VG 3260

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Ian Grace
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VG 3260

Post by Ian Grace »

These images just in from Mike Houston of VG 3260 - his newly-acquired 1930 coachbuilt saloon - chassis M30850, first registered 1/1/31. Over you you, Mike, for captions and progress reports!

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cammy
Posts: 121
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2008 8:24 pm

Re: VG 3260

Post by cammy »

Mike,
Your VG looks to be in pretty good fettle. When do you think she will be on the road?

I was rempted but I.m glad I din't bid and force up the price for you. Had the Gods decided otherwise we might have finished up with VG and you may have won SL.

Who cares? We have saved two between us.

ATB
Clive
Ian Grace
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Re: VG 3260

Post by Ian Grace »

Who cares, indeed. Two early Minors out of long-term hibernation and being actively restored.

Targets are always good for restorations - it certainly worked with my Semi-sports which I had been rebuilding for over ten years before Dorset 2007 - I reckon I did the last 1/3 of the work (including all the tricky stuff you always leave until the end) in the last three months before shipping.

May I suggest the VMR's Tenth Anniversary Rally in the summer of 2010 for these two cars?
halbe
Posts: 447
Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2007 11:08 pm
Location: holland

Re: VG 3260

Post by halbe »

Mike,

May I suggest a september 2009 rally in Holland for a meeting with the other VG on the block ,Both you and Clive are more than welcome :D

Halbe
cammy
Posts: 121
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2008 8:24 pm

Re: VG 3260

Post by cammy »

Mike, from the look of the cabling someone has already sorted the electrics or is it that you have already done this work?
ATB
Clive
mike houston
Posts: 101
Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2008 9:41 am

Re: VG 3260

Post by mike houston »

Thanks to Ian for uploading the photos, and for comments so far. I'll skip through the photos in order. 1. Progress continues, scuttle panel now removed, together with bonnet plates(?) and front shroud, and all electrics off firewall. 2. Woodwork in foreground is poor due to worm. The body number can just be seen stamped into the main cross member above the diff. I wonder if the strange prop couplings are any good? Will be best to replace them I guess. 3. As I found the roof, now completely removed. Clearly someone in the past had problems with water penetration and decided to cover the whole thing. It was quite well done, but clearly not original, so had to go. 4. You can see that a crude repair with an angle bracket has been carried out to the frame to the rear of the OSR window, (nearside in Holland and the USA!). This is to be rectified as original. 5. The wiring is as found. The tags are to identify wires for future reference, but I think it best to completely rewire. 6. I was interested to know how original the instruments are, and Ian has already remarked on the ammeter and the finish surrounding the ignition light. I would be interested to see a straight on shot of the lettering that I believe should be present. 7. General side view, that aluminium strip and roof covering are now gone. I can't believe how many tacks were apparantly used to hold the body on in this, and other areas! They can be very difficult to remove. The body has gone 'lacy' along these edges due to corrosion, leaving some problematic repairs to be done. 8. General rear view, mostly now stripped.The next jobs are final removal of the wiring loom, removal of firewall, running boards and engine/box.I would like to think that Summer 2010 is a reasonable target to aim for, but I'm afraid next summer Halbe is out of the question! I'm in no hurry, and just want to get it right, so basically it will take as long as it takes, but Summer 2010 should be achievable. Just don't hold me to it! More photos will follow in due course. Regards to all, Mike.
g4pyd
Posts: 125
Joined: Mon May 05, 2008 7:46 am

Re: VG 3260

Post by g4pyd »

:D Hi Mike love your car and good luck with the restoration,

the colour looks original,is it? and if so is the colour in the photo's the same as in real life?

I have a 1932 coach built saloon and am trying to find the original colour,

I have an Idea this is the right colour

Colin :D
David Whittle
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Location: Wantage, Oxon, UK

Re: VG 3260

Post by David Whittle »

I believe your Ammeter & your Oil pressure gauges have been swapped to the wrong holes! No great crime :D :D
OHC 1929 Tourer WE6554
Ian Grace
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Re: VG 3260

Post by Ian Grace »

David is right - I spotted that after e-mailing you about the other two small issues (ignition lamp bezel should be painted, not bare bras, and the ammeter should be 20 amp, not 16 amp for your car).
Simon
Posts: 275
Joined: Sat Dec 09, 2006 4:56 pm
Location: Surrey UK

Re: VG 3260

Post by Simon »

While we are on about the instrument panel, how about the speedometer, it's a C type. It should be a PC type, the angle between 5 MPH and 60 MPH I think !!! should be about 120 degrees. Mike where are you located, please send me a private message.
mike houston
Posts: 101
Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2008 9:41 am

Re: VG 3260

Post by mike houston »

