Naked seats

September 10/13

Did that title get your attention? I had the entire afternoon available to work on the car, so I went to work seriously on the interior of the "boot" and the cabin.
I am very impressed with the appointments of this car.... very nice leather looking liner all around the trunk... no bare metal like usually found in an american car. It was in fairly good shape, and fairly easy to remove, just a few rusty screws. When all was pulled out, the bare trunk looks not bad at all. There is some rust to be scaled off in the lower right and lower left corners, but nothing worrying.

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I then went to work on the seats. The rear "squab" (Brit for seat back) is pretty well shot. It looked a bit ugly under it and in the corners, but really not as bad as it looks. The rust is just scaly stuff on the surface, and the upholstery bits are replaceable.
The front seat came out in two parts... the seat cushion just lifted right of, but then the frame and squab had to be unbolted from the floorboards. The slothead screw bolts were pretty seized, and only after a good deal of whacking the screws with an impact driver did I realize I could have just loosened the nuts from underneath.
The carpet is pretty well shot.... some of it just comes apart in the hands, but underneath, everything is pretty solid. No threat of floorboard rust through.
I will have to make some decisions about carpet replacement. The grey donor car has brand new properly fitted aftermarket carpets than can just be thrown right in, but there are a couple of problems. Firstly, they are black, not red, and secondly they are some kind of shiny synthetic material. They will look quite OK, but not "original" enough for my satisfaction. I think what I will do is put in the black ones until I can afford to have red ones made, then swap the black ones back to the other car.
The car looks pretty stripped down at this point with no interior and no doors, but it feels good to be progressing so nicely.
I am thinking I will do as much as possible to the interior before refitting the seats. The next steps will probably be polishing and refinishing such items as gear lever, instrument facia panels, and then the interesting project of refinishing the wood trim. I have been in touch with the upholsterer, and he may be able to go to work on the headliner sooner that expected. It would be nice to get that done this fall before reinstalling the seats.

Buried treasure

Rotten carpet

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Rear Seat platform. Not as bad as it looks.

Naked floorboard