project 1980 Austin Princess

[Noel Tidybeard]

stop fapping around with stickers and get on with the dashboard f00!

[vulgalour]

I got it smoothed and primed, I just haven't got the sparklesparkle on it yet.

[Noel Tidybeard]

here's a thought for you young man--

when my bro-in-law painted his mk1 tina he wanted sparkle sparkle so i'm sure he used spandangle nail varnish lobbed into the clear coat

[vulgalour]

I know many cheap-ass ways to get sparkle in the paint.  My favourite to date is being shown how to blow a handful of glitter just so onto fresh cellulose paint to create fake metalflake for when your spraying gear just isn't up to dealing with the flake.  Then there's the method where you spray lacquer on to the colour coat, then throw glitter and/or chopped up tinsel liberally at it because the lacquer is apparently stickier than colour coats before lacquering over the top of it until you've built up about four million coats which is just enough to allow you to flat back without exposing the 'flakes'.

 

 

What I plan to do instead is just get the purple metallic rattle can out if I get chance tomorrow and laying that down on the super smooth primer.  Geez, old people are so impatient!

[Noel Tidybeard]

OI forty several isnt old!!!

[vulgalour]

So I finally got the top coat on the dashboard done.

 

All about the details too.  It bugged me that the insert here didn't match the dashboard, so I've rectified that with some careful masking, making it blend into the dash a lot better.

 

I've got to remove the dashboard from the car anyway to do the welding at the front and to investigate to see if I can find out what's going on with the water-in-the-vents randomness I get that I've never got to the bottom of.

[purplebargeken]

Interesting finish. I like that!

[stuboy]

coming on...

[rml2345]

I like that, it looks dead funky and more in keeping with the futuristic wedge. Seems odd why BL chose such a daring shape and then stuck a bit of random wood in the interior. It's like they were half heartedly trying to tone it down or something.

Will be interesting to see how it ties into the rest of the interior.

[vulgalour]

The first ones had a moulded plastic dash with flush fit telltale lenses, painted black for base and silver for the rest.  It seems as the car aged they got more conservative to try and appeal to more customers.  Middle class Terrys and Junes the land over all wanted a bit of wood in their new car, nobody wanted a bit of nasty plastic.

[Noel Tidybeard]

as for water in the vents look at this pic of an allegro there is a spout between the air filter and washer bottle which has a rubber flap- this is to let water out of heater unit but the flap gets gunked up and the heater fills up with rain water

i would imagine the princess has something similar

[vulgalour]

I don't think there's a thing like that on the Princess bulkhead, but I could be wrong, haven't got the car in front of me to check.

 

---

 

The internet, why must it tempt me so? I'm guessing the purple on this Plymouth is a custom colour, but is there something similar off the shelf, as it were?

 

 

 

The beige is pretty close to Champagne so I know it'd work with that two-tone idea. I really like this.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

That purple dash is well smart. I love it. 

[KruJoe]

 

I really like this.

If that's a Plymouth, it could well be "Prowler Purple":

 

 

Of course, different lighting, paint condition, cameras, and screens affect what you see here.

 

You need look no further than Rover Amaranth in my opinion:

 

 

Also, there may be some contenders on Ford's palate, including Thistle Purple, also look at Fiestas from about 15 years ago:

 

 

Not sure on the name of that.

 

Also, "Aubergine"...

 

 

HTH

[vulgalour]

Hadn't thought to look at the Plymouth colours and had entirely forgotten that Prowlers came in colours other than yellow.  I reckon that's what is on that Plymouth I found, it makes a lot of sense.  That also means a colour code exists for it which makes my life a bit easier.

 

Ford Thistle is okay, Aubergine is better, but neither look as right as the Plymouth purple.  Amaranth I like, but weirdly only on other peoples cars, it's not something I want on one of my own.  Ford Velvet Purple isn't going on the outside of the car to match the dash insert either, it's not strong enough a colour to contrast with the beige in the way I want it to but is better to contrast the black interior than the darker purples aforementioned.

 

Again, we're back to two-tone and purple, which does answer a lot of cost concerns.  The bad paint on the car is mostly in the purple zone, as are the repairs.  What there is of the beige that will need redoing is small enough areas that I can DIY that and by keeping the beige I don't have to repaint the engine bay, just clean it up which removes a big chunk of hassle.

