[KartikeyaL]

Originally Posted by FINTAIL

Come on, admit- You've been using NOS Parts, haven't you?

Dear Fintail,
What you see in the small blue box are NOS Ash tray's as fitted to many British cars during the period.

All other parts that we have used have come off scrapped Rover's, The Vikings Mascot is re-manufactured and the rubber parts are all newly manufactured.

Originally Posted by KPS

Tremendous dedication to restore back to original. Parts are expensive and the unfavourable forex rate must be making it quite expensive to procure the parts.

Karthik hats off to you, very few would have attempted turning around a car in such a state.
Cheers KPS

KPS, thanks for your appreciations, it has been a very taxing exercise I must say.

By November 2013 we had fired the engine and I had most of the accessories and/or missing parts with me, more pictures of the work in progress.

[KartikeyaL]

The biggest challenge now facing me was to get the interiors correct, remember we had no seat frames and wood trims in the interior, lots of research went into getting the right interiors, getting the panels right was easy but the wood work was difficult , now comes the crazy part of this restoration, sometime in end 2012, there was an ad on olx for 3 cars in Ludhiana, this was also posted in Rust in pieces thread, I undertook a 1200 Km round trip to Ludhiana and saw the cars, There was one Model A ford, Morris cut door, and a very complete 1948 Rover P3.



I made an offer to the broker and was told that the offer was much below the asking price, he did not even have any documents to show, the owner of the car was UK based and was supposed to be back in India in March 2013.

in March 2013, I got the call from the owner asking to come and meet , so what followed was another 1200 Km trip, luckily this time they had documents for all three cars and I made a better offer, but things did not work out.

I had given up hope, but then one day out of the blue I got a call from UK, from the owner telling me that my offer was accepted and I should pick up the cars.

Another 1200 KM trip was undertaken, but this time I came back with 3 project cars, their story would be subject of another thread sometime in the future, here are some pictures.





and here is a picture of yours truly with the barn find cars



Now nothing could stop me from getting the interiors as close to original,the Ludhiana Rover was complete with all wood trims and it helped us in getting a very close look at what our final restoration should look like.

More later.
cheers

Kartik

[KPS]

Wow Kartik, one car restoration leading to 3 more cars to your stable!

Thanks for sharing your lovely story. Cannot wait to see the outcome of the car, in fact all the cars.

Cheers

KPS

[KartikeyaL]

After securing the Ludhiana Rover, we started working on the interiors, seat frames, dash board, window trims, door panels, seats, roof, sun roof, used the glasses to get new toughened glasses made. Running board rubbers were fixed and the car was painted with another coat of primer.

more pictures

[KartikeyaL]

more pictures of the work in progress, we got the chrome plating done, wiring work was started and wood was polished. Carpeting was started.

[KartikeyaL]

The car was painted with the final coat of paint, and rubbing started , it looks reddish in the pictures but we will get the correct shade which is one of the original Rover color.










Right now we are in the final stages of finishing and fixing so that the car can go to the Jaipur rally tomorrow , we have fired it and test driven it many times, there are going to be small issues which would require fine tuning but I will look into it post the rally this weekend. I am posting a picture which I took last night, hope to have another update here late night or tomorrow early morning.



cheers
Kartik

[KartikeyaL]

I took the car to the Jaipur rally we reached late , the restoration is still ongoing and lot needs to be done , perfected, some how we could not get the alignment of the bonnet correct at the last minute and that was a big mood dampener for me. Here are some pictures.

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by KartikeyaL

I took the car to the Jaipur rally we reached late , the restoration is still ongoing and lot needs to be done , perfected, some how we could not get the alignment of the bonnet correct at the last minute and that was a big mood dampener for me. Here are some pictures.

Fret not, the car looks great. These small issues will never finish, keep working on them and keep steadily improving the car, but most importantly keep driving the car. That's the only way you will get confidence, and truly enjoy the experience. You will face much trouble in the initial days, but the rewards are worth the wait. Should you decide to drive down to Bombay, you have many hosts waiting to receive you, and some may even join you part of the way.

[Bulldogji]

Hi Kartikeyal,

The rover looks great, congratulations. The little model, perched on the bonnet, what a delightful touch

As Karl advised, keep driving and if you ever plan to drive to Bombay, many will happily join you.

On a different note, the Jaipur show seemed a bit dull? I was told many stayed away for various reasons?

Maybe if your club did away with judging participation would improve, because we just do not have judges

[KPS]

Originally Posted by KartikeyaL

I took the car to the Jaipur rally we reached late , the restoration is still ongoing and lot needs to be done , perfected, some how we could not get the alignment of the bonnet correct at the last minute and that was a big mood dampener for me. Here are some pictures.

The car is looking superb Kartik. For a perfectionist like you, I guess the car will always be work-in-progress

The bonnet alignment is a real pain. After all these years, I have not been able to align my Plymouth's bonnet to my liking.

The interiors look very good. Amazing amount of time and effort to complete the trims. Well done

How does she run? Must be significantly heavy car to drive compared to your Minor.

Look forward to more updates

Cheers

KPS

[KartikeyaL]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

Fret not, the car looks great. These small issues will never finish, keep working on them and keep steadily improving the car, but most importantly keep driving the car. That's the only way you will get confidence, and truly enjoy the experience. You will face much trouble in the initial days, but the rewards are worth the wait. Should you decide to drive down to Bombay, you have many hosts waiting to receive you, and some may even join you part of the way.

Words of the wise, and I do hope that there would be a drive to Bombay in the future.

Originally Posted by Bulldogji

Hi Kartikeyal,

The rover looks great, congratulations. The little model, perched on the bonnet, what a delightful touch

As Karl advised, keep driving and if you ever plan to drive to Bombay, many will happily join you.

On a different note, the Jaipur show seemed a bit dull? I was told many stayed away for various reasons?

Maybe if your club did away with judging participation would improve, because we just do not have judges

Sir, thanks for your kind words, I too love the scale model.
The Jaipur show was very dull, and many stayed away, the judging was good, but what happens once the judges leave is something which is very dubious, and it is not my club, there is no membership to that club for obvious reasons, most of the trophies go to the owners of the club, even the CM congratulated the select few who managed to get any awards in between the owners of the club.

Originally Posted by KPS

The car is looking superb Kartik. For a perfectionist like you, I guess the car will always be work-in-progress

The bonnet alignment is a real pain. After all these years, I have not been able to align my Plymouth's bonnet to my liking.

The interiors look very good. Amazing amount of time and effort to complete the trims. Well done

How does she run? Must be significantly heavy car to drive compared to your Minor.

Look forward to more updates

Cheers

KPS

Kps, thanks again !! She runs well , but I would have to get used to it and the more we use it the better it will get. Though I must admit there are some tuning issues at the moment.

[msabbasi]

What an epic journey you have covered to reach the point to get this car ready for the show. I really have to say your project was not for the faint hearted. The end result is just fabulous. Particularly the interior. I have a 1948 Jaguar which I drive once a week. I agree with karlosdeville to drive the car as much as possible. Only through regular driving will the car show areas of concern and thus get the required attention.

Love the colour. It is is divine. No mater how much praise is showered upon the execution of you project, it cannot be enough. Bravo!!

[msabbasi]

Originally Posted by KartikeyaL

I took the car to the Jaipur rally we reached late , the restoration is still ongoing and lot needs to be done , perfected, some how we could not get the alignment of the bonnet correct at the last minute and that was a big mood dampener for me. Here are some pictures.

If I may be allowed to put in my two cents worth.. I assume that the misalignment of the bonnet you are referring to is pointed out in the picture below by the two yellow arrows. IMHO this is caused by the radiator/grill assembly sitting too low. If spacer washers of about 3/4" thickness can be placed below the radiator causing the radiator to rise in the direction of the green arrow, it will raise the front mounting point of the bonnet hinge and allow the bonnet to close properly around the radiator.

[KartikeyaL]

Originally Posted by msabbasi

What an epic journey you have covered to reach the point to get this car ready for the show. I really have to say your project was not for the faint hearted. The end result is just fabulous. Particularly the interior. I have a 1948 Jaguar which I drive once a week. I agree with karlosdeville to drive the car as much as possible. Only through regular driving will the car show areas of concern and thus get the required attention.

Love the colour. It is is divine. No mater how much praise is showered upon the execution of you project, it cannot be enough. Bravo!!

Sir, thanks for your kind words and appreciation which goes a long way in motivating enthusiast like me.

Originally Posted by msabbasi

If I may be allowed to put in my two cents worth.. I assume that the misalignment of the bonnet you are referring to is pointed out in the picture below by the two yellow arrows. IMHO this is caused by the radiator/grill assembly sitting too low. If spacer washers of about 3/4" thickness can be placed below the radiator causing the radiator to rise in the direction of the green arrow, it will raise the front mounting point of the bonnet hinge and allow the bonnet to close properly around the radiator.

Sir, we have noticed this and will work on this, hopefully it would help, further we think that the radiator needs to go in a bit too.

thanks again
Kartik

[sarojesh]

I'm so sorry (but even so, very glad) that I saw this page so late! I - my family - has had a 1948 Rover P3 since new. It was once painted in the same colour as your car but it is now navy blue - as you can see in the attachments. Great restoration, for which congratulations!