300 replies to this topic

[JC T ONE]

Thanks again for the comments folks! 

 

 

 

On the history of this car as said before I got previous owners details from DVLA! couple of

weeks ago went to one of the addresses supplied, but the house had changed hands however

the Gent whom answered the door found the address of the previous owner, so the next week

I visited that address!! big result the 96yr old Gentleman whom had owned the Contessa from

1982 till  2009 had a smile from ear to ear when I told him that it was being restored, he also

gave me a old photo of it and asked me to keep in touch and take it to let him see it when finished.

 

He still owns the registration no but said its not for sale pity as this number was on it when

Oyler finished building it.

 

I must say that folks of my adopted home in WestYorkshire are great and have been more than 

helpfull, the old gent now lives in Meltham outside Huddersfield and it seems the car has never

been outside its local area.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Thats amazing news :) well done.

 

It also raise a question = now that you got that nice old picture of the car, will you then still go ahead & change the grill to a non original / std item from BL ?   

[JacMawd]

Keep up the good work with this resto thread! It's a proper job....as we say in Yorkshire! I'm slowly restoring a 70s Clubman myself...nothing as majestic as the contessa mind! But mine does have a vinyl sunroof, what brand was yours? Mine has a 'slide away' which looks very similar to the one on the contessa. How did you remove it. I'm reckoning it's just a case of drilling out the rivets but I don't want to damage anything ...I know spares are hard to come by!

[spraybeater]

Thanks again for the comments, as I have said many times before it certainly

makes me feel that its worth the effort with photos and everything else. 

I certainly enjoy reading everyones own posts.

In answer to some particular points! 

Sorry GT Jimmy this is Defiantly the last!

as for it being a keeper, Minimission at he moment it is as long as I am able 

having said that the old guy I met a couple of weeks ago was 90yrs old when

he sold it.Thanks once again Martin for posting on the Mk1 forum, I have previously 

signed up on there but although having being accepted and renewing password for

some reason I only am able to browse as a visitor!! having said that the last time I

owned a Mk1 was 45yrs ago, on the number plate idea  I did ask if it ever came 

available I would be interested, he then gave me a story about it ! and him being

a well travelled 96yr old bachelor !! nice story.

JCT thanks for the interest, on the Grille, I think my mind is made up for me due to

the condition of the Wedgie Wolsley its chromed plastic surround is in typically poor

condition and chances of finding a replacement ? and I was never fond of these cars

back in the day!!! repaired a few or a local BL dealer (nightmare). 

Anyway on with the story been busy cleaning up, painting and refitting some parts,

 

front bumper and lights fitted,

engine back in master cylinders cleaned and fitted new seals fitted to clutch M/c

 

ware pump looks to have been renewed at sometime good old Unipart one,

 

new sound deadening as was fitted originally , door cards need to be repaired

due to the weight of arm rests pulling them out of shape!

 

 

more new sound deadening roughly cut out ready for final shaping whats left

of original carpets placed to see how they fit, new Wilton carpet materials will

be delivered this week,

 

 

 

bootlid fitted, number plate lamp and rear bumper refitted, 

 

Thats all for for now , more to follow, 

[spraybeater]

Keep up the good work with this resto thread! It's a proper job....as we say in Yorkshire! I'm slowly restoring a 70s Clubman myself...nothing as majestic as the contessa mind! But mine does have a vinyl sunroof, what brand was yours? Mine has a 'slide away' which looks very similar to the one on the contessa. How did you remove it. I'm reckoning it's just a case of drilling out the rivets but I don't want to damage anything ...I know spares are hard to come by!

To the best of my knowledge the roof fitted is a WeatherSheilds which I believe is now part of

the Britax!? range! as you say some parts are difficult to get, did find a company LBH Products

that supply some parts, Google is your friend !

It is held in with rivets and some captive screws a little care gets you there, one of the only 3

seized fasteners that I have had on this build was 1 of the captive screws on this,

where about in Yorkshire are you  I am always willing to have a look and give you some

advice if needed

[JacMawd]

Keep up the good work with this resto thread! It's a proper job....as we say in Yorkshire! I'm slowly restoring a 70s Clubman myself...nothing as majestic as the contessa mind! But mine does have a vinyl sunroof, what brand was yours? Mine has a 'slide away' which looks very similar to the one on the contessa. How did you remove it. I'm reckoning it's just a case of drilling out the rivets but I don't want to damage anything ...I know spares are hard to come by!

To the best of my knowledge the roof fitted is a WeatherSheilds which I believe is now part of
the Britax!? range! as you say some parts are difficult to get, did find a company LBH Products
that supply some parts, Google is your friend !
It is held in with rivets and some captive screws a little care gets you there, one of the only 3
seized fasteners that I have had on this build was 1 of the captive screws on this,
where about in Yorkshire are you  I am always willing to have a look and give you some
advice if needed

Lovely stuff, thanks. I'll give you a shout if it won't budge. I am quite used to seized stuff on this Clubman. It's a barn find & v rusty!
Keep up the posts, its great to see.

[gadget555]

WOW stunning find! and even more stunning resto keep up the good work and the updates.

