Colin Lindsay

I did, on my 1964 1200. They were still there, rusted to the bulkhead, fifty years after purchase. THAT'S what I call original and unmolested.

45 degree would make most sense, but delicate... I could do it and to be honest that's my preferred route but rubber isn't as forgiving as wood or metal so could flex and destroy the angle. Loads of care, sweating and running away / coming back when fortified required. Mick's Loctite might do if it will fill in and cover up any hoo-has with tears or ragged cuts...

Will check this afternoon, and upload.

Converted saloon? That's a fitting for an aftermarket / home made hood frame pivot on top of the wing plus an added lip for the rear of a hood across the deck; no sign of anti-burst locks on the b-posts either. Check the door glasses - rounded at the top rear means convertible, square is saloon, but they could have been changed at some stage. If you have the documents then the commission number will end in DL for a saloon, CV for convertible. Looks interesting; do you have any remnants of the hood at all?

Forgive me for finding that funny... it struck a chord with me as my own 1200 was advertised as a Trumiph Herlad and the cars in our house are now all referred to as 'Trumiphs'.

Currently on Facebook, £7500, Nottingham area. NOT perfect but a great base for improvement.

Just had a trial fitting and the rubbers are still supple and as new, going round the corners is a bit tricky as they're not moulded, but the biggest problem is going to be the right-angled corners where the upright section meets. It's not as simple as just cutting edge to edge due to the shape required to fit both glass and bodywork, and any gap will be quite noticeable. Any ideas before I start trimming?

It's from the Graham Robinson collection, they're selling a lot of his stuff off. I did find that photo on page 88 of his Herald and Vitesse book, it's the 'Kenilworth Dragster' Harry Webster's personal souped-up car that was owned and driven by him before the Vitesse became reality. It's a Coupe with a vanguard engine, and the bonnet was designed by Michelotti for the intended new Vitesse, so that might explain the left-hand-drive and the Italian numberplate to road test it over there.

It's soul-destroying some times; my daughter is currently house-buying and after waiting ages for something nice to come along, they view, bid, and then something happens (often seemingly like an under the counter brown-envelope deal) and it gets sold to someone else, not necessarily the highest bidder either. Then the process begins again. The car for you will come along, just keep an eye open. (And remember the perfect car will only come along after you've bought one already and you'll spend hours poring over photographs, ignoring the faults, and wondering why you didn't hold on... when in reality it's no better than the one you have already. Done that.)

I know the Australians broke factory rules and made their own Vitesse-bonneted Coupe for sale locally, I've no idea if that's an AUS registration number or not but the car looks the same.

Long long ago from Canleys, but I see they're NLA now. Rimmers still list them, for some reason I looked at them earlier in the week and I thought they were very expensive but I'm happy I read that wrong, they're just over £70 for the pair. Same as mine, they require gluing so I reckon I'll go with John's suggestion of cycle glue.

Should have; the short strips alone are about four inches too long. I know as usual I'm being overcautious but it's the visuals as well as the strength... maybe superglue with a smear of rubber sealer to look 'factory'...?

A bit more progress on the 1200 Estate (15 miles in the 13/60 at the weekend, but that was just to blow cobwebs off. I think the rear spring needs swapping over, it's a bit boaty) and since the roof went on things have flown along. Not that we're any closer to the road but there are so many little jobs to do there's a whole range of things to choose from. I tightened the roof down fully, and even managed to find the huge, very solid washers for the underside of the C-posts. Biggest step of the week was to fit the B-post pillars. These, like the sills, have been painted for more than 20 years awaiting refitting, and have (almost) managed to avoid damage since. There's a chip out of the driver's side, but not too visible. I also had a seal / fitting kit salted away, new top and bottom seals and stainless setscrews and washers, Lord only knows where I bought that. It seems to have gone ok so far. Yes, the door catch does require adjusted but I'll do that as one of the last few jobs once everything else is fitted and tightened down properly. It's amazing how those two pillars complete the car. It's funny but the thing that gave me most pleasure was fitting the small bottom seal. Still needs fettled a bit, but it's a sort of 'full stop' to the roof fitting, and those masking tape marks will clean off with petrol. They've only been there ten years or so. I also have brand new trims for the inside of the pillars, they're card with a vynide covering to match the headlining, so will require glued and cut to size. Next step will be that rivet - I've none of the proper size - and then the side windows, once I get up the courage to cut the seals and reglue, and the B-post trim has been refitted. It's a big step, measure twice, cut once, still get it wrong, and swear. The cost of replacement seals will no doubt guide my hand. (Speaking of which, I gashed my palm badly on the clip that holds the stiffening rod between the window runners on the passenger door. I scraped it once then went back and did it properly. It bled like a pig and even after a week is still sore. Don't do that again!) One of the most fun jobs at this stage is finding all the chrome trim, which again has been stored for many years and often has multiple pieces, some of which are scrap, some need fettled slightly regarding dents or scrapes, and some can be used straightaway with just a good clean. The estate pieces are unique to the model, but thankfully I have three or four sets of the larger pieces. Part number 6 in the diagram is a covering piece for the joint and I think I have only one of those, but duplicates of all the others. I'll be out buying rivets later so will get some Autosol and give it all a good clean, but keeping it in place may be the problem. All of the clips are long gone or rusted away. The required items are 610511, 'Clip, beading, side finisher' and 610510 'Clip, beading, finisher top' probably three of the latter and six of the former. The helpful diagram in the catalogue shows what they should look like: item 7 for roof and item 3 for sides. Sadly, this is what mine look like: Two roof clips on left and two side clips on right. They seem, in the way of most clips, to hold the trim by sprung tension whilst gripping the paintwork. This means it's not only very difficult to replicate, but the 'grip' is one-sided only, so there's nothing to tension any adhesive against, it will just slip off one side or if it sticks, will be held by one side only so a potential to fall off if any stress is encountered ie from bumps or road vibrations. I also don't want to drill and screw or rivet it as this will be quite obvious on the car. I may send samples of the clips to a few fastener companies to see what they recommend. They may have an equivalent, or other solution. The corner pieces are at least screwed in place, but here again I'm not happy with the currently available fasteners. The recommended solution is a No8 by 1/2 inch self tapper, notably a panhead pozidrive, which replaces the original YZ3404. I've tried a few as a test and reckon a countersunk or at the very least partial countersunk domed screw looks much better. Of course, once again the problem is going to be locating those particular screws. Chromed might be more difficult than stainless, but that's for tomorrow. I'll browse Spalding and Bresco to see what offerings they have. In the meantime it's Thursday, 9pm, I'm cream crackered so going to crack open a small glass and watch Classic Car Garage to spot more bloopers from my position of lofty moral superiority. Everyone's a critic!

I had thought of that, given that I've recently used some on the BMW. Do you think it would be tough enough?

Hi all - my 1200 estate window rubbers have turned out to be excellent quality, but requiring cut to size and glued together. The smaller straight section goes against the B-post and the long piece then goes right round the glass, and where the two join top and bottom they'll require glued together at right angles. Any thoughts on a good rubber / seal glue? I'm hoping that once in place they'll not move so little to no stress on the joint but it needs to be waterproof plus won't dry out or attack the rubber. Any good ideas?