Wood Door Cappings - Any good?

I know what it is like to try and hide P6 purchases. My ex-partner uttered on any occasions 'you love your car more than you love me'. She was right of course, although I did not acknowledge this at the time for a genuine fear of reprisal (e.g. sugar in the petrol tank, gouged paintwork, you know the kind of thing - just watch the film 'Christine'!)

Luckily my partner now is a petrol head and more tolerant of P6 purchases, but she is not into the P6 as I am. She prefers her Honda S2000, which I must say is a great car with a sniff of retro and great build quality.
 
so do u like the wood capping??thats what really matters most isnt it.
is the ebay seller a member on here?pm me if u are.
 
For a long time there was a guy advertising in the P6 News, making burr walnut versions, but they were £150 a set. I've got a copy here with the details. On the basis that he has stopped advertising, I wouldn't want to publish the details here, but I could pm them to any interested party.
 
Hi Rick, I'm sure I remember that advert and assumed that the eBay seller was doing the same thing, but these are not walnut - I sent him an eBay question and he said "they are made from stained & varnished Birchwood".

From Pilkie's photo, they still look damn good.

(Now where am I going to find more "Rover Tokens".......)

Bri.
 
Well, I have received the wooden cappings in the post (nicely protected and wrapped) and spent some time fitting them. I had to cut a small square in the driver's dash trim to accommodate the Kenlowe fan over-ride switch. The trims look really great - a huge improvement on the factory formica.

The fit, grain and sheen on the trims is 100%. I don't see why Rover really had to desperately cost scrimp at the time by not fitting wood after all (a) Spen King negotiated the inclusion of the De Dion rear suspension with the Rover higher powers for an additional cost on each car made of £30 and (b) The BL stablemate, the Triumph 2000 series had real wood - so why not the P6. I am sure this would have been a small premium at the time that could have been offset by the marketing men in their specifications and sales demonstrations.

What is noticeable is when you fit a new wooden trim on one of the doors and leave the formica trim in place on the door either behind or in front.

I will get some pictures of the finished product and post them here. Pilkie - many thanks for the tip in making the long dash trim 5mm longer than the original - very good advice - the fit is perfect.

I have noticed the faux artist's woodgrain previously on the n/s front door formica trim has what appears to be two very sinister looking devil eyes staring from it. Creepy stuff! :angry:
 
Well, having started the topic, I thought I'd best let everyone know that based on Pilkie's comments, and especially his photos I too contacted the eBay seller and bought a set.

Absolutely superb - Go and get yourself a set!

And the best bit! ............ My wife said, "Oh that looks so much better, I never did like that formica" - and no mention of how much money I've been spending on the car this year !!!!!!!

RESULT!

(Best not push my luck, save a bit for next year :) )

Brian.
 
As a compliment to the wood trims, I am having a local hobby woodworker I know make me a matching wooden gearknob for the automatic! :D with the shift/lock button as well.
He is using a spare as a template so it should be an exact match.
Based on how easy and how long it takes him to knock one up,I will see if I can get him to make 1/2 dozen,and see if I can sell them on ebay for a fair price!
 
Hi Brian, I would have liked to have seen them on Sunday but I must have missed you. Anything would look better than the formica, maybe Tony (2200 class winner) could make some in stainless? That would be different.
 
Hi Paul,
Well I missed out on meeting alot of people too - had such a good time at Duxford, and there was so much to see.

I'll be at Knebworth in August (See events posting) if you fancy coming to that. Dunno which day yet - tend to decide nearer the time and the latest weather forecast!

Best thing to be made in stainless would be a coolant pipe that connects the heater with the engine and runs over the inlet manifold (4 cyl). Now that would be good! I meant to have a word with Tony on Sunday, but time crept away from me! perhaps that would be a starter for another topic!

Brian.
 
testrider said:
Anything would look better than the formica, maybe Tony (2200 class winner) could make some in stainless? That would be different.
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Guys,

There's probably another angle to formica vs. wood....

'Formica' (& it is GENUINE 'Formica' in a P6) was perhaps becoming the fashion at the time. I'm a child of the 60's & I remember household furnishings being covered in all shades & patterns of the stuff!

