Daphne: 1974 D Spécial purchased October 2016

Hurrah and hallelujah, today my 'goddess' has risen from the dead (or, at least, from being a dead weight millstone around my neck), passed the roadworthy inspection, and got registered on a club permit.

What an epic journey of discovery and renewal, taken over many (admittedly bump-free) miles as we journeyed several times on more unregistered vehicle permits than I care to count between Horsham and home getting things fixed over the past eight months. Thanks to all the support, information and generosity of my fellow Aussiefrogs, and for Paul's untiring work to get Daphne sorted. There are a lot of other jobs to be done, but at least now they can be done without the worry of transporting her!
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Congratulations! Sure to be some issues arising, but small ones I hope. I tried to find photos of the lagune D Special with charcoal velour interior but looks like I didnt keep any. The hounds tooth would be interesting, but maybe not easy to fine a fabric suitable for cars. My DS 23 had been trimmed in velvet. Must have been good initially but faded and disintegrating when I aquired the car. Not worth the effort. I lashed out on a reproduction kit from Europe. Love it. Only problem is variation of colours with different batches. Best wishes, David
 
I had a car with the 'Jersey Rhovyline/ Rhyvoline' interior. It was the best! It was warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Unfortunately mine had fag burns and was thread bare in places.

I spent ages trying to track down a supplier in Europe and never found one. (maybe my spelling difficulty didn't help!) The repro seat covers for 60s cars have a close colour match to Rhyvoline but they are just made of the 70s 'jersey velour' fabric.
 
Caisson said:
Congratulations! Sure to be some issues arising, but small ones I hope. I tried to find photos of the lagune D Special with charcoal velour interior but looks like I didnt keep any. The hounds tooth would be interesting, but maybe not easy to fine a fabric suitable for cars. My DS 23 had been trimmed in velvet. Must have been good initially but faded and disintegrating when I aquired the car. Not worth the effort. I lashed out on a reproduction kit from Europe. Love it. Only problem is variation of colours with different batches. Best wishes, David
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Thanks very much, David! We're booked in for a service this week, so no doubt something else will need fixing before I can move onto upholstery!! Houndstooth is actually readily available, as it's a commonly seen Holden cloth. I think it'll look really great as an insert in black vinyl.

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Daphne joined in with her first run today with our local classic car club - 18 cars of various makes, including Triumph, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford and Holden, made the hundred kay trip up to Nhill, and on to a Leyland collection, where it seemed all the P76s available for sale in the past two decades had been scooped up and taken into the loving care of an avid collector, including a Force 7 and a replica station wagon! On display were some Marinas, Valiants (including an R Series), a Fury, a rallied Jaguar, and a few others besides. It was a very interesting place to visit, end we enjoyed the great company of like-minded car enthusiasts. On the way home through the Little Desert we stopped to take this photo.
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Well done! Interesting re Holden hounds tooth fabric. Erin the style guru concurs with the concept. Nice. Enjoy your lovely car.
 
Caisson said:
Well done! Interesting re Holden hounds tooth fabric. Erin the style guru concurs with the concept. Nice. Enjoy your lovely car.
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Thanks Caisson! I'm delighted to hear an 'aye' for houndstooth - and I think it will cheer up the drab interior nicely. 🍻
 
k eeles said:
Well done! Told you you love a D special.
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Thanks, but I'm not entirely sure that's true...at this point, I feel obligated to keep making improvements and to not ' look at other girls', rather than feeling love!
 
Glad you and Paul are finally getting out and about in the car Melanie. Best wishes from the UK
 
Budge said:
Glad you and Paul are finally getting out and about in the car Melanie. Best wishes from the UK
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Thanks Budge! Somewhat annoyingly, she's stuck at my garage being serviced and taking longer than expected (though delays are, surely, never really unexpected in this pursuit?) - an oil filter is not immediately available. I guess we won't be showing off at out local car club annual show this weekend!

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A post for the crafters, retro-lovers and decor-inclined...For a while I've been thinking about getting a vintage picnic set for Daphne (who doesn't have visions of warm, sunny afternoons spent driving and pausing at verdant roadsides to eat and drink in the serenity?), but being of a penny-pinching nature I couldn't cough up the dosh. So when I found some gorgeous vintage Rodd silver plated knives and sporks in an op shop, I figured it would be easy enough to put one together.
I remembered I had a small suitcase at home, and along with some classic Duperite Superware (melamine?) plates and bowls, 'Boilproof' stacking tumblers and some other bits and bobs, I now have a picnic set that's up to snuff. A green and white cotton teatowel was quickly stitched into a cutlery roll to keep the peace. Bring on the sunny afternoons!
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More groaning forthwith... I got Daphne back from her first service at our local, with a list of more things to be done. I suppose I should just expect this by now.

- Carby kit to be ordered (having to pour petrol in the carby to go isn't funny, and this morning my mechanic from our local garage had to come out to get her started with a jump pack and some Aerostart so he could check the oil leak)
- Rear main seal leaking
- Rear wheel cylinders are weeping
- Rear brakes are low
- Drive belts need replacing
- Slight water leak

Added to this the discovery of water on the floor after being out in the rain, I'm practically ready to kiss her goodbye because she's a pain in the rear. Truly. When does this become rewarding and fun??

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Rear main seal!? Never heard of that a D.
A set of brake linings and o rings in the brake cylinders
Should be simple. Doesn't require any high level mechanical skill either.
Water leaks are almost ubiquitous in D's .
In my experience the main culprit is the windscreen. Look at the BOTTOM of the glass. The windscreen rubber is designed to direct water internally across the top and down the sides no sealant required! Brilliant! The bottom edge has to be perfectly sealed however. If it isn't, water gets under the glass, moves up the inside edges of the screen by capilliary action and drops off the top, or runs down the screen internally. Weird.
A worse scenario is water leaking into the roof channel and rusting. Lots about it on aussiefrogs. Le Parisian's current resto thread for instance. Post 1973 glued roofs especially prone unfortunatly. Check the bottom glass edge first.
 
Caisson said:
Rear main seal!? Never heard of that a D.
A set of brake linings and o rings in the brake cylinders
Should be simple. Doesn't require any high level mechanical skill either.
Water leaks are almost ubiquitous in D's .
In my experience the main culprit is the windscreen. Look at the BOTTOM of the glass. The windscreen rubber is designed to direct water internally across the top and down the sides no sealant required! Brilliant! The bottom edge has to be perfectly sealed however. If it isn't, water gets under the glass, moves up the inside edges of the screen by capilliary action and drops off the top, or runs down the screen internally. Weird.
A worse scenario is water leaking into the roof channel and rusting. Lots about it on aussiefrogs. Le Parisian's current resto thread for instance. Post 1973 glued roofs especially prone unfortunatly. Check the bottom glass edge first.
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Thanks for the reassurance and tips, Caisson. I guess the rear main seal is more of a front main seal in this curious beast?

I've been reading that resto thread and feeling quite inadequate!!!
 
Further to the weepy so-called rear main seal...oil is coming from the join between the motor and the gearbox, so is that likely to be the seal that I and the mechanic presume is the equivalent of a rear main seal? Or could it be something else?

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Could be an LHM leak onto the top of the bellhousing from the steering rack or hydralic pump less possiblely the cam shaft that drives the hydraulic pump unlikely to be the crankshaft seal into the bellhousing in my opinion.

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Another project of mine was to refresh the silver trim around the vents and other bits on the dashboard. (It's these little things that make me feel a little less helpless in the project, as my hands-on contribution is pathetically small.) After reading threads on the forum and a heap of reviews of silver paint pens, and figuring I couldn't make things much worse, I ordered a DecoColor Premium oil based opaque metallic silver paint marker online.

Naturally I waited until most of the daylight was gone before starting on the left side vent, but things seemed to go okay. The paint wipes off fairly easily immediately, if you need to, but cleans up best with turpentine. I only realised when I was working on the right side vent that the surrounds pop out easily, which makes application a breeze. Can anyone tell me if the small, top side vent surround should also pop out, as I couldn't get it out?

Midway through application:
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Finished (still to be cleaned up with turps):
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