Aurelia Pininfarina Cabriolet history required

[Sliding Pillar]

And here are some pics from roughly the late eighties when the shell was stripped for welding to start.

[DavidLaver]

Its only now I noticed the alloy boot handle which looks lovely.

David

[Sliding Pillar]

Things are moving on..... slowly.  The dash and windscreen surrounds are now fitted, along with the sun visors which are nicely period, dark brown tinted perspex, although I am missing one of the hinge fixings. Today a friend came and we sorted out the front seat mounts that had been welded in the wrong place since the floor had been replaced. Also whilst the welder was available we made up some brackets for the air horns that I have had for ages just waiting for a car to put them on.... well an Italian car MUST have air horns, it just doesn't sound right without them!

[Sliding Pillar]

It's been great to have a couple of sunny, if cold days over the Christmas break to get the car out of the garage, so now the front seats are back in and I have made up carpets for the front and rear footwells. The rubber mats are not available for the B50 and I didn't want carpet that would shrink if it got wet so I have used coir matting, very easy to cut, does not fray and is nice and thick, no need for any underlay that will soak up water. The sills transmission tunnel and front bulkhead will all be carpeted in marine quality carpet when the hood is done. I have also made up a rubber mat for the boot.
Yesterday as it was very wet I went to collect the Condor radio, this has had all the old valves taken out to be replaced by modern electronics to pick up FM, it also has an external fly lead with a jack plug for a MP3 player!! .........I have just got to wire it all up, fit the underbody aerial, make a couple of speaker boxes to fit under the dash....... not a MOT issue so it will have to wait until later.

[DavidLaver]

Tell me more about this matting...  Sounds like a class above rubber for no more effort.
 
David

[ncundy]

That really looks splendid.

[JohnMillham]

It's looking great, but was the carpet green or black when you fitted it?
 Happy New Year, John

[Sliding Pillar]

Hi John, seasons greetings, the mats were blue when i fitted them, but after only two days of winter sun they do seem to be turning green!!! and this is all over evenly, even under the seats where the sun don't shine!!
David, ditto greetings, coir mats are something you would usually get in a more vintage car... like an Augusta.... but I have seen them used in a B24 Spider before and they are great for the job, as long as the footwell area is resessed. This is where I bought mine from http://www.tradepriced.co.uk/coir_matting.html they are available in 1 or 2m widths and by the cm lengthwise, so very economical. To do both front and back of the B50 was only £50. Or you could try http://www.cocomats.com/coco-mats-story.htm who do a similar thing, but with bound edges suitable for more modern cars, and obviously a lot more expensive!

[Sliding Pillar]

An email from Sebastien Simon has reminded me that I didn't mention the door panels in the last post.
I have reused the original leather but the door cards had to be replaced, for this I used thin ply. The bottom raised section was missing so again this is ply, but covered in vinyl as I had run out of leather, but as it is dyed the same colour as the leather the difference is hardly noticeable. For the alloy trim strips which were again missing I have used alloy trim beading http://www.vintagecarparts.co.uk/en/list+upholstery+and+trimmings~pipe+bead+strip/ this works very well as it has pin nails on the reverse so is easy to fit, just drill a hole, pass though and bend the nail over, this holds the whole of the lower panel on. The only problem with trim beading is that it has groves on the reverse side, so it has to be bent over a bit and filed on the reverse before the front side is rounded off at either end.

[Sliding Pillar]

When I bought the B50 it had a 2000 badge on the grille. I was not sure if this was original or not, so for now have left it off the car, however I was searching the net the other night and came across a picture of another B50 pf Cabriolet that had the same 2000 badge on its grille. This lead me to think that it was indeed an original fitment.
An email to Wim Oude Weernink came back with the following information; There were nine Aurelia B50 chassis that were converted to B21 2000cc specification before they left the factory, of these four were Pinin Farina Cabriolets.  Wim added that he thought the badge was probably original.

[Sebastien]

Ade,
Interesting information: I had never seen that 2000 badge before. It does not look the same as those 2000 badges fitted to B21 I have seen.

But do you still have the "original" B21 engine fitted? I thought you would go the B12 route, which gives you a little bit more power and quite a bit more torque, albeit at lower revs. And if it is a B12, what is the gearbox now fitted - specifically what final ratio? If you have a B12 engine, you need a B12 gearbox, with a standard B10 gearbox you can start in 3rd, and your maximal speed is 65 MPH!
Sebastien

[Sliding Pillar]

Sebastien,
I do have the original B21 engine, but there is a B12 engine in the car at the moment. (The B21 one needs a full rebuild) The gearbox is the original one for the car, so with B21 ratios, I will have to see how this matches to the B12 engine, if it is far too low geared I  have a spare B12 gearbox.
The badge does have a handmade feel to it, but if you were only making four of them......
Ade

[Sliding Pillar]

With reference to my last few posts, I have just realised that I hadn't mentioned before that my B50 is one of the nine chassis (of which 4 were pf cabriolets) that were upgraded by the factory to B21/B52 2000cc spec before it was sent to the coachbuilder (It is shown on the factory record sheet).

[Sliding Pillar]

Nice sunny morning today, so a chance to get the car out of the garage, to admire its lines and do a few more jobs, we now have dipping headlamps (a missing earth to the switch, thanks Pete!) and the horns work too (paint covering the earthing point on the wheel), just need to get the hood frame fitting to my (and the trimmers) satisfaction.

[fay66]

Nice sunny morning today, so a chance to get the car out of the garage, to admire its lines and do a few more jobs, we now have dipping headlamps (a missing earth to the switch, thanks Pete!) and the horns work too (paint covering the earthing point on the wheel), just need to get the hood frame fitting to my (and the trimmers) satisfaction.

Looking lovely Ade, what colour will the hood be?

Brian
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