In Lincolnshire a Dolly lives after five years on a drive!

[jm1489]

Hi all! Usually I am on Land Rover or Bike forums but due to an impulse buy I could do with some advice. I am the proud owner of a 1978 1850 in Tahiti blue with 54k on the clock. Now the bad stuff, it hasn't run for five years after its elderly owner gave up driving and then gave up life. The interior is excellent, the exterior not so good, more to do with dodgy aerosol work from an unsteady hand. The cills and floor are in good nick but the wing bottoms have suffered from tin worm and the front valance is patchy near the spoiler.
Does anyone have any info about repairing the front valance, are there panels available or do I cut from a scrapper/fabricate? Chances are a good valance or front end will be hens teeth?

[Toledo Man]

Welcome to the forum. I've had to resize your photo because it was too big even on my 24" monitor. Keep us posted with your progress and if you've any other questions just ask.

[xvivalve]

I saw this on ebay and thought what a viable and worthwhile project it was; the way prices have been going lately if they'd bothered washing it the could have probably doubled their money!

Valances are rare to come by; a company near to you makes a reproduction lower valance, but they aren't particularly faithful to the original shape from the one example I've seen! The Club do GRP replica front panels, but if your's only has minor problems at the bottom then I'd be minded to clean it up and use fabricated repairs for the time being.

The Club also do a repair panel for the rear of the front wings in Zintec...

Ah, the benefits of membership...

[jm1489]

[She has cleaned up well. I put a silly fleebay bid in on a whim and didn't get the car first time around then was contacted with a second chance offer. I Went down to Stamford and managed to get her for a ridiculously low amount including delivery. I have cleared a space in the garage by selling my Herald so the strip down can now start, I don't think the front is as bad as first thought and I have managed to pick up some steel wings for peanuts and a set of Sprint alloys for £23!
I can't say I really do the club scene, just interested in all things two and four wheeled and don't like stuff going to waste. My in-laws laughed when they saw the Dolly and couldn't understand why I wanted to buy it! But they do ride push bikes and watch Cricket so what do they know? My Wife loves it, which I am quite surprised about? She wants it for her run to work in September.
Are there any Dolly Owners in the Skegness and Boston area?
Picture was a bit large, thanks for the reduction. b][/b]

[Toledo Man]

All part of the service.

It is best to upload your photos to a hosting site (such as Photobucket or Flickr) and posting the links. If you must upload photos directly then they should be reduced in size. I've found that a horizontal size of 1024 pixels is the sweet spot for most monitors. One advantage of reducing the size of photos is that you don't lose picture quality.

Keep us updated with your progress.

[Dolly-Dimple]

Fantastic!!! Tahiti is a gorgeous colour: keen to see how the car progresses. I have added it to my 1850 Database. How are you getting on with her?

Kind Regards

Russell.