New member- 37 years on

[RSi]

Looks excellent.

[GTiJohn]

The magic continues!



Eagle-eyed toby then spotted this up inside the OSF wing...



which looked a little different to the NS



On investigation it looked to be a period repair, just not a great one...



Paint being applied



but repairs continue





Next up are repairs to the holes in the A-pillars...

[GTiJohn]

Where the nearside started





New metal being prepped







It looks as if somebody has painted this area before...

[RSi]

Can never get tired of following a resto, especially Dolomites!

[GTiJohn]

Nearside finished



Offside moving along nicely

[GTiJohn]

More work has been taking place on the OS A-post and pillar



Closer examination shows that storing stuff on top of the bonnet for years has deformed the reinforcement panel. What techniques have others used to get this back to where it started?





Obviously, it's been painted before...

[GTiJohn]

Just found photos of the 'origin story', taken in Elmsdale Avenue, Coventry in the very cold winter of 1982







3 Dolomites - 2 Sprints and my 1500HL.

I'd forgotten about the fog lights I put on my mine...

[GTiJohn]

The snow has finally gone in Hungary, so work has recommenced.

How common was rust under the original paint? Were Dolomite bodies produced in Speke and brought down to Canley on lorries?. That might explain this



So, to be sure, to be sure...

[GTiJohn]

The first exterior panel is now painted and it seems to be a good match to the original

[Carledo]

The snow has finally gone in Hungary, so work has recommenced.

How common was rust under the original paint? Were Dolomite bodies produced in Speke and brought down to Canley on lorries?. That might explain this

Rust under original paint was, alas, all too common! The shells were often left outside at Speke in considerable numbers, either bare, or, almost as bad, primed, while the workers were on strike or laid off because some other plant was on strike. This was BL in the early 70s and a large part of why we have no indigenous motor industry today!

Steve

[GTiJohn]

Whilst the bodywork progresses and the sun is out, I've laid out the 2 carpet sets I've stored for the last 5 years.

This is the original (jute?) set which is in a bit of a bad way at the front








This is a second nylon-backed set from a later car, in better condition.







( I may not have got the layouts exactly right but I don't have the car to lay them back into )


Obviously, the original set should go back in but they'll need a significant amount of work on them and I suspect the 3 front pieces are beyond repair, so I'm going to investigate replacements. Ads Automotive Upholstery have been suggested, on the Club's FB Group I think, are there other recommendations?

Also, are there any suggestions for the best way to clean each type of carpet?

Have I got the A-post lowers sat with the correct set? I assume the (cheaper) vinyl ones go with the later (cheaper) carpets.

[Carledo]

Early cars have the lower A post board covered in carpet, at least up to VA 15,000 and possibly up to VA 20,000. Certainly series 3 and later cars had the rubber backed carpets and vinyl covered A post trims. Certain VERY early Sprints have a 3 piece main carpet but I don't know for sure how long that lasted, it may be little more than the legendary "first 2000".

It's also worth noting that the later style of rubber backed carpets had separate chunks of underlay in all the footwells. presumably for better soundproofing. My own series 3 car also has a lump of underlay 2" thick under the back seat (as well as the standard black plastic bag of stuff) and another between the rear seat backrest and the boot internal board and big chunks glued to the rear inner wings as well, but I think that's aftermarket. Very possibly an original dealer install.

What does strike me as unusual is that you have chestnut trim in a Mimosa car, they are mostly trimmed in black. Not saying it's impossible (the trim code will tell you for sure) just unusual! Black trim is code C11 and Chestnut is C63.

Steve

[GTiJohn]

Early cars have the lower A post board covered in carpet, at least up to VA 15,000 and possibly up to VA 20,000. Certainly series 3 and later cars had the rubber backed carpets and vinyl covered A post trims. Certain VERY early Sprints have a 3 piece main carpet but I don't know for sure how long that lasted, it may be little more than the legendary "first 2000".

It's also worth noting that the later style of rubber backed carpets had separate chunks of underlay in all the footwells. presumably for better soundproofing. My own series 3 car also has a lump of underlay 2" thick under the back seat (as well as the standard black plastic bag of stuff) and another between the rear seat backrest and the boot internal board and big chunks glued to the rear inner wings as well, but I think that's aftermarket. Very possibly an original dealer install.

What does strike me as unusual is that you have chestnut trim in a Mimosa car, they are mostly trimmed in black. Not saying it's impossible (the trim code will tell you for sure) just unusual! Black trim is code C11 and Chestnut is C63.

Steve

Mine is a 12600 VIN, so that fits, and has the plaggy bag under the rear seat.

Like you, I thought that all Sprints had black interiors but apparently not... Mine is actually tan (C74), which comes with Chestnut carpets.

This photo is still in the later Dolomite brochure but it obviously an earlier photo, with a M-reg car in the background

[Carledo]

That publicity pic is a big cheat! RDU 983M is indeed a well known (and I believe still surviving in some form, probably reshelled a couple of times) competition car from late 73. But the car in the foreground with only a couple of comp dept decals is a total fraud!, its just a stocker off the line and the pic was probably taken early in 76 as it's a series 3 car, you can tell by the headrests and nose badge! It's not a proper racecar as it doesn't have a rollcage in either pic, assuming as likely it's the same car in both the external shot and the internal one with a helmeted "race driver" in the seat. Race drivers wore fireproof overalls and full helmets not those archaic open face jobbies and nylon rally jackets!

I'm assuming you are quoting your VIN from memory as 12600? Elsewhere in the thread (top of page 2) you give it as 16727 which is much more likely, putting the car smack in the middle of series 2. The series 2 cars are one big change point with elements of both series 1 and series 3 cars apparent in their builds. and the exact balance of parts varies throughout the series, the later the number the more series 3 bits it has!

I also don't believe (though i've been wrong before) that 12600 is a valid number for ANY Sprint. Though the factory didn't designate the the cars as anything but "Sprint", a brief explanation of the series definitions we owners use may help you. Series 1 is VA1 to VA 14999, series 2 is VA15000 to VA 19999, series 3 is VA20000 to VA 30000 and series 4 is VA 30000> and actual VIN numbered cars.

But it's not as simple as that, though series 1 is up to VA15000, only about 11500 series 1 cars were actually built, so there are roughly 3500 unused numbers in the first series of which 12600-12699 are 100 of! The same goes for series 2 where only 3278 cars were built of a possible 5000, series 3 cars approximately 7200 of a possible 10000 and only around 1200 series 4 cars before the introduction of VIN numbers instead of the VA chassis number and another couple of thousand after.

It may also interest you to know that the first 500 series 2 cars were ALL Mimosa yellow and were ALL exported to Australia. So your series 2 car is a real rarity here.

Steve

[xvivalve]

RDU was on the Club stand at the NEC last year. It was confirmed it had the correct additional strengthening under the floor proving it to be a genuine works car...though a couple of pieces of glass had younger date codes.