Appia furgoncino - A fettler's voyage

[simonandjuliet]

I've had a couple of days to "play" this week and set out to finish the bulkhead and fit the dash ....

First up, clean the rubber mat and patch in the felt on the bulkhead. The mat came up very nicely and I finished it off with a rubber cleaner/feed . I have refitted it exactly as it was, that's to say, not perfectly !

Around the handbrake it overlaps the base and has split slightly. The only change was to redrill one screw hole for the RH vent because the cover fouled the lever slightly

The glove box was refitted using the lovely split pins, that you may be able to see, it closes with a satisfying click !

Next up was to sort out the "Scary Movie" pedals, first cut out the felt around the holes so the rubber "eyes" could be glued in place before a felt cutout was replaced. A modification I made was to add a seal around the brake cover , hopefully to reduce water ingress - we'll see !

Once done, the rest of the underlay felt was fitted (black side up this time), not forgetting the ears to allow access to the gearbox bolt.

Before final fitting of the dash, the heater pipes were re-fitted and the heater reattached followed by the "T" piece for the washers. There is a tiny non-return valve that fits just before the T, fitting was done by heating the tube with the paint stripper gun and pushed in with a screwdriver, then held in place with the clip

The indicator switch is a work of art and I took to pieces because it was sticky ....... and tricky ! Full of small brass plates and springs all wanting to escape. Putting it back together I used the watch-battery technique - ie held the bits in place with slippy paper and once in position the paper was pulled out

The plate on the top hides the bulb

Other details (too many to list) and then the dash went in and speedo refitted

To my mind, it looks nicely patinated, albeit very clean !
 

[simonandjuliet]

More .....

[Parisien]

Lovely Simon, coming together so nicely, not long now til the champagne cork is popped?!


P

[stanley sweet]

Looks lovely in that last shot with the smart black floor and that cream dash panel. How did you do the crackle finish on the vent - using an aerosol paint? Did you heat in in the oven first or anything like that?

[simonandjuliet]

Stan, they are the original covers, just cleaned up. The crackle finish out of the can does work very well though

First picture demonstrates why these poor little cars rusted so badly around the A post, not only is there a narrow mud trap behind the wheels but on the inside they have these padded bags stuffed into the corners, inside the bodyshell - and they are super absorbent ! Just like putting a damp sponge on bare metal for 50 years .....

The bulkhead mat was near perfect however the tunnel mat was badly split but mostly intact and very dirty, so once cleaned I spent quite a while gluing all the tears with superglue (only glued my fingers to the mat once) and then I made a "sticking plaster" repair for the back which I glued on. I used black stretchy vinyl , as used for interiors, because it is very thin, flexible and I had some ....

Protected with the rubber conditioner and looks much better. I do have a set of aftermarket floor rubbers for an Appia, but the floors and tunnel are very different on the furgoncino - same panel pressing but with wider and longer flanges - so they are useless !

Unless I can find 2 front floor mats somewhere I may consider making a set of carpets - not original but would look good until I find the correct mats

The front wings have gone back on definitively, with all the edges waxoyled , dumdum sealed and new rubbers made up for the front edges. If you don't have the correct thickness here the grill doesn't fit correctly.

Beginning to look like a real car !

[DavidLaver]

Great job on the rubber mat...

[stanley sweet]

Looking great - it's got its face back. I don't think I've ever heard of padded bags in any restoration of a car I've read about or seen. What was the idea of them? Imagine taking it over to the UK and the customs men finding them...............

[Sliding Pillar]

I am really looking forward to seeing the finished furgoncino on the Siding Pillar Rally........ I am even more interested to see the cargo! 
For the floor mats why don't you use coir matting, it has a very workman like appearance, very suitable for a van. It is also very easy to cut to fit and is available in black if you don't want the naturel coloured finish.

[frankxhv773t]

Whilst looking around at the NEC I noticed trim retailers offering ribbed black rubber floor matting. Although it wouldn't have the correct edge moulding it might provide a superficially similar finish to the original matts.

[simonandjuliet]

Thanks
I have some thin matting that I bought from Woolies but it isn't great, so if I could find something more robust it is an option

I have been refitting the interior today and am now "high as a kite" because I have spent all afternoon gluing trim !

Once everything was thoroughly cleaned it has been slowly put back. It was all very dirty but completely usable, the only real issue has been that it all came in a bundle with the car, so I wasn't sure exactly what went where .....

The worst piece was the trim that was fitted to a panel on the bulkhead behind the seat back, it had badly shrunk, so once cleaned, I heated the vinyl with a heat gun and stretched it back over the panel before gluing the panel in place. It is finished off with a delicate aluminium trim around the top.

The photos show the rest but it is really good to see the headlining back in as well, it is a bit dirty still because I just can't risk anything too brutal. Like the rest of the interior it has a nice aged feel to it

If anyone wants anymore detailed pictures , please let me know, but I will take some "sexy" photos once it is all finished and looking fab !

[stanley sweet]

Very nicely trimmed door shuts for a commercial.

[lancialulu]

Wow - use of dinning room table, a bottle of wine, decanter, and spittoon. That's the way to work!

[simonandjuliet]

Don't forget the tolerant wife .....

[lancialulu]

Thought she might have been away but clearly not - yes very tolerant in that case.

[tzf60]

Hi Simon!
Keep posting the photos - they are full of terrific details! The more the merrier! The Appia is looking great!
 
I hadn't noticed the spittoon.....!!!
 
Best wishes,
Tim