I used aluminum pop rivets to lock them in place. The only downside to this is that the rivets will have to be drilled out if I ever want to remove the glovebox separately from the parcel tray, but I opted for rivets rather than screws to thwart would-be thieves from gaining access too easily.

Note: You'll probably want to opt for a single, small bracket like the original (see photos towards top of the page) that mounts to the crash pad (this would also be a much better option for everyone with cardboard parcel trays). Although I could have gone this route, I decided that since my parcel trays were sheetmetal and I'd already fashioned the brackets, I'd use them. My installation is also much stronger and more tamper-proof than the stock method. If I had cardboard parcel trays though, I think I would have added two more small brackets on either side along the bottom to attach to the crash pad for better rigidity.

It's great to have a place now to keep my CD changer control, fire extinguisher, registration and insurance papers and driving gloves. This project is done!

12/6/01 -- Well, almost. I had sent a door to the same fellow that did the beautiful tiger maple dash support and facia panel for me and have since installed that door.

Please. Always wear your seatbelt while driving -- and that goes double for your children if you have any.

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