How original is yours ?

[John Boggis]

Last month I took the Alpine for a ride over to Coventry for the UK clubs spares day. Whilst there the subject got around to originality and a few of us light heartedly drew up a top 10 list of what to look for in a original late series Alpine.

And here it is:

1) Matching Engine and Chassis numbers

2) Date stamped Glass all round

3) Cardboard petrol tank covers

4) Textured Servo hose with the two yellow stripes

5) Date stamped wheels (Same age as car)

6) Tin Boot grommits

7) Factory paintwork

8) Correct interior and Hood/Roof GT or ST

9) Date stamped coil

10) Green/grey Flame trap

So If you have:

10/10 It's Totally original

8/10 Nearly all original

6/10 Fairly original

4/10 Not very original

2/10 It's hardly original

0/10 Oh dear !

And folks...this is just a bit of fun.

 

[Chuck Ingram]

I think I passed the OH Dear heading by about minus 37 give or take a few points.

Gee we have one day of sun.Tomorrow back to the rain again

 

[MikeH]

That's the kind of things the Mustang Club of America looks for in its Thoroughbred Class. All OEM parts, no reproductions; belts, hoses, filters, battery, exhaust, etc. Correct date stamps on everything that had a date stamp, must be before the build date on the warranty plate.

 

[Alpine Addict]

Where is the date stamped on the glass? Just Curious

 

[65beam]

how original

john,
you forgot the original factory rust!

 

[alpine_64]

I would add push on plug leads, so many people convert the dizzy cap with a mini one or something similar to use modern leads.

 

[65beam]

how original

michael,
take a look at the photos showing the plug wires on the wife's car. have you ever seen these?

 

[alpine_64]

Bob, can you put the photobucket link in your profile as your homepage that way its easy to find those pics.. cant find the page to check the pics out

 

[65beam]

how original

michael,
http://s606.photobucket.com/albums/tt142/65beam/

 

[alpine_64]

Bob,

i havent seen the rubber caps you have over the leads as they go into the sparking plug tubes.. what are they for?

 

[65beam]

how original

michael,
they're lucas wires made to fit the alpines that i've had since the late 60's. they have boots as part of the wire and they close off the entire spark plug tube. they are a fairly snug fit inside the tubes and they have a flange that laps over on the outside.

 

[alpine_64]

michael,
they're lucas wires made to fit the alpines that i've had since the late 60's. they have boots as part of the wire and they close off the entire spark plug tube. they are a fairly snug fit inside the tubes and they have a flange that laps over on the outside.

Bob, do they stop the oil pooling in the tubes.. or do they suffer when the oil gets on them?

either way nice period parts there.. do you have spares.. and even more interesting.. do you still have the packaging?

 

[P. Scofield]

My all original Seires III ST that's in the garage and on E-Bay scored as "not very Original"

 

[John Boggis]

Where is the date stamped on the glass? Just Curious

Below is a copy of how to break the code to date your cars glass...you can see on the picture of the glass on my car that the dot over the T means it was made in the first quarter of the year Jan/Feb/March and the dot under the G on the word toughend means 1964.

TRIPLEX DATE CODE
The date codes of this company is shown in dots above or below
words in the company motif.
The year is shown by a dot under one of the letters of the
word 'laminated' (where this applies to a windscreen) or
'toughened' (this being the most common). A dot under the
first letter of either word represents a year ending in a
'1': e.g. 1961/1971. A dot under the second letter would
represent 1962/1972, and so on.
Although only a single dot is used the format showing which
letter represents each year is as follows -
LAMINATED TOUGHENED
1234567890 1234567890
Prior to january 1969, only the quarter was shown using a dot
above the letters 'T', 'R', 'E' and 'X' of the word Triplex:
T-1st, R-2nd, E-3rd and X-4th.
.

 

[Jim E]

I am with Chuck on this one my S3 is a bits-a-car, got bits on it from a whole bunch of different cars. Let see the body and one door and front end are original to the car as far as I cal tell. Other than that I believe "everything" is from other cars and not all of them Rootes.

 

[Chuck Ingram]

I am with Chuck on this one my S3 is a bits-a-car, got bits on it from a whole bunch of different cars. Let see the body and one door and front end are original to the car as far as I cal tell. Other than that I believe "everything" is from other cars and not all of them Rootes.

Jim
The best part of not being stock is you don't have to justify anything
I really like to see a nice stock Alpine as they are so nice and yes I do enjoy them.
I took the 62 out to a coffee shop meet last week.The coffee turned cold and the donut fell onto the ground as so many were interested in all the modifications.Same thing happened when I took the Lister to the Yacht club's first car and boat show last year.It was better food though and wine to drink instead of coffee.
As to whats stock on the 62.The doors,trunk,bumpers and lights are still stock.
On the Lister just the doors,bumpers and front lights are stock
Like I said I'm so far removed from OH DEAR I would not be able to find my way back

 

[65beam]

how original?

john,
this date coding may not apply to the cars sent to the states since stateside cars were required to use a different windshield. toughened glass was not allowed in the states since it was below standards for cars sold here. the u.s. required laminated glass. my harringtons have tudor laminated glass stamped on the windshield. did they use another vendor for cars exported to the states? anybody else have originals ? i believe paul in s dakota has the original out of the wife's car. wonder what it has stamped on it?

 

[Hillman]

1) Matching Engine and Chassis numbers
Doubt it, haven't looked but I doubt an SII will have a factory 1725

2) Date stamped Glass all round
The windshield has a similar stamp (too presbyotic to read it), none on side glass

3) Cardboard petrol tank covers
Petrol tank covered by spare tyre, it is an SII

4) Textured Servo hose with the two yellow stripes
What servo, it is an SII

5) Date stamped wheels (Same age as car)
Where to look on wires?

6) Tin Boot grommits
??? don't understand

7) Factory paintwork
Similar, I think, no colour code.

8) Correct interior and Hood/Roof GT or ST
Yes, I think

9) Date stamped coil
No

10) Green/grey Flame trap
Flame trap? What, where?

So If you have:

10/10 It's Totally original

8/10 Nearly all original

6/10 Fairly original

4/10 Not very original

2/10 It's hardly original

0/10 Oh dear !

And folks...this is just a bit of fun.

I'll let you judge; me, I really don't care.

 

[alpine_64]

I'll let you judge; me, I really don't care.

Hillman obviously you are answering alittle tounge in cheek.. but FYI:

3) Cardboard petrol tank covers
Petrol tank covered by spare tyre, it is an SII
The SI/II still used the cardboard covers in the boot (trunk) to cover the cavities in the rear wings.


4) Textured Servo hose with the two yellow stripes
What servo, it is an SII
The SII could have a servo, i was a clayton delware optional servo.. though i donthtink it used the yellow striped hose (anyone?).

6) Tin Boot grommits
??? don't understand
There are holes n the rear edge of the boot floor, they are round and usually filled with rubber plugs (most sunbeam places carry these) I always though these were drainpoints incase water got in.. turns out they were originally blocked with metal plugs (tin) and i believe the holes were part of the stamping process.

10) Green/grey Flame trap
Flame trap? What, where?
Thats the PCV setup on the later cars, the early cars have the road tube.. so not applicable to those cars..

anyway.. i dont think john was judging anyone.. just saying as a quick guide to originality.. there are a few often changed or missing things..

 

[65beam]

how original?

michael,
the trunk plugs are in some ways like a spring for lack of a better word. they have sort of a handle on top and seem to snap in. does that make sense? i know that they do survive being dipped so they must be mild steel. the clayton dewandre booster repair kits for the harringtons are very hard to find in this part of the world. are there sources for them in your part of the world?