[Ben_O]

I may well have missed it but what are the big round holes for in the bootlid Frank?

[spraybeater]

I may well have missed it but what are the big round holes for in the bootlid Frank?

Yeah! wondered when someone would ask Ben, they were put there as part

of the system for getting rid of stale air in the car (just as modern cars have 

with a couple of light rubber flaps over them) on the rear parcel shelf there are

3 speaker grilles 2 for speakers and 1 for the stale air.

Apparently the Managing Director of Oyler a Eric Sutherland had some interesting

ideas!! the parts on the bottled are hidden by a chrome number plate holder which

is causing me some pain at the moment.

[Ben_O]

 

I may well have missed it but what are the big round holes for in the bootlid Frank?

Yeah! wondered when someone would ask Ben, they were put there as part

of the system for getting rid of stale air in the car (just as modern cars have 

with a couple of light rubber flaps over them) on the rear parcel shelf there are

3 speaker grilles 2 for speakers and 1 for the stale air.

Apparently the Managing Director of Oyler a Eric Sutherland had some interesting

ideas!! the parts on the bottled are hidden by a chrome number plate holder which

is causing me some pain at the moment.

 

Thanks for that.

 

What an interesting idea!

[spraybeater]

As usual thanks for the comments and interest! been a bit busy with visitors and life in general

over the last couple of weeks, so a bit of an update on progress.

I think I have more or less sourced  all the trim materials now! between Woolies, Boy Riven and

a local carpet supplier all have been really helpful and of coarse Mini Spares North for parts.

The Everflex vinyl roof material has been measured out and my trimmer expert is making the

vinyl roof and hopes to fit it next week, have fitted these myself in the past, but he's the expert.

 

 

 

A bit of measuring marking out from what parts of the old carpets that were left! managed 

to turn a 2m x 2m carpet in to a pile of bits! its amazing how much carpet is in this,

 

 

purchased this on eBay and picked it up in Manchester, with all the carpets being

edged with vinyl edging, I need to do it myself with the help of the lady of the house,

there is about a weeks work in that so huge costs to get it done!!!

 

 

 

 

 

All the suspension parts cleaned, checked and painted had to renew one radius arm

pivot pin kit the rest was like new, also fitted a new complete set of brake slave cylinders,

the brake shoes had been previously replaced, quite interestingly with Delphi parts and

after buying a pair of NOS rear cylinders with were wrong! got some  genuine ones

from Mini Spares that turned out to be Delphi . All for now more to follow.

Thanks for looking

[minimissions]

This is coming together so nicely and surely has to be a show winner when its done. Nice work once again.

[Vinay-RS]

I love how the restored suspension components look. Lovely work! 

[JC T ONE]

Looking good   do you know the MCR are putting up a big display of  coachbuilt Mini,s in 2018 ?

 

You should bring it there, it will most likely be the only Oyler built car on the show.  

[spraybeater]

Looking good   do you know the MCR are putting up a big display of  coachbuilt Mini,s in 2018 ?

 

You should bring it there, it will most likely be the only Oyler built car on the show.  

Thanks for the heads up! was up in Dundee for a family wedding over the last few days,

my copy of this months Cooper World was waiting for me when I returned, saw this before

opening it, so have penciled in the date. I was at Beaulieu this year and it was a good day,

will be a good run in a 40yr old car with a 70yr old driver having said that back in the late

60s  early 70s did a few trips from Glasgow to Holland via Dover in a Mini, Happy Days.

[spraybeater]

As usual thanks for all the comments ect! been working away at getting all the bits and pieces 

cleaned up and painted fitting up as they era done, I had a few days away as previously said

at a family wedding.

As the car was going to to touched for a few days I took the opportunity to do a bit of cavity

waxing! gave all the box sections and inside sills ect a good coating left it for a day and gave

them another coat then left it to drip out!!

 

 

 

I got back from the weeks festivities! and got on with stripping down the heater and

cleaned up and painted,

 

 

 

As can be seen the end plate of the heater has been modified and the matrix pipes have

been altered, the heater has been lowered about 2" to allow the radio to be fitted between

the lower dash rail and the heater, I had to leave the end panel complete as I did not whant

to de solder the pipes from the matrix,

 

So today came the part which I had to let somebody else do the work  the vinyl roof

Everflex material supplied by Boyriven made up and fitted by a professional trimmer and I am 

well pleased with the result,

 

 

 

 

 

 

also got the rear number plate holder fitted ,exhaust also fired , used to do a fair

bit of exhaust fitting a few years ago when we branched out into tyres  and exhausts,

so was very pleased with the fit of this system made by Maniflow in Stainless Steel,

 

 

 

heater refitted with radio face plate fitted,

 

 

Radiator cleaned. cowling repaired, repainted and fitted,

 

auxiliary fan fitted under wing interesting that Rover fitted a fan in this position a few

years after this,

 

 

new under bonnet lamp fitted and wire refitted in bonnet channel that was fun,

 

 

One interesting thing found when doing the heater, on the blanking plate over the 

original air vent I found a signature and a date scribed on! it the date being

28/08/76 , this seems to indicate with a few other things that the car was built

a couple of years before the registered date .

 

All for now more to follow.