Should we as owners try to set sensible +2 Prices

[alan.barker]

Too true Lockdown boredom and my Wine Cellar has been under a serious attack the last few Weeks
Alan

[JJ66]

Agree, alcoholism may be on the rise!!! Great spot from Bud English, funnily enough I had been looking at early 911 finishers on e-bay earlier, but those 944 items look ideal.

I did contact the ex-owner of my car today and he has no idea what the finishers came off as he found them at an auto-jumble years ago. I will see if I can easily remove one of them in case there are moulding marks on the back with any names/numbers.

Plugging 'seat belt finisher' or 'seat belt escutcheon' into E-Bay will bring up a number of options, I just searched and found one for an Austin Ambassador which looks to be very similar to mine, check out item number 401828913727 on UK e-bay, its only £2.50!! (Shame there's not a pair). Regards, Jonathan

[JimE]

Hi Alan, your car looks really lovely, fair play. And I love the colour, very classy. I think what Eagle-Eyed Jon is referring to is that my car seems to have black plastic escutcheons (always liked that word ) around the seat belt apertures on the B Pillar, see attached pic:

The attachment IMG_6946.JPG is no longer available

The plastic trims are correct for the job and must be from a different car, I will contact the owner who is likely to have done this and try to determine where he got them from! They do look very neat. Regards, Jonathan

If you look at the last +2s road tested by autosport and what car magazine, the roofs were painted the same colour as the rest of the car. Those pictured for sale in period motoring mags were also minus the silver roof so I am guessing that customers asked for it to be added rather that the other round. My January 74 car did not come with a silver roof. So far as the seat belt apertures are concerned I believe the factory made this little mod just before the car was phased out.

[Donels]

Check out the MGF seat belt guide/escutcheon sold by MG Obsession. Not quite the same as it's secured by 2 screws but it will probably do the job. Reasonably priced and also available on EBay in chrome if you want some bling.

Dave

[The Veg]

The plastic trims are correct for the job and must be from a different car, I will contact the owner who is likely to have done this and try to determine where he got them from! They do look very neat.

I'd be quite interested as well. I've looked at the Porsche items Bud mentioned and I'm skeptical that they'd work since they need to be able to bend to the curvature of the panel and looking at the back of the Porsche item, they don't look like they'd bend very easily. They also need to be able to accommodate a rather large slot, at least on the earlier Plus 2s.

Didn't somebody recently post something about developing a 3-D print file for a workable escutcheon?

[alan.barker]

When i bought the last +2 an August 1973 +2S130/4 it was monotone Lagoon Blue with Oatmeal Trim inside. Confirmed by Andy at Lotus original and Tollgate car (terry tozer lotus dealer).
It had not been driven for 23 years and was 100% original. I bought it from the 3rd owner who had it for about 27 years. There were the usual cracks in the usual places in the Gel coat. The biggest job was the back left Wing caused by Fuel coming out the Filler Neck. But the car had been standing for 23 years so it had evapourated away a long time ago. I very carefully rubbed the Paint down on the Roof and suddenly saw a Metal Flake roof underneath wow. I thought oh maybe i can paint the body black and have a JPS. It wasn't until i removed the last bit of Lagoon Blue on the Roof that i knew why it was Lagoon Blue. There was a problem with the Gold Metal Flake in a small area.
For the JPS cars the Gold Metal Flake was in the Resin (roof + sills) and when the Body was removed from the Mould if there was a problem anywhere then they were painted all over monotone (like mine many were Lagoon Blue).
For the +2s with a Silver Metal Flake roof i think some were in the Resin and some were sprayed Silver Metal Flake.

I know of 3 different +2S130 cars that were painted monotone Lagoon Blue like mine.
Alan

[JJ66]

Hi Alan, that’s really interesting, I hadn’t realised that the metal flake was produced in the mould. Mine is confirmed to have originally had a metal flake roof and from what I have exposed the finish is quite tough, therefore perhaps it is resin and therefore produced in the mould. Were they over varnished? Just wondering if I can wipe over with some thinners for a final clean and not upset the resin? I will rub the roof down and start a separate thread to track progress. May wait a while before starting in anger though, I have to replace the sill members and door hinges first!! Thanks, Jonathan

[Bud English]

I'd be quite interested as well. I've looked at the Porsche items Bud mentioned and I'm skeptical that they'd work since they need to be able to bend to the curvature of the panel and looking at the back of the Porsche item, they don't look like they'd bend very easily. They also need to be able to accommodate a rather large slot, at least on the earlier Plus 2s

I'll let you know. I have a pair on the way.

[Bud English]

To close out this part of the thread drift, I received a pair this morning. They are, in fact shorter and a little wider than the seat belt slot. They do have a split on one end to allow them to be fitted over the belt and then popped into the panel.

My panels have been upholstered but the fabric over the slots hasn't been cut yet, so I can make these work by modifying the slot slightly. The panel isn't curved enough at that point to prevent them from working, at least on my car.

If you are looking for something that you just install in an existing slot, as is, I don't think these will work for you.

[alanr]

Is it possible for you to take photo of them please?

Alan

[Bud English]

Not the best picture. The dimension lines don't quite line up due to being behind the part.

Although they don't show well in the picture, the tabs on the insert portion will accept a panel thickness of 5.5mm.
If you need a better pic, I'll try again.

[alanr]

Thanks for the photo and dimensions.
Are they flat or do they have a curve on them? Or are they flexible and will easily bend to follow the wheel arch upholstery contour on a +2?

Alan.

[alan.barker]

Can someone 3D print them
Alan

[Bud English]

They are flat. The plastic is flexible enough that they open up to go over the seat belt, but not very flexible in the direction that it would take to fit the slight curve in the panel. You might be able to form it to the curve if heated. I'm not at a point that I'm ready to try that. The panels are in the loft and the belts aren't in the car.

[JJ66]

Hi all, I have just had some 3-D printing done for a couple of work jobs with a local company to me (Ross on Wye), they are small and so quite cheap relatively speaking. That said, