Twin Plenum Vitesse restoration

[King Herald]

Six years ago I bought an '84 SD1 VDP, £300, as a donor car for a hot rod project. It came off Ebay, with one days tax and mot left, so I drove it home, then gutted it. The body was total rust. I could poke my finger through damn near anywhere I chose to. The motor and stuff lived on though, and is still being driven around.

I gather you've heard of Rimmer brothers? Anybody who runs an SD1 has. They recently discovered a whole factory full of SD1 body panels in India.

[Duke Thrust]

King Herald said:

I gather you've heard of Rimmer brothers? Anybody who runs an SD1 has. They recently discovered a whole factory full of SD1 body panels in India.

Yep, I've spent a few quid with them

[lorne.elleby]

Lovely work, well presented! my Gran had a 3500 V8 SD1. Verry cool! not for my gran tho!

[Jessop]

Wow - great thread, some transformation there!

Love the old rover vitesse touring cars! Sound evil from the old bathurst video's!

[shalmaneser]

just out of interest, why do people refer to them as twin plenum? It's clearly twin throttle, single plenum, surely?

back on topic though, congrats OP, excellent work!

[Duke Thrust]

shalmaneser said:

just out of interest, why do people refer to them as twin plenum? It's clearly twin throttle, single plenum, surely?

back on topic though, congrats OP, excellent work!

Yes, it's more accurate to say twin throttle - not sure why they've always been referred to as Twin Plenums

[cushT]

I think its fantastic you have saved this car! Most people, i would imagine, would run a mile at the sight of all that rust! It makes the car even more special i think.

[Jonny TVR]

My Dad had a new gold 3500SE an S reg (I think it was TVR 787S, wish he had kept the plate) then another new gold one again a 3500SE or it may have been a Vitesse this time W reg. I loved them .. at the time they were very special.

[_dobbo_]

Here you go - gold wheel centres, touring car styleeeeee



Orange bumpers optional

Edited by _dobbo_ on Monday 15th June 20:27

[Roop]

_dobbo_ said:

Here you go - gold wheel centres, touring car styleeeeee



Orange bumpers optional

Looks like Dennis the Menace...!

[Duke Thrust]

_dobbo_ said:

Here you go - gold wheel centres, touring car styleeeeee



Orange bumpers optional

Edited by _dobbo_ on Monday 15th June 20:27

Oooo! What s/w is that? Is that a game?

[900T-R]

Flipping 'eck, that looks so much better than the current batch of execs - and then to think the design was originally to go into production somewhere in the early ather than mid/late Seventies...

[FM]

Duke Thrust said:

_dobbo_ said:

Here you go - gold wheel centres, touring car styleeeeee



Orange bumpers optional

Edited by _dobbo_ on Monday 15th June 20:27

Oooo! What s/w is that? Is that a game?

Rfactor for the PC is the game with the touring car mod add-on.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUoYHsOz0ik

[car.chic]

Awesome keep us updated

[tali1]

Jonny TVR said:

My Dad had a new gold 3500SE an S reg (I think it was TVR 787S, wish he had kept the plate) then another new gold one again a 3500SE or it may have been a Vitesse this time W reg. I loved them .. at the time they were very special.

Indeed it was
The vehicle details for TVR 787S are:

Date of Liability 01 08 1991
Date of First Registration 01 08 1977
Year of Manufacture 1977
Cylinder Capacity (cc) 3528CC
CO2 Emissions Not Available
Fuel Type Petrol
Export Marker Not Applicable
Vehicle Status Unlicensed
Vehicle Colour GOLD

BTW Vitesse earliest start in Y reg so W def not Vitesse
Also TVR777S was a TR7

[Duke Thrust]

FM said:

Rfactor for the PC is the game with the touring car mod add-on.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUoYHsOz0ik

Ace!

I just love the Bastos cars - I did ponder for a long while to turn Dads into a full Bastos replica.

They are so mind-bendingly cool:

[Duke Thrust]

Right, bit of an update:

The chrome is back on the guttering (nasty job) and most of the interior is back in - the dash will have to wait until all the front loom goes back in and I put the injection block back in.







Carpet has come up well:

Before:



After:



Moved it to clip the hedge, from this angle it's looking almost done:



Aside from putting the front spoiler back on and the door rub strips, the exterior is pretty much finished. (Oh, and getting the split rims refurbished)

[Gallen]

absolutely wow - from the first pictures this is a great job.

I'm currently looking for a Series 1 SD1

[Duke Thrust]

Gallen said:

absolutely wow - from the first pictures this is a great job.

I'm currently looking for a Series 1 SD1

You'll enjoy it! What spec are you looking for? I've always fancied somthing really 'of the period' like a Tumeric Yellow V8S.

[Gallen]

anything retro... and the more 70's the better!

Funnily enough I looked at a Tumeric Yellow SD1 Auto a few months back. It looked great in the photos and I admit I got excited when the current owner said he'd know of the car since it was new. (he had bought it from his grandmothers friend when she went in to a care home, as it had been garaged for years).

However when I turned up, well... the amount of rust and a very tired interior made it non-workable to me at the asking price (£1000). Every panel had had poor paintwork done, filler etc.

The guy had "tidied it up" thinking that filler meant the rust was repaired!

I said I would buy it, but not for anywhere near £1000 but that was his bottom line.

Ideally, I would like Tumeric Yellow, or Atlantis Blue with a yellow/beige interior!

Gallen.