Russet Brown Sprint re-emerges from hibernation!

[AndyJ]

I acquired this Sprint about two years ago and set about gradually improving it. I started with the interior which was very tired and the wrong colour and sourced a good complete replacement from a Birmingham based enthusiast, as you can see after a little elbow grease it came up well. I drove it a little that summer and then set about some mechanical repairs. The car has twin calipers fitted on standard discs, a period mod that did little or nothing to improve braking. The car had a standard brake master cylinder fitted and this resulted in too much travel and very little feel. The cure was a Jag XJ master which has the same body but a larger bore. This got the brakes working fine although apart from the novelty factor the twin calipers really need vented discs to up the stopping power. there were a few other jobs including replacing the rad, alternator, carb mounts and a proper tune up on a rolling road which confirmed the engines good health.
That winter saw the car into the body shop to have the boot floor and rear lower wings replaced and last summer I used it a little and speculated a lot about
the big decision which was what colour I would have it finished in. Early in its life it had a colour change from Russet Brown to Brooklands Green which is my favourite colour on a Dolly. After some deliberation the car was stripped and sent back to the body shop. There was remarkably little rust around the front end with just a few patches let in around the tops of the wings where they meet the front panel but nowhere else needing new metal. I'll put a lot more pics on the resto thread but for now here's a couple of pics of the car which was returned to its original Russet Brown colour as you can see:

[Pippin]

Love it!

[Toledo Man]

Looking good. The photos were a bit big even on my 24" monitor so I've resized them.

[beeba]

Andy

Congratulations WAA looks incredible; in awe of all of the talented people (like yourself) that use their expertise, skill and passion in keeping Dolomites motoring on.

Mark

[dailysprinter]

Looking really nice, I think russet suits a Sprint when it's mint

[AndyJ]

Andy

Congratulations WAA looks incredible; in awe of all of the talented people (like yourself) that use their expertise, skill and passion in keeping Dolomites motoring on.

Mark

Thanks Mark, as the previous owner you'll know better than anyone how far the car has come. I really wasn't sure about the colour until I saw it in the flesh, but I didn't need to look twice to know it was the right way to go and the photo's do show it off well. I overspent on this because I knew that under the cosmetics there was a great car and I couldn't be happier with the outcome.
Still a few jobs to do as always but I'm hoping to have completely finished for the club do in September.

Andy.

[Edin Dundee]

Lovely.
Andy, how did you clean the seats?

[AndyJ]

I used a vax and a soft brush, two cycles and they came good.