Top Draw finish

Great story and looking good. Tastefully done.

Well done, great to a P38 getting some love. I absolutely adore mine, which pretty much everyone I know struggles to understand! I took mine to a body shop this week to get a quote to tidy up a few areas (rear wheel arches and front and rear bumpers). Looking forward to getting it done 👍

Thats looking good

Cheers Gents!!

Next update is the DISASTER that befalled the car one Thursday morning!!

I went out fresh and ready to go to work, as i pressed the Tailgate button FUSE 15 blew and the car went haywire!!

At that time I was a numpty and didn't research what Fuse 15 fed, i just went hammer and tongs, looking for a short or broken wire that didn't exist!

So here we go...

The offensding article lying in wait, to bite ya in the arse at the most inopportune moments, all hail the BEcM, that LR decided to stick under the seat!!



Note the Rover 800 switchgear

Remove 4 T50 torx bolts and several connectors under the seat, i did forget to disconnect the battery, which must mean one of my nine lives has gone because there are a few airbags in the seat, I forgot!!

Anyway..

Heave it out and.....

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

With the above issue found it was time to tidy her up..

The interior had taken a hammering from her previous owners and myself!

In my quest to find the wiring issue i had messed the inside up a tad!!




The first things in line were the plastic trim pieces that adorn the interior.






This stuff was bought to help shift the grime, it is cheap as chips, and turns out to be really rather good!



The proverbial afters, scrubbing and hoovering + trim gel!






I did one side, the other side needed more than a clean lol

next was the chrome tread plates, in my case they were all corroded and covered in filth from years of being stepped on etc.




The RR logo is lazer etched on, so a good deep polish was used on a bench grinder

The afters make it worth while!





Much better!



---------------------

The other side has a loom running the length of the car, and in my case years of water ingress had taken its toll on the tape that insulates it.



so with a good quality tape and some time, it was restored!!





more to come!

The other side's tread plates were also tidied up and the plastic was refitting,
New metal clips were used to ensure the trim sat neatly and didn't squeak or pop off!!




The list at this point for parts was pretty long, however i did snag these for £10 which is a bargain IMO




The interior definietly needed them!!



They were given a coat of vinyl and rubber care to shine them up!!





much betterer!!

Right where was I?

Oh yes..


The interior of this old Bus is known as "lightstone" which is a nice "off white" not a weird creamy gold colour..
After 18yrs hard use my leather was sullen with tobacco stains and human slime.

Oh note the grubby carpet too!!





The seats were scrubbed with various stiff brushes and some Autoglym Interior shampoo..
They changed colour and felt alot less like a greasy old mess

Click image to enlarge

The rear seats were also treated to a good clean...

This time however, the leather was cleaned with APC and a steamer.









Much nicer, alot less like an old smoke shelter and more luxury leather smell

A little know fact is the P38 is one of the last cars to be trimmed out by Connolly  MY2001 Range Rover P38 Vogue 4.6
MY2005 Jaguar S type 3.0 SE
MY2000 Land Rover Discovery II TD5
MY1987 Bentley Turbo R "project"
MY1977 Rolls Royce Silver shadow. "project"

The Carpet under the rear seats was subject to the usually kid muck.

Old biscuits and the lark..





A good scrubbing session with interior cleaner and a hoover with "george" and it looks alot cleaner, it smells better too..
It is amazing when you clean these old cars out, you get a feeling for what it did during its life.

This one was a family hauler for a good while i'd bet




-peeling-

This nightmare was next on the list...




Some of this was found and put to good use.





Left it for an hour and it turned out really rather well








I'm working down the list lol  MY2001 Range Rover P38 Vogue 4.6
MY2005 Jaguar S type 3.0 SE
MY2000 Land Rover Discovery II TD5
MY1987 Bentley Turbo R "project"
MY1977 Rolls Royce Silver shadow. "project"

I love these stories, please carry on, addictive reading.
I have a bench in the garage knocked up from spare pieces of wood to clean my mats on or occasionally the use of the outside dustbin..........others have posh metal benches to do their work upon............you sir, on the other hand, have a series one Rolls Royce Silver Shadow? How neat is that!

Good read sir, 'keep calm & carry on' 2012 Orkney Grey Westminster 4.4TDV8 with Ivory interior.........nice!
Alfa Romeo Giulietta
Just one Montesa now, 349 White Wonder
Austin A40 Farina MK2
1975 Morris Marina 1.8TC
1973 Honda CB250 K4

Great story, you are doing an amazing job bringing the old girl back to life. The interior especially has come up a real treat. Loving your attention to detail and powers of investigation.

Will be following this with huge interest. 09 RR Westminster 3.6TDV8 - Stornoway Grey / Black interior - now gone (sad face)
Nissan X Trail 1.6TDCi Tekna
Fiat 500 1.2

Thats coming together nicely, cracking job. Keep the pics coming.

Looking good. What a great colour leather. I’m not normally a fan of pale colours but that is gorgeous.