Correct Carpet Colour

ron110250

ron110250

New Member
Hi all, can anybody give me some advice on the correct colour for the carpet on my 1972 3500S, white body, black leather trim. I can't decide, due to damp, dirt and fading if the carpet is beige or light grey. It's beyond saving so want to replace it and rather than pick a colour that looks OK i'd like to keep it as near original to the proper colour. Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks
 
Silver birch is a rare, rare fitment by 1972 - 99% of cars had Mortlake Brown carpets (light beige). I suspect all P6 carpets were Mortlake after October 1972, when the red interior option was pulled.

Only cars of that age I've seen with grey carpets have been export cars.

Earlier on Rover also liked to do red cars with black leather and grey carpets, seen a couple of those in my time.

Cheers
Nick
 
Thanks for the advice, so Nick, as my car is July 1972 do you think i'm better going for silver birch?
 
ron110250 said:
Thanks for the advice, so Nick, as my car is July 1972 do you think i'm better going for silver birch?
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You should see some evidence of the original carpet colour under the tunnel or similar. I'd be fairly certain your car originally had Mortlake carpets, but you never know.

Cheers
Nick
 
If you unfold the end of one of the covers for the seat supports the original unfaded colour should be visible.
 
My car is a Jan 73 model with Birch Grey carpets and Ebony trim. I understood Rover fitted Birch Grey carpets to cars with Ebony trim in 72/73 only?
 
rp61973 said:
My car is a Jan 73 model with Birch Grey carpets and Ebony trim. I understood Rover fitted Birch Grey carpets to cars with Ebony trim in 72/73 only?
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This is interesting - what's the Chassis number? if this is an export car it would make some sense.
 
Hasnt silver birch got a hint of green about it,uasually with a light tan cord edging?
I recently sold a good s/h footwell set,that were in a very late but rusted out,'R' reg low miles turmeric yellow car that also had rover overmats.
When I had carpets made by Coverdale I went with the close match of Jaguar biscuit to my original knackered light brown carpets.
 
pilkie said:
Hasnt silver birch got a hint of green about it,uasually with a light tan cord edging?
I recently sold a good s/h footwell set,that were in a very late but rusted out,'R' reg low miles turmeric yellow car that also had rover overmats.
When I had carpets made by Coverdale I went with the close match of Jaguar biscuit to my original knackered light brown carpets.
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Mortlake goes green in some conditions. Tony Bunting's car had this. He was adamant that he had green carpets until he looked under the seats!
 
Defo a silvery green!!
I checked for discolouration on the hidden bits!
IMAG0516.jpg
 
pilkie said:
Defo a silvery green!!
I checked for discolouration on the hidden bits!
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I'd still wager they were Mortlake originally. The grey carpets have grey borders as well. But I'm not going to argue with you Mr. Pilkie. :D
 
That picture looks like a faded Mortlake Brown to me - but don't ask me to explain why it isn't brown under where the seats were!

Chris
 
I have a NOS passenger side floormat in Birch Grey - matches the original quite closely (the original carpet being in mint condition). Yes it has grey bindings but is a slightly browny grey as opposed to a NOS set of Mortlake floor mats I sold a couple of years ago that were totally different.

Nick, I will have to look up my chassis number but I was told by the previous owner that the car was destined as an Aus export (both front screen pillars have been chopped and re-welded halfway up - apparently something to do with making the car lower to fit in a crate?).

On the other hand it could all be beaulox, given some of the tales the previous owner came out with. :roll:
 
rp61973 said:
I was told by the previous owner that the car was destined as an Aus export (both front screen pillars have been chopped and re-welded halfway up - apparently something to do with making the car lower to fit in a crate?).

On the other hand it could all be beaulox, given some of the tales the previous owner came out with. :roll:
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:? :? Are you sure the previous owner didn't say it was a pre-Ikea flat-pack export to Sweden?
 
NickDunning said:
rp61973 said:
On the other hand it could all be beaulox, given some of the tales the previous owner came out with. :roll:
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It could be, but that might explain the grey carpets...
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I do seem to remember in the James Taylor book, something about Birch Grey carpets being fitted to home market 72/73 cars only with Ebony interior. I will check.
 
My '72 Davos white and black flat pleat leather 3500 auto had Silver Birch carpets, so did my '73 Arctic white and black nylon cloth 3500 auto. Both UK cars. Both had overmats, alas neither carpet set is useable anymore, will be looking for a replacement set soon. A topic for another thread.
 
mrtask said:
My '72 Davos white and black flat pleat leather 3500 auto had Silver Birch carpets, so did my '73 Arctic white and black nylon cloth 3500 auto. Both UK cars. Both had overmats, alas neither carpet set is useable anymore, will be looking for a replacement set soon. A topic for another thread.
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This is new stuff to me!

I've just seen that quote from the JT book - this I didn't know....I'm obviously wrong in my assumption that grey carpets disappeared after October 1972 then!

:eek:
 
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