1974 Spa 24 Hours - Butch Racing Dolomite Sprint (Group 1)

[wobbs]

I have been asked to start a thread on here to follow the rebuild and restoration of our Dolomite Sprint, which raced in the 1974 and 1975 Spa 24 hours (driven in 1974 by John Handley and Julien Vernaeve, and in 1975 by Jennifer Birrel, Marianne Hoephner and Christine Beckers).

We are just at the start of the project, trying to research the cars history further, figure out how original it is and what it needs to get a HTP to allow it to be raced again.

Today I started with the careful strip down of the car, beginning with the doors. Each part is being bagged and labelled, and stored in corresponding boxes for each area of the car. Spending extra time now will no doubt make things easier come reassembly time.

The plan is to get the car fully stripped down (making note of any new parts needed in the process) and sent away for a new weld in cage to be made. The shell will then get fully blasted and painted back in its original yellow colour scheme that it raced in period. You can see the original yellow in some of the pictures where the later paint job was not done very thoroughly.

Here are some photos of the car from the sales advert:







And here in our workshop:





Interior clean up began







I will keep updated with photos. The plan is to get the car down to a bare shell (bar a few things like door cards and dash that are needed for the cage build) and sent off within the next couple of weeks.

[matt of the vivas]

Fabulous. Ive seen pictures of these cars racing in period. Ecuse my ignorance, what is "Butch?"

[Awaiting Repair]

Well done on starting the thread here! Look forward to seeing the updates, please keep them coming!

Keith

[tamtrucks]

what is "Butch?"

look on front wing.......butch tailors

have noticed indicator/sidelight wrong way round or upside down

[new to this]

What needs doing,it dosent look bad from the photos

Dave

[Bish]

Good work posting here Wobbs! Looking forward to following your progress.
Like Dave says, it doesn’t look to be a rotter from the photos!?

[wobbs]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys. So far the car seems very solid rust wise, but for the HTP (Historic Technical Passport) that it requires to go racing again, it needs to be 100% as it was in period, including paint scheme!

Also the current paint job was supposedly done in the 1980's, and to be as kind as I can be, is not quite up to the standard we want for this car:





The car is also an unknown to us, so giving it a full rebuild lets us get to know the car and put some trust into it at the track, knowing that its all correct and safe

[new to this]

Got any pictures of engine and brakes,the car looks nice

Dave

[wobbs]

No pictures of the brakes yet, the underside should be getting stripped next week.

Today I finished off the doors (minus the rear quarterlight glass), removed the rollcage, glass and headlining and started on the wiring loom amongst a few other interior jobs. The rollcage unbolted easily from the back, and once the rear section was removed the front 'welded' section basically fell out. Zero weld penetration, again highlighting why we want to totally strip the car and make sure everything is absolutely 100%





Engine bay as requested





Interior getting there ...





I also found some treasure inside 2 of the doors

[Carledo]

Up close and personal, the black/white paint job is truly awful, very amateurish indeed!

Lookng forward to this one!

Steve

[Bish]

That is shockingly bad welding, all the penetration of a pigeon shite, and that’s on a competition rollcage



Wonder what else you will find in the way of bodges!?

[wobbs]

I have been carrying on with the strip down the past couple of days. Thankfully no real unexpected horrors found, only that the nut holding the gear knob on had been butchered so may require cutting off. I will wait until a replacement is sourced first though. I managed to remove both of the rear quarterlights without damage to the glass or rubbers which is a relief as well.

Now the interior is as stripped down as I need to go, the boot and fuel tank stripped and the external trim from the car. Next on the list is the vinyl roof I think, and then I will get it up on the ramp and start removing the running gear. The list of parts required or needing replacement is growing though.

[yorkshire_spam]

Awesome stuff. Great photos!

[tinweevil]

Cor look at those cars sharing that garage. Bet you're glad to have the Dolly in there to raise the tone of the place
The visible gear lever chrome nut looks ok, at the risk of teaching grandma to suck eggs... To remove the knob turn the chrome nut clockwise (down the stick) then the knob should be loose. You can then twiddle the nut inside the knob with a small screwdriver.

[wobbs]

Another little update, the car is now stripped ready for the roll cage and blasting. All I have left to do tomorrow is build a wheeled dolly for it and remove the stickers. Thankfully there was no rust to be found in the body, however a few bad repairs that will need sorting and no doubt more hiding under the paintwork.

We have also acquired some more wheels (5 sets in total now!) so these will be sent off next week for refurbishing.

Once the bodyshell is away I will start restoring all of the running gear and start getting the big shopping list ordered up in preparation for its return

As far as shell modifications go, I have noticed that it has been seem welded and brazed in places, and interestingly the rear tie bar mountings on the shell have been moved up about an inch.