Update 45 - Sorting out the interior

Moving to the interior - we pulled out the old shackle covers to re-fit them - and guess what - they didn't fit. It's a Morgan, they all do that sir.

So out with the template paper to make up a template which fits. We have aluminium sheet to bend up some replacements.



And for a better shot of the cover made up....





So lets see how that fits in the car - did we make the template correctly, measuring and bending.... Well handily it fits like a glove...



Having made up a couple of those we could move on to the leather - 30 years of use and cleaning with "who knows what" has tarnished somewhat the white leather - this car was a product of the 80's after all.

It's just no longer in keeping with the rest of the car now everything has been sorted out so what to do... luckily we had managed to get hold of a leather trimming sewing machine from F H Douglas and a friend sourced for us a complete hide of white leather.

I did think about changing the colour to something else but the striking nature of the car just works - probably not the practical choice but it will be unique.

So out with the cutting table and the hide.



The Morgan leather trimming of this vintage is pretty simple stuff, the leather is not finished on most edges, only simple stitching is used and the leather is stuck simply onto the wood... having phoned around for costs and looked at what was involved - I'm sure we can do a good enough job to work for a race car - you never know - we might even do a half decent job... that would be a result.

So first job was to gently remove the original leather from the inner wheel-arch to use the originals as templates to cut out. It does not take long to get them out, stiff with age and the glue easily worked.

Having cut them out of the hide the few seams were sewed up using the Singer we had picked up - handily we checked the needle and it was a leather stitching needle, sourced the correct white thread - a quick youtube of how to adjust and service a Singer and we were away.

Mum took a staring role on this quality job.



Starting with the bottom later unfortunately one of the bigger bits.... fitting the inner wheelarch panel.



Now everybody wants to have a go...



With a few pieces under our belt confidence was increasing that this is something we can get a result on.



Next task was the shackle cover, cover - if you know what I mean.

We masked off the surrounding area and using trimming spray glue we stuck the leather on.



If you compare to the N/S the improvement is clear - like chalk and cheese (literally).



David had given us some of the body paint in a tub as he said it would be possible to paint it with a brush if we had the need to... I decided to get rid of the "close but not quite" paint on the sill - it also made the contrast pop.



Having made up a couple of extra pieces and put the pins and poppers in its looking really smart.



O/S done we're over to the now very tired looking N/S and back to the cutting table - you can see on this side the inside of the new rear quarter panel we made up.





Having cut out the templates and sewed up the edges as before - back to the wheelarch and the glue!!





Thats better its now looking as good as the O/S bright and shiny.





A pair of finished wheelarches



With a small adjustment of the carpet the rear deck and carpet was put back in giving a nice crisp finish.









Now the trim is all sorted the roll bar and harness bar along with the accessories can all be re-fitted.



Its all back together now and looking a million times better than it did before, a crisp white finish like new.