Bertie's first improvement
The ins and outs of a T2
To say I was pleased with my T2 would be an understatement. I was happier than Gary Glitter at a Girl Guide convention. Collecting a new car always invokes a frisson of excitement, and this wasn’t any car, it was a 6.7 litre Bentley.
Like a boat (5.17m!), the first and last days are usually the happiest. After a few outings doubts and regrets might cloud one’s mood as the waiting list of ‘improvements’ rival the NHS, but...
My first ‘improvement’ would be the interior; always right under your nose, and picking at it 🙁
SBH39841 had left Crewe dressed in beige striped cloth (see inventory). Lex Mead of Maidenhead had ordered 56.7m of Willian Playne Cloth, and on November 8th 1979, Rolls-Royce Motors of Crewe confirmed delivery. Strange the dealer should be ordering parts, and 56.7m? I think this was for two cars (orders B4859 and B7882)?
40 years of wear had left a lot of tear. The material was actually disintegrating. I started measuring how much cloth I’d need to replace the torn parts, but soon realised it was a total loss. So, 28.35m it was then?
My first problem was finding some. Winterbotham, Strachan & Playne were the original supplier, but had long stopped weaving. Segal, Woolier, and P&A Wood were all contacted for advice, but were as helpful as a back pocket on a shirt (only joking).
Some chap in the U.S. had a bolt (roll) woven, but I was unable to contact him, or find where and at what cost - probably a fortune! I was beginning to have some of those doubts and regrets. Then a solution occurred to me - why not replace the whole interior with one from a ‘retired’ Shadow? It didn’t have to be a T1/2 - any of the 30,000 Shadows would do - less those still being used of course 😊
The main killer of Shadows is rust, not tatty interiors, so I set about contacting breakers. There are quite a few around the country: Flying Spares, Westminster Autos, ISM Autos, Synetiq, … to name but some. Very few people want an interior, so it tends to be left in the car to rot. Like a midget at a urinal, I’d need to be on my toes if I wanted to beat the rain and mould.
In my search for a car I’d met an amazing collector. He had 50-odd cars, including a T1 and a couple of Shadows. The T1 was a basket case, but the Shadows were pretty salvageable. Tragic to convey, but no matter what I said, he was going to scrap them if I didn’t hand over the asking (“worth more for parts”). In his defence, parking a few cars doesn’t take much space, but parking 50 needs a lot 😊
A nearby restorer, Tudor Black, had agreed to purchase one of his Shadows for parts. It had a very respectable interior, so I got straight on to them. I wanted everything to match, so not only needed seats, but arm rests, door cards, and even trim panels for the B and C pillars.
I negotiated to swap the interior myself - I’d get the Shadow’s, they’d get Bertie’s. A sum was agreed, and I set off to Suffolk with a (modern) car full of Bertie’s inners. It only took a few hours to remove the Shadow’s interior. I’d already done Bertie’s, so knew how it was screwed together. I didn’t need to fit my old interior in the Shadow as it was being ‘broken’ - I just left it inside. Money handed over, I set off home an excited bunny.
The Shadow’s interior wasn’t perfect - it was 40+ years old, and 70,000 miles used, but it was lovely compared to the old one, and of course leather. The great thing about leather is it’s easy to ‘restore’. I did the prep, but got an experienced ‘sprayer’ to administer a new coat of matching dye. It really didn’t need much, but it looked fresher for the effort.
Before installing the new interior I decided to replace everything else that wasn’t ‘fresh’. The carpets weren’t bad - except the driver’s one, but you can’t get one carpet - at least not to match 40 year-old ones, so a complete set was ordered.
While the door cards were off I took the opportunity to service everything and replace the original speakers. The wood was great, so at least £4k was saved! I had to make a few parts, so matching vinyl, some glue, and a stapler soon had me qualified to join the Crewe workforce - well not quite :-)
Fitting everything was easy - well relatively. These cars are hand built, so nothing lines-up without effort! Still, I did it in a day, and am as happy as a flee on a fat dog.
First improvement done.
Quite an improvement it was! And I enjoyed the offensive jokes.
Like the content. Don’t like the offensive jokes.