Thanks to everyone for their comments so far, I am learning a great deal from all of you. In particular it seems as if the intrument panel is mostly wrong, ah well it can be put right! I think I have commented alsewhere about the colour, I do like it myself but the owner from 40 years ago tells me that it was a British Rail colour. I will eventually have to find the correct paint, but no hurry yet! They say that a picture paints a 1000 words so I thought that I would have a go at uploading some more for your comment. Here goes:-
DSC02906.JPG
DSC02906.JPG (140.22 KiB) Viewed 6719 times
You can see some attempt has been previously to strengthen the centre cross member, but basically it, and a lot more wood need replacing. Pictures of the roof will follow, it seems that I am limited to uploading a max of three pics at a time,

Regards, Mike.
Attachments
DSC02908.JPG
DSC02908.JPG (144.62 KiB) Viewed 6714 times
DSC02907.JPG
DSC02907.JPG (153.84 KiB) Viewed 6722 times
Ian Grace
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Location: USA

Re: VG 3260

Post by Ian Grace »

Hi Mike,

Congrats on sorting out how to upload images - it is easy - when you know how! :wink:

It looks to me like you have a very sound basis for a good rebuild. I wouldn't worry about the instrument panel - the issues with it are completely trivial and won't detract one iota from the pleasure the car will give you when it is on the road - in the not to distant future, I hope.

The good news is that the car looks like it has been driven properly - it has had the Bowden front brake cable conversion and has Hartfords shock absorbers which are very good and replace the original single-acting shocks which weren't a great deal of use.

The extra bracing timber across the body behind the front seats is not unusual, except it is usually a steel bar of some sort. The weight of the body acts on the outboard edges of the sills which overhang the chassis considerably, causing the sills to sag over the years. This will have to be corrected during the rebuild and may be your biggest challenge. The body will only be as good as the integrity of the sills. The fit of the doors is the next most important coachwork issue - particularly with salons, then the roof - which must not leak and then the rest is of lesser importance. The body steel skinning certainly looks good and undented - the areas to check for tinworm are the sills, the bottoms of the doors and the bottom of the body at the back where it wraps under. The wheel arches and rear wings look good. Incidentally, you have a 1929 season front bumper - the ends turn around 180 degrees - the later ones turned full circle, but again, but you won't notice at 50 mph! :D

Everything else looks perfectly ticketyboo and it should be easily restorable. What is your target for completion?

Was it Bill Tucky (the previous owner) or Geoff Thornton (the owner before him) you made contact with?
mike houston
Posts: 101
Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2008 9:41 am

Re: VG 3260

Post by mike houston »

Ian,Thanks for your comments, which as usual are most helpful. I take on board the point about the integrity of the sills, I suspect that worm and rot will lead to me replacing quite a bit of timber in various parts of the frame. The previous owner I spoke with was Geoff Thornton. He really couldn't remember much about the car as he reckoned he owned it about 40 years ago. He remembered paying £10 for it, and having it repainted from black to blue. I believe that somebody from that era must have carried out at least a partial rebuild before it went into long term storage with Bill Tuckey because everything is coming undone very easily and some nuts and bolts are mismatched. That plus patch repairs to the vulnerable body areas you mention and the wings. Still the enjoyment for me is putting it all back to how it would have been. More pictures to follow soon, Regards,Mike.
mike houston
Posts: 101
Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2008 9:41 am

Re: VG 3260

Post by mike houston »

Some further pictures. The body was lifted from the chassis on Xmas Day! I thought I would make some use of my three sons and two son-in-laws and get them doing something useful! It all of two minutes to lift it clear and get it onto a home made trolley, and they had plenty to drink afterwards. The chassis looks to be in very good condition, and at the moment I can't see any need for welding repairs. I'm not sure at the moment whether to have the chassis shot-blasted or whether to tediously strip it back myself with the usual power tools and wire brush attachments. Another aspect I would welcome comment on is whether to leave the front brakes in their 'Bowdenex' converted state or whether to try to turn them back to their original 'cable around pulley' set-up? At the moment I am quite undecided. One thing I will stay with though is the Hartford shock absorber set up. It does appear that these could have been period fitted, so I think I will recondition and keep them. I won't comment further on the roof, but I will be seeking guidance on returning it to original spec!

A Happy New Year to everyone, hope you all had a peaceful and enjoyable Xmas.

Best wishes, Mike.
Attachments
The roof as it now is, some work required to get it to original!
The roof as it now is, some work required to get it to original!
DSC02927.JPG (149.66 KiB) Viewed 6618 times
Body in background
Body in background
DSC02939.JPG (153.99 KiB) Viewed 6613 times
Ian Grace
Site Admin
Posts: 5035
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Location: USA

Re: VG 3260

Post by Ian Grace »

Hi Mike,

Good progress, and thanks for the photos. If I were you, I'd leave the Bowdenex cables on. The Register made several sets of pulley gear and king pins last year, but there is no stock left now. So, unless you are particularly keen to have it perfectly original, I wouldn't bother. And you will be back on the road so much sooner!
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