LYK 862K

[RMP]

Hopefully will soon be back on the road.
Been sat in garage since 2004.
Straight and, as far as I know, original. No previous welding to my knowledge although I suspect a whack in the nearside left area at some point as the rear nearside passenger door is a bit iffy and needs either work or replacing.
Engine hasn't run since then or been turned over, leaving that to the pro's, and brakes need overhauling. Paintwork ok but by no means perfect. As my nephew is an excellent body sprayer will be engaging his services for a full respray in the near future, along with any base unit repairs needed that are uncovered in the recomissioning.
Interior ok. Had new panels let into front seats some time after I acquired the car but will be giving them a good cleaning and revival. Carpets are original, they were grey but now neutral nothing, so would like to try and recolour them back to original.
The idea is to keep LYK as near to original spec as possible. A recon 4 speed box will be going in, but I am tempted to get rid of the almond colour and go for something a else, original Rover colour or not have yet to decide.
As for what else needs doing I will await D&G Classics to look her over and tell me. As I said in my Hello post I am fairly inept re auto anything but am willing to have a go and learn.
If anyone out there knows this car and has any knowledge of her I would be pleased to know as I have no history of her, apart from the service book. I think the previous owner was a member of the Rover P6 Owners Club. Does anyone recall her attending any events etc??

 

[DaveHerns]

That looks a tidy one
I like the 2 bricks for a handbrake !

 

[RMP]

That's a sign of deep mistrust in the state of the handbrake!!

Some more pics

 

[harveyp6]

The enquiry is complete
The vehicle details for LYK 862K are:

Date of Liability 01 08 2012
Date of First Registration 20 06 1972
Year of Manufacture 1972
Cylinder Capacity (cc) 3529CC
CO2 Emissions Not Available
Fuel Type Petrol
Export Marker Not Applicable
Vehicle Status SORN Not Due
Vehicle Colour BLACK
Vehicle Type Approval


How come DVLA have it as being black?

 

[RMP]

Absolutely no clue. But as you can see from the pics it has always been Almond, unless the previous owner had it comprehensively resprayed.

Nick Dunning checked out all of the identification marks and assured me they matched the cars age. I certainly don't think there is anything dodgy about the car.

How would an Almond coloured car be described on the DVLA? Were any Black 3500s produced in 1972?

I assumed it just described the black vinyl roof and the almond colour misnamed brown as it states on the V5 "Colour(s) - BLACK/BROWN."

Do you think I need to be worried about something??

 

[harveyp6]

I don't think there's anything dodgy about the car, but in today's age of ANPR I think that I would want it to be right, otherwise you'll just get pulled if it comes up as the wrong colour. Whether you do that by saying that's it's incorrect on the V5 now, or just send it off notifying a change of colour is the awkward decision. You could apply to DVLA for all the previous keepers, and then try to work out from that when the change occurred, if it was between the last keeper and you send it back with a letter asking what they're playing at by changing the colour.

I had my V5 come back with a typo on the engine number.

 

[RMP]

The car has only had one previous owner. When I recieved the V5 it described the colour as Black/Brown, which I assumed was how they, whoever registered the car, described the Almond colour.

So to correct this will DVLA accept "Almond" as a colour or should I change it to yellow?

 

[harveyp6]

So to correct this will DVLA accept "Almond" as a colour or should I change it to yellow?

Yellow. DVLA want a colour, not the name of a colour, and are only interested in a general description. So yellow/black if you want to take into account the roof.

 

[JVY]

I reckon your car looks very smart in Almond and think it goes well with the interior and black vinyl.

 

[NickDunning]

Thought I recognised the number plate!

We're really looking forward to recommissioning this car. Hopefully pick-up towards the end of next week.

The colour on the log book must be an error dating back to the 1970's at DVLA. A letter to them explaining this would probably mean they would correct it with no further ado.

Cheers
Nick

 

[RMP]

OK. Will send off a letter ASAP.

Thanks harveyp6 and Nick.

Yes Nick can't wait either and look forward to getting her flying again.

JVY. To me my particular shade of Almond looks yellow to me. But I have seen pics of P6 cars described as Almond and they look more beige?? Was this the result of the Leyland paint shops quality control or years of wear and tear and some respray work etc??

When it comes to respray time I'm very tempted to change it, but the dilemna is that I want to keep her as near original spec as poss but am not a great lover of "Almond"!!!.

 

[NickDunning]

OK. Will send off a letter ASAP.

Thanks harveyp6 and Nick.

Yes Nick can't wait either and look forward to getting her flying again.

JVY. To me my particular shade of Almond looks yellow to me. But I have seen pics of P6 cars described as Almond and they look more beige?? Was this the result of the Leyland paint shops quality control or years of wear and tear and some respray work etc??

Your car is certainly Almond Ron.

Almond, like Mexico Brown, comes in several flavours, depending on who made the paint. It can almost look like Tobacco Leaf when faded right back.

 

[John]

My car, first reg 01 Jan 72, is almond, has always been almond, and the V5 also states brown in the colour section. Maybe they thought almond? Nut? Nuts are brown, almond is brown.



John.

 

[RMP]

Nick I just assumed that the colour was interpreted as Brown by those that first registered it. Never thought it could lead to problems so never really thought to question it.

I thought Rover officially placed Almond as a variety of its range of beige paint finishes rather than yellow, so i suppose if I change it to another colour it should be to beige, albeit a very "yellow" beige!!!

Interesting that you have the same on your V5 John. Perhaps beige was not accepted by DVLA in 1972??

 

[quattro]

When I took Sparky, my Lunar Grey car, for an MOT the tester asked if I wanted to change the registration document as it said Grey/Black and it was green.

It's all down to interpretation.

Richard

 

[v8guy]

When it comes to respray time I'm very tempted to change it, but the dilemna is that I want to keep her as near original spec as poss but am not a great lover of "Almond"!!!.

Hi there,
I have an Almond 3500s and to be honest I hated the colour when I bought it 7 years ago But I must say that it grew on me and now that I have had the Boot lid and Bonnet repainted earlyer this year I cant wait to get the rest done :shock: its like I've been brainwashed cant explain it . My log book reads brown/beige for the colour as I have a huntsman roof.

Keep the colour original It will look great repainted :wink: .

 

[RMP]

Yes Guy.

Its a bit contradictory on my part to say I want to keep the spec as original as possible and then change the paintwork it was supplied with.

Its not that I dislike Almond as such but there are many P6 colours I prefer and many non P6 colours that I think would look great, pearlescent black for instance??

Perhaps the solution then is to keep LYK as original and buy another as a project, don't think the missus will wear that one!!!

 

[v8guy]

I know the feeling I always fancied a camroon green V8 with all the trimmings and also a nice series 1 V8 as well and possabley finish off with an estoria and still have a project car to do as I please with any one know the winning lotto numbers for Saturday :?:
Still very happy with my buttercup I look after her and she looks after me, how it should be

 

[webmaster]

Looking at the condition of that base unit, I'd say keep it Almond, you're not going to respray the whole base unit, and if you don't then whenever somebody lifts the carpets it's going to be almond.

I hope you get what I mean, I think it's in such great condition that you would be better off starting with something a little rougher if you wanted to "customise" it. You'd probably lose more in the value of this car by changing the colour.

Of course I still stand by my main theory though, it's your car and you can do whatever you want to it

 

[RMP]

Yes. Commonsense must apply and Almond she will stay.

First though is to find out what hidden horrors are lurking beneath!!

This is the dodgy door which may indicate a whack in the past and some bodgit repairwork.