Rather than outright penny-pinching, it was probably cutting edge design!

Just a thought....

Cheers,

Phil. :D
 
The problem at the time of the release of the 'Rosewood effect' Formica in the early Series 2 P6 is that unfortunately printing technology was not all that advanced as to produce a convincing woodgrain effect. The colour of the 'Rosewood' is pleasant enough and close to actual rosewood. What is pretty unconvincing is the black swirly woodgrain. I note the post 74 P6 had a Formica called Plank Teak - this does look much better than the Rosewood, so it is likely that printing technology had progressed by 1974.

I note Formica are still going (www.formica.com) and they now produce a very wide range of woodgrains which do appear to be very subtle and realistic from the pictures shown on the webpage. This opens up a whole new load of upgraded P6 Formica trim possibilities?

I personally would not go for the stainless steel trim unless you want to blind the wife/girlfriend/friend sitting in the passenger seat with the reflection of the sun off the long dash garnish :cool:
 
chrisyork said:
Don't know why they changed - but it was long before the Leyland and then BL takeovers! I suspect Formica was modern and trendy at the time. Perhaps the intention was always to use Formica but they hadn't quite got it right for the early production cars, so used wood instead?

I always thought they would have looked much better with a complete wood cap (ie missing out the black plastic/nylon thing that the formica clips into) on the lines of the contemporary Triumph 2000 or as per the finisher on the P5 Coupe (which has similar window frames).

Chris
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Only 1963 to mid-1964 built 'A' suffix chassis number Rover 2000's had wood inserts. Only about 4000 cars total.

My 'B' suffix car was built 1st September 1964 and does not have them.

Probably only about 15 survivors left with real wood - although it is wood fillets stuck on a metal backing.

Cheers
Nick
 
pilkie 0 said:
testrider said:
Anything would look better than the formica, maybe Tony (2200 class winner) could make some in stainless? That would be different.
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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It was only an idea!!! I like to think outside the box a little bit, and updated look but using a material in keeping with the period of the car. The way the inserts are fitted makes them very easy to be changed and/or improved if you want to smarten up your interior. I was thinking brushed rather than polished stainless.

Being a child of the '80's means my recollections of Formica mainly include broken television sets and chests of drawers at the tip.

Carbon fibre would be pushing it a bit though.
 
Aaarrrgghh! I have just looked at the Formica woodgrain samples on their website. You would not believe it. They still manufacture the P6 Rosewood effect material (it is called Brazillian Rosewood)!!! It is identical to that in the Series 2 P6. I have pasted the address here, not sure if it will work. If not, it is on page 6 of their woodgrain swatches.

http://www.formica.com/publish....ge.html

:laugh:
 
Oh dear, it is identical to a set of book shelves my dad built in the early seventies. They are still in good service in my room in my parents place!
 
As advised offer £40 inc. postage and it was accepted .... have mint black interior, new gun metal grey carpets (to compliment black interior and silver birch paintwork), black ETs on front and original full length black headrest at back ... now wood cappings ..... hope it will look smart. ----- that along with it being lowered 1 1/2" all round, minilites and a 200bhp injected twin plenum lump .... cannot wait to get out there an blitz the Euro box driving contingent on the bling clad streets of Essex :) :)
 
TwinPlenum3500S said:
As advised offer £40 inc. postage and it was accepted .... have mint black interior, new gun metal grey carpets (to compliment black interior and silver birch paintwork), black ETs on front and original full length black headrest at back ... now wood cappings ..... hope it will look smart. ----- that along with it being lowered 1 1/2" all round, minilites and a 200bhp injected twin plenum lump .... cannot wait to get out there an blitz the Euro box driving contingent on the bling clad streets of Essex :) :)
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Excellent,they will look great!!
And it will make the essex ford boys see green!!!!
I havent lowered mine but put lower profile wider tyres,195/60's on that give it a lower look,better grip and stability.
 
Custom springs ... £120 a pair. Running gas shocks and 195/70/14's. Hope this will stiffen it up a bit and take out much of the wallowing.
 
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