The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

I've got bits of a few sets of the wooden door caps, which I've been looking at to re-furbish. Am I right in thinking some are veneered over three surfaces, side, top, and bevel, and some are only veneered on the main side face?

If so, does anybody know if there's a pattern to type of dolomite and year, etc.?

Graham

They were only veneered on the vertical face originally. I think I recall the SE, which had burr walnut veneer, rather than standard crown cut walnut, may have had all three faces veneered, but will be happy to be corrected...

I've now found one, off a brown painted door, that's not veneered at all. It looked like it was original: the varnish was thin but clearly professionally done, with crisp edges where the driver's arm hadn't worn. Also, where it was continuous it took three coats of stripper and some real work with a scraper to get off.

And now it's clean, I can see the grain runs across the bevel from side to top, and round the ends. This is the pale one in the first picture laid across the wire wheel. Interestingly, the back face is the palest of all the ones I have.


The ones that look like they're fully veneered have been restored (badly) with a seriously think coat of pale, possibly clear, varnish that's run a lot. But looking at the damage under that, there looks to bits of veneer missing from the tops and bevels. But I admit, the varnish is that thick, it's hard to tell.

These are the ones I've rubbed down a bit and slapped some ronseal dark walnut over, to fit temporally while I do something better with the original ones.

I'm playing with some spares caps and glove box doors to see what to do with the original ones. I like the colour the Ronseal gives over the pale varnish (on the car doors). But this dark walnut is a bit too dark on wood thats been stripped bare (dark one in first picture on wire wheel). It's also going to need a lot more work first or a lot of well rubbed down coats of clear varnish on top to get a good finish. I may strip, spray with clear, and then sponge with the Ronseal to see what that gives. It should be possible to re-strip after that without much lasting effect.

I've also got a problem in that what came with the car isn't a set - the drivers door one is this un-veneered oddity -, and the front passenger one's in a real poor state, with big bits of veneer missing and more split and lifting. The back ones aren't too bad - mostly just faded. So it may be interesting getting them all to match.

Then there's the dash.

Graham

I've had a go at the cap with no veneer to fake it up a bit. The grain's not very good, but the colour ain't too far off the original ones I've sanded down and re-varnished. I like the bits where it looks like where the original ones had been sanded through the veneer in production. It's the inverse of that, but it looks real.

The varnish is poundland's best Yacht Varnish. Needs another coat or two, but it turns out to be nearly as good as the proper stuff, at less than 1/5th the price. Mostly it's a bit thinner.

I'm in two minds about whether, having found how to get the colour I want, I should strip it again and re-do, or use as is, since I don't want to hide the fact it's not a right one, just tricked up to look right from across the road.

Graham

I got mine re-veneered by "Chapman & Cliff".

They asked if I wanted them veneered on both the top and sides, as they were only veneered on the sides originally, they mentioned the veneered used too.

I thought about re-veneering them, but decided to just re-varnish them as they are, with all the character they've gained over the years.

Graham

GrahamFountain wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2020 2:22 pm I thought about re-veneering them, but decided to just re-varnish them as they are, with all the character they've gained over the years.

Graham

The glove box door was sent with the door cappings, to get an exact match. I had mine varnished first, but just didn't look right against the dash.

I've got the dash to do yet. Got spares for the whole set, which I may have a go at first, and then re-do the originals. Currently the spares match the brushed-over door caps that I've put in pro-tempts. But as I'm close to putting the 3 originals and the previous replacement drivers side caps back, I'm wondering how to move forward with the dash.

Graham

The dash and caps are all now re-varnished and back in the car.



The drivers front cap is a different replacement than the one I got with the car and I've had to do a bit to stain it to match the colour of the rest. Also, I'm not actually sure the glovebox, etc., is original, because it don't match the instrument surround quite, and that seems right for a 73 Sprint. The darker bits on the passenger door cap face are where the veneer had gone over the years - some I could stick back on, but some was too far gone and some was missing entirely. There's mostly just a nasty scratch in the speedo bezel to touch up.

But at least now its possible to see some grain not a virtually opaque beige varnish with cracks in it where it wasn't flaking off.

But now I don't like the colour of the wheel rim anymore.

Graham

GrahamFountain wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 4:59 pm The dash and caps are all now re-varnished and back in the car.



The drivers front cap is a different replacement than the one I got with the car and I've had to do a bit to stain it to match the colour of the rest. Also, I'm not actually sure the glovebox, etc., is original, because it don't match the instrument surround quite, and that seems right for a 73 Sprint. The darker bits on the passenger door cap face are where the veneer had gone over the years - some I could stick back on, but some was too far gone and some was missing entirely. There's mostly just a nasty scratch in the speedo bezel to touch up.

But at least now its possible to see some grain not a virtually opaque beige varnish with cracks in it where it wasn't flaking off.

But now I don't like the colour of the wheel rim anymore.

Graham

The words of a man with altogether too much time on his hands dude! Get out and drive it some!

Steve

Started the job in June!

Not driven aught else in that time either.

Graham

I’ve been collecting some caps to re veneer, and I think some were actually solid oak to begin with then value engineering steeped in.

I think all the earlier ones I have have walnut bodies. But the one I showed above with no veneer on the inward face is very pale, even wetted, and I think probably is oak. I think that's a newer one. But I can't be sure.

Graham

I'm going to try the careful rubbing down and varnishing trick on my 4 door cappings but am concerned about the end results not matching as they have 3 different hand written numbers on the backs and none of them match other shades of wood I have available for reference



The top 2 are the matching numbers. I assume the spare dash section has been stained by somebody before as it looks far too brown...

I think the (spare) glovebox is the best match to my car's dash but as I haven't seen it for over 2 years I'm not sure



Then I watched Mark's L-req Sprint on the recent idriveaclassic vid - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOSDP4LsR-s and seen his cappings aren't a good match with the dash either!

So what's right, matching or not?

Am I likely to need to stain them to ensure they at least match each other?

All advice appreciated

From my experience, even the best original cars have matching door caps and a matching dash set , but the caps and dash set don't necessarily match each other in shade and grain, so I take the view it is acceptable to treat the caps and dash sets as separate entities...

I do have a sack full of various used door caps, though few, if any, are matched.