[vulgalour]

Just got hit with another idea when browsing for stuff.

 

 

 

Turns out the headlight trims for Mk1 Austin A40 Farinas are fairly easy to obtain.  If you rotate them 90 degrees they suddenly look very viable as a rear light trim that fit on the back of the Princess.  You can use the A40 sidelight/indicator unit (also plentiful) to serve as indicator and reversing light fairly easily but you're then stuck with trying to find a 7" brake light.

 

The best I can find are LED trailer lights from America, clearly something that would be very visible and would fit the hole but may not have enough depth to look right.  They also end up quite pricey once you factor in the delivery from America and I'm yet to find a UK company offering the same thing.

 

The two reasons I'm considering this is that I don't really like the stock Princess rear light design aesthetically speaking, and they have a habit of delaminating the chrome covering which then leads to crazy disco lights.  They're not a good design as standard and I'd like to improve on it.

 

 

If anyone knows of a 7" standard rear light cluster that can be got in the UK I'd love to know.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Suppose it depends if you want it to be a proper E-marked brake light or not... if only for 'show use', I'd get a couple of standard H4 headlights and make a little H4 sized plate for a normal bulb holder, hey presto, seven inch brake light. Or you could do it TVR Cerbera style and hide another car's brake light behind a smoked 7in clear lens.

[keef]

If anyone knows of a 7" standard rear light cluster that can be got in the UK I'd love to know.

How about? :-

[PhilA]

 

This came to mind.

 

 

That'd get you red lens, red reflector, white lens. Split the red light to side, brake and fog, white with an orange bulb in and an all white lens next to it if you so desire reversing lights.

 

Phil

[Merlin cat]

Lovely car I'm with cheggers, I always remembered them as big cars. I guess put next to a mini they would be.

[KruJoe]

 

Do you have Can you do a mock-up of how this will look?

[Skizzer]

If you must change it, you could do a lot worse than turning the existing ones upside down (and maybe swap them over so the indicators are still on the outside).  I can't see where there's space for big round things.

[chaseracer]

7", you say...?

 

http://www.leisureshopdirect.com/caravan/electric/product_35933/jokon_stop-tail_light_with_right_angle_connector.aspx

[vulgalour]

I think the Cortina pie dishes are too small, I've no idea on the Galaxie lights (which I love, btw) and chaseracer's suggestion are half the size needed, though there are American suppliers for 7" LED trailer lights which are boring but would likely fit the bill.

 

You can turn the lights upside down and swap side to side, I've done it before, but it looks stupid.

[chaseracer]

...chaseracer's suggestion are half the size needed...

 

Ah... oops.  Sorry, Angyl - I misread the dimensions.  Lucky I don't work on Mars expeditions...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter#Cause_of_failure

 

[vulgalour]

Skizzer:  I'm considering debumpering again, it can be done in a reversible way.  That should give me the extra depth required.  I'll measure things, it's all just an idea at the moment and if I can't find a 7" light solution then it goes no further.

[chaseracer]

Just a thought, but: coach tail-lights?  FPB7 of this electronic parish is the fount of all PSV knowledge.

[KruJoe]

How about cutting the existing lights in half, leaving the inner (reverse) light as they are, and flipping / swapping the outer bits (orange / red)? Maybe you could have a play with a spare set. You could build your own bit-wot-holds-the-lenses.

That would make a parallelogram at each side, which would fit with the lines of the car much better.

Here, I found a purple parallelogram for you.

Now you can't say I don't care.

[STUNO]

Noooo. Round lights will look terrible on the rear of that . I have always disliked the standard lights as they are too small and too low, But big round ones are not a good idea on such an angular rump. That said I don't know what would look good without a lot of research, guessing that a split with some lights in the regular position and others on the boot lid may look better. Try something in that direction and see .

[vulgalour]

Turns out Cortina pie-dishes might actually be the ticket as they look about the right size, far bigger than I thought. They're also really easy to get hold of and have all the relevant bits in them.  Swap the indicator in them for a fog light and it's a really tidy end product, I hope.