Strange number

[ean]

On the continuing saga of sorting out and making good my Mk2 Vitesse Convertible.

I have removed the wood strips along the top of the doors as the lacquer is all cracked and falling off and noted the same number in the hidden side of the wood panel. See attached pics.

My first thought - is it a part number or is it car number forty one thousand, five hundred and twenty six. :)

But on a more serious note. What is the best way to remove the lacquer without spoiling the wood and then prepping the surface before applying fresh lacquer? I understand that acrylic lacquer or melamine lacquer are recommended for best results.

Iain S

 

[Josef]

I guess this’ll be the number for the pair of door cappings. The dashboards have matching numbers on the dash and glovebox to ensure the veneer matched so I imagine the door caps were treated similarly. Heat and a scraper work to strip the lacquer, being careful with the heat gun as it is possible to burn the wood if you really blast it. I refinished my dash with Rustins Plastic Coating, came up well.

[Wagger]

I just sanded mine by hand using a cork block and then two coats of Yacht Varnish. It's good enogh for boats and my vitesse is never going on the water.

[Colin Lindsay]

My trims are all marked 26126, both front and rears, so as Josef says it must be to keep them in a matched set.

I have yet to work on mine; I want to match the dashboard so will have to wait to see how that turns out before trying the door trims. Lloyd - did you sand right to the bare wood, or just key the existing varnish for a new coat?

[NonMember]

I think I'd try the heat gun method. My experience of sanding those door cappings is that the remaining lacquer is a lot more resilient against sanding than the already exposed veneer, and it's too easy to go through that in places. And I'll also upvote Rustins Plastic Coating, which I've used on both my Vitesse's door cappings and my Spitfire's dashboard.

[68vitesse]

Just remember when sanding the veneer is thin and easily sanded through.

Regards

Paul.

[Badwolf]

I refurbed a couple of veneered speaker cases a couple of years ago. Used various grades of wire wool to prevent going through the veneer. It worked really well.

[ean]

Many thanks for the comments.

Had tried the sanding but that seemed to be a hard and long process.

Taken by the use of an heat gun but with caution as advised.

I had not realised or even thought that the visible part was veneered.

Iain S

[PeteH]

Back in the day, A set of trims like that would be produced by one operative, numbering would have 2 objectives, keeping the "set", and as many where produced on a "piece" basis, how the operative got paid, once passed by the inspector!.

Pete.

[ean]

Interesting comment Pete, a good way of keeping a track on how many each person produced, or is that being a bit unfair.

Also in away it would indicate, in another way, how many cars, in this case Vitesse, were manufactured?

I wonder where 00001 is now.

[Josef]

That was exactly the point! Piece work means the worker gets paid per finished piece in a shift, so in this case per set of door cappings. 

[dougbgt6]

The number of the Beast is not 666 as is widely believed.

Drive carefully.

db

[PeteH]

9 hours ago, dougbgt6 said:

The number of the Beast is not 666 as is widely believed.

Drive carefully.

db

SUE 666, belonged to a Solicitor, back in the 50`s. (according to my Dad!).

Pete

[Badwolf]

As I remember from my youff, the glamour star (Fiona Richmond or was it Mary Middleton??) Was purported to have PEN Fifteen (work it out!!)

[Colin Lindsay]

At present PEN 15 belongs to Steve Parrish from TV. I think PEN 1 S was banned before issue.

We have a different system over here to that of the mainland, the last two letters denote the county and the first the age, so in the IG series NIG was banned in totality, as was KIL from the Fermanagh IL series.

One of the most sought after was from the Belfast XI series, the SXI plates were quite valuable.

[johny]

Ive seen in Spain the numbers are not directly age related so they use every possible combination before moving to the next letter series. It doesnt waste any numbers but you can only get an idea of the age of the vehicle from the letter and of course if you import a vehicle it gets the latest letter regardless of its age.

Also you cant buy specific registration numbers which reduces the income generated by people wanting special ones so presumably increases the cost for everyone else☹️ 

[dougbgt6]

2 hours ago, Badwolf said:

As I remember from my youff, the glamour star (Fiona Richmond or was it Mary Middleton??) Was purported to have PEN Fifteen (work it out!!)

Mary MILLINGTON.

Fiona used to live near Maidenhead, I worked there and frequently saw her drive past in her roller, number plate FU 2. All sorts of people have owned the plate since.

Doug

[ean]

Interesting. How did we go from 'Strange number' to chat about Fiona Richmond.

Am signing off now and thanks for the help on the SNq.

[Pete Lewis]

Its known as Thread Drift   but the drift can go in all possible  directions its contageous and starts from some very ordinary and 

inocent notation and youre  off the brain goes awol  and youre in the wild land of where the heck did that start from 

and you find out about things you never knew 

Pete

 

[Chris A]

1 hour ago, johny said:

Ive seen in Spain the numbers are not directly age related so they use every possible combination before moving to the next letter series. It doesnt waste any numbers but you can only get an idea of the age of the vehicle from the letter and of course if you import a vehicle it gets the latest letter regardless of its age.

That's the same as what happens here in France. My Triumph that I imported in 2015 got DR 196 BL. Non of that relates to the area, unlike the old system. A local garagiste knew the 'DR' was a series used in 2015. 

[Wagger]

On 15/06/2022 at 15:33, Colin Lindsay said:

My trims are all marked 26126, both front and rears, so as Josef says it must be to keep them in a matched set.

I have yet to work on mine; I want to match the dashboard so will have to wait to see how that turns out before trying the door trims. Lloyd - did you sand right to the bare wood, or just key the existing varnish for a new coat?

 I sanded to the bare wood. Mine were not veneered. Some may be, so do not do that if they are.

[Wagger]

5 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said:

At present PEN 15 belongs to Steve Parrish from TV. I think PEN 1 S was banned before issue.

We have a different system over here to that of the mainland, the last two letters denote the county and the first the age, so in the IG series NIG was banned in totality, as was KIL from the Fermanagh IL series.

One of the most sought after was from the Belfast XI series, the SXI plates were quite valuable.

I have a wonderful book called 'Potty, Fartwell and Knob'. All sorts of humourous names in it. On TV last week a lady looking after the Crown Jewels was Anna Keay. (Anarchy) Fact is often more surprising than fiction.

[Peter Truman]

I was in charge of Water Supply Ops my equalivent in sewerage was a chap whose surname was “Crapper” ! Like going back in history Smith denoted Smithy

[Mike Costigan]

14 hours ago, Wagger said:

I have a wonderful book called 'Potty, Fartwell and Knob'. All sorts of humourous names in it. On TV last week a lady looking after the Crown Jewels was Anna Keay. (Anarchy) Fact is often more surprising than fiction.

Back in the 'sixties we used to print the British Rabbit Association's handbook; the secretary at the time was known as 'Bunny' Labbit.

[thescrapman]

On 16/06/2022 at 17:29, Wagger said:

 I sanded to the bare wood. Mine were not veneered. Some may be, so do not do that if they are.

I thought they were all veneered at some point in their life?