Appia furgoncino - A fettler's voyage

[simonandjuliet]

Gents ,thanks for your comments - re paint, I use Eastwood's - available via Frosts, I have used it successfully for years ! May try cutting down an old brush ....

[DavidLaver]

Love the shot of the workshop oven.  Got your eye on the dishwasher?

[simonandjuliet]

Glad you like it David, wait 'til you see the new carpet ......!

More detail today because I am fitting the bonnet tomorrow. Dog is coming round because he won't let me fit it on my own !
 
Before we can do that though I have been cleaning the underside. The info panels have come up nicely and a tiny detail is the small piece of cloth that is glued under the surround-join, why ?? But I have replaced it as it was !

The sound deadening was damaged, so that has been repaired, re-glued and stained black again. The stay, lock and bolts etc have all been cleaned up and threads cleaned and greased. Many bits have been lacquered

First picture shows the underside after the first panel was cleaned and stained, showing before and after

It would have been very easy to repaint the underside of the bonnet and hinges etc, however I want to retain as much of the original as I can. I did repaint the engine bay out of necessity, but the rest has been kept if at all possible. It is a tricky and fine line !

One of the nice things (to me) is to see how the bonnet was painted originally. It looks as if it was painted in the light green and then a very thin coat of dark green was flicked over it. There are bits that are not covered and where the hinges fit, was not painted at all. Again detail, but interesting to some !

I did mix up some dark green to touch in a couple of bare patches

Tomorrow we fit the bonnet and start on the steering wheel. I have also ordered a set of tyres so the wheels need to be colour matched before they get stripped.

ps the new carpet arrived for the 'sewing room'

[simonandjuliet]

Bonnet fitted and steering wheel started

The bonnet fits nicely and looks good up or down !

Early Appia bakelite plastics are extremely fragile and the binnacles, steering wheels and various knobs and levers all suffer. But it seems to be mainly the ivory colour that is so delicate. I think early Aurelias have the same problem, especially the steering wheels. Indeed there is someone in France making beautiful reproductions (Salut Jean-Noel !) ....

Anyway,back to Appias - my wheel is not beyond redemption, but does need a lot of work. Unfortunately I forgot to take a proper "before" picture, so the first photo is about half way through the cleaning process. It has been Scotchbrite'd, filled with a flexible 2-pack filler and rubbed down and tomorrow will hopefully be painted.

Obviously Dog is doing most of this - I spent most of the day sorting out my new room !

[lancialulu]

The bit of cloth may have been to stop those lovely info panels vibrating although who would hear apart from may be the occasional pedestrian...Do you have a process for restoring the blue?? My Vignale info plate is still legible but the blue has mostly gone/ turned to dirty dark blue. The raised letters "are not" by very much. If I start cleaning it I know the lot will end up as an aluminium panel with barely discernible lettering.

[the.cern]

Tim, I think I was told this little snippet by Colin Marr ....

Apparently the way to restore these plates is to spray them the appropriate blue and then, with a very fine, truly flat stone, slowly and carefully abrade away the paint from the raised lettering.

I freely admit that I have not tried this, but the theory is sound!!

                                               Andy

[ColinMarr]

It's nice to be acknowledged for a good idea but I have to confess that I learnt that technique from Peter Harding. The blue plates for my B20 were in a really bad way, but they cleaned up very well. I have lots of photos of my car when finished, but sadly I don't seem to have taken any under-bonnet shots.

I am enjoying reading this thread. Keep up the good work, Simon!

Colin

[lancialulu]

I think the flavia plate is silkscreen printed so no embossing ....

[the.cern]

I think the flavia plate is silkscreen printed so no embossing ....

Such is life!!!!

[simonandjuliet]

Would it really be silkscreen printing ?

I was lucky with my plates, they were just dirty and needed careful cleaning with super resin polish (mild abrasive)

Dog is just finishing the steering wheel as I type, it looks superb in the flesh, photos never quite get the colour !

So cleaned up , flexible filler, flexible primer , water based paint and lacquer. I matched the colour to the weathered side of the gear lever, so hopefully it won't be too bright !

The steering wheel has the same splines as an Apirilia so I used a spare column for holding it whilst painting the wheel .....

I also cleaned up the back of one of the wheels so we can colour match that as well before they are stripped and repainted

Lastly, when I bought the furgoncino , Alan gave me a plaque from the "Registro Appia" - I have had a look at their site and indeed dropped them a line some time ago (albeit in English) but have not had any contact with them. Does anyone have any contact with this club ?

[Dikappa]

Juliet knows you're using her garden table as a spray boot?  That would be very bad points over here....

[the.cern]

Simon, are you saying those look like new information plates are the originals just cleaned up? That is astonishing!! Do they actually look as good in the flesh?

                                                    Andy

[stanley sweet]

My thoughts too. Plus I can't believe the size of them and the fact they are metal plates screwed on. No cheap little stickers back then.

[donw]

Simon

http://www.clublanciaappia.it/wp/?page_id=50

This would appear to be the "official" Appia club

[simonandjuliet]

Thanks everyone

Re the plates, they are the originals and close up they still look good, not perfect, but patinated ! I was asked for details of the product so the second picture shows it alongside a spare panel. I did a 2 minute clean just to show a bit of before and after, but the more time and care taken, the better the result.

For anorak's corner - how many spelling mistakes can you see ?

Koen, Jules is pretty cool about most things - here's a photo of the steering wheel curing overnight in the kitchen. It is too cold and damp to leave it outside

I am still waiting for the new graphite rods to arrive so I can make the horn pickup before a final fit, but you begin to get the idea how the wheel looks

Don, have you had any contact with the Appia club, they didn't respond to my email written in bad Italian

Finally, not sure if this has been seen before - a lovely, original charcoal drawing of my old Aurelia done by Emma Smallhorn in the mid 80's. I came across it again whilst emptying boxes and hanging bits and pieces on the wall to keep them safe !