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SambaS in AlpineLE Oh-dearage!


SambaS

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Talbot had great hopes for the Solara when launched in 1980, considering it is just a chopped up Alpine with 3 inches added to the tail, the result was quite pleasing...

 

Sales however were not - despite being Coventry built, company fleet managers stuck with what they knew...   

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That's incredible and very stylish in its own way.  It's a shame they never made an estate for the same range, I imagine they would have been eminently practical until the rust got hold.

 

Heuliez sketched an estate car/break version of the Alpine/1310/1510, but it never got to the prototype stage, most likely due to Chrysler Europe's dire financial situation.

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  • 3 weeks later...
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The LE is in the dry awaiting further attention... 

 

In the meantime some progress has been made on the red GL, with the near side structure now being sorted. The sill appeared to be intact, but was paper thin for the most part.

 

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Once off the inner sill largely crumbled along with the floor pan lip.

 

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A lot of fabrication needed, but now all solid ready for new outer sill.

 

post-19509-0-43845900-1491943385_thumb.jpg

 

 

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The 'something special' has arrived. How's this for craziness - genuine factory original seat cloth..... fresh from Roby in France who, incredibly, still stock these materials some 30 years later.

 

On comparison it just shows how truly awful the interior of this car is... 

 

Still a lot more to do but this must be the luckiest Alpine alive!

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post-19509-0-28977200-1510786464_thumb.jpg

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I've got the brightness turned down on my phone as I'm in bed, I thought it was a roll of j cloth at first...

Haha - 'J-cloth' is exactly what we call this material in the club!

 

Chrysler/Talbot called it 'Chequer'.

 

There were about 10 different colours, all biodegradable after 3 years in sunlight...  

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Good to see you at the NEC. Was very pleased to hear about this development. Do you know if they stock other 1970s French car trim, particularly Citroen?

 

Yes good to see you too and thanks for your appreciation of our stand!

 

This is the Citroen page (they also list Peugeot and Renault) Roby allocate a 4 digit reference number for each material type, if you have that (sometimes shown in the main dealer paint and trim folders) or maybe the name that would be helpful (preferably the French name if different) otherwise send a sample I guess. To simplify things I used a French friend to take samples to their shop in Paris and pay on my behalf, I then later met up with him at a show in France to collect the cloth. The material roll is plenty wide enough for the width of the car, so you just need the front to back measurement. 

 

http://www.roby-collection.fr/9-tissus-citroen

 

Just because the sample doesn't appear on the website doesn't always mean they don't have it from my experience, as none of the Simca/Chrysler/Talbot samples appear. I got 2 out of the 3 samples I submitted - I guess it's likely pot luck if they still have stock.

 

Pretty amazing though its still 'on the shelf'! 

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