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How original is yours ?

alpine_64

Donation Time
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?


Bob, i've seen the trunk plugs.. i dont have them on my car.. but a friend does.. i know what you mean about the thin raised spring type part on the top.. rubber plugs do the job.. but to be correct they should have those.. i dont (and dont care :p)

As for the early type servo.. heck.. think i've only ever seen one in real life.. paul norton in the UK used to have kits for them if you are looking.
 

65beam

Donation Time
how original

michael,
i have seen one kit that tiger tom had. the original owner trashed the booster on my red car somewhere back in the 60's when it failed and his wife hit a D.C. transit bus. the dealer couldn't get a kit at that time. i don't have the booster for either car.
 

John Boggis

Donation Time
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?

Bob, you are correct the american windsheilds had laminated glass. The photo I posted was taken of the side glass which i thought was the same as the UK. Also here is a pic of a Trunk plugs.
 

John Boggis

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

Hillman, I'm afraid you have failed your test ! You did not read the original post correctly as it said late series Alpines (series IV and V) please spend the next three evenings reading the parts book as a punishment.

Anyway, no one has all those factory items still on their car... well maybe one !
 

alpine_64

Donation Time
michael,
i have seen one kit that tiger tom had. the original owner trashed the booster on my red car somewhere back in the 60's when it failed and his wife hit a D.C. transit bus. the dealer couldn't get a kit at that time. i don't have the booster for either car.

Did you want pauls contact details? I still have his old ones.. he used to be quite active on the board a few years back, actually john.. you might know of pausl where abouts.. he was very active in the UK club.
 

Hillman

Gold Level Sponsor
Hillman, I'm afraid you have failed your test ! You did not read the original post correctly as it said late series Alpines (series IV and V) please spend the next three evenings reading the parts book as a punishment.

Anyway, no one has all those factory items still on their car... well maybe one !

I'll have to read up. I thought SII was late, since I've owned three SI's (still have 2) and an SII.:) They made more after that?

I do have the tank covers.
 

moonstone SIV

Donation Time
G'day Kim,

Assuming these are the same plugs that Rootes used in the floor etc. of the Audax Hillman range (1956-1967), the plug has a head diameter of 1 3/8 and fits into a 1 inch hole in the sheet metal.

As an aside, my SIV GT B9407893 has rubber plugs in the trunk and floor pans which appear to have never been disturbed. Trying to determine if Rootes made a running change to these items is a bit difficult since they "forgot" to include them in the factory issued parts book. Might be an excuse for another thread.............:rolleyes:

Cheers, Lance.
 

John Boggis

Donation Time
As an aside, my SIV GT B9407893 has rubber plugs in the trunk and floor pans which appear to have never been disturbed. Trying to determine if Rootes made a running change to these items is a bit difficult since they "forgot" to include them in the factory issued parts book. Might be an excuse for another thread.............:rolleyes:

Cheers, Lance.

Lance...the rubber plugs on the floor are not factory. The metal plugs are one of the first things to look for when checking how original a car is.
 

moonstone SIV

Donation Time
Oh dear, I knew I would get involved in one of these "discussions" sooner or later.

John, my car has rubber plugs in the trailing end of the boot floor and front and rear floor pans. The underside of the boot floor plugs are coated in the same underseal that coats most of the underside of the car. The plugs in the floorpans are fitted UNDER the tar type sheeting fitted to most Rootes cars of the era as sound deadening material. This sheeting is virtually impossible to lift without tearing since in this instance it's had 46 years to adhere to the black paint that was sloshed over the body colour on the floorpan as the car was being assembled.

I purchased my SIV from the original owner and apart from regular servicing and the touching up of a couple of panels it has never been restored. That suggests that either a running change was made in the grommet dept., (and as I pointed out the parts book is of no help here), or on the day my Alpine was being assembled they ran out of metal plugs. I have heard similar stories from enthusiasts of other marques.

I think it's simply another example of the anomalies that we will uncover when researching the production of our cars. But hey, look at the fun we're having......:D

Cheers, Lance.
 

Limey

Donation Time
[/QUOTE]I think it's simply another example of the anomalies that we will uncover when researching the production of our cars. But hey, look at the fun we're having.

Cheers, Lance.[/QUOTE]

Oh dear Lance, you poor old provincial ;). You don't seem to understand. there is no way a strike ridden, soon to be swallowed up, past its sell by date British company would stick cheap 'parts bin' grommets in the boots of their car without telling us or reprinting the parts manuals by their thousands. Just like my tappet cover infills and hood latches, your rubber grommets must be a figment of your sun addled 4X soaked antipodean synapses. Go and crack another tinny and forget all about it:rolleyes:

Oh, you already have;):D
 

65beam

Donation Time
how original

my series 4 had metal plugs in the trunk floor and a few rubber plugs in the interior floor. i know that they are original to this car. i had no reason to change them. thay all are now in plastic snack bags since the car is in boxes. i do know that the rubber ones will probably be replaced with new ones. the metal plugs in the trunk floor have also been dipped and will be reinstalled and painted along with the car. we also ran across another odd thing concerning the fuel line on this car. it has the plastic fuel line. we found that the fuel cross tube will not accept the metal fuel lines. it has the steel fitting of the early series 5 cars. this is another odd thing we knew of on this car and we do know that the cross tube has never been changed. we tried the fitting for the metal line and it does not fit. the later series 4 cars must be a mix of whatever they happened to have in stock. ????
 

moonstone SIV

Donation Time
Ahhhh............the plot thickens.

Checked a mates Australian delivered SIV GT today (B9402738), and although this Alpine has been the subject of several re paints, the floors appear untouched. Rubber plugs fitted to interior and boot floor pans, the same style of grommet as my car yet around 5200 units apart.

I think the only conclusion to draw from this is that either form of plug was used during assembly. I will say that the correct rubber plugs are quite fiddly to fit due to their o.d. being much larger than the hole itself. The metal plugs just pop straight in.

As for you Mr. Bridgeman, ha...ha...ha................:p


OMG......! I've just had dreadful thought. What if the rubber plugs were the rule rather than the exception and when they ran out the Hillman guys lent them their bucket of metal plugs. AAARRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH........:eek:
 

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65beam

Donation Time
windshield

john boggis,

i posted a photo on my photobucket site showing the lettering on the windshield of my red harrington. this will give you an idea of the differences we talked of awhile back.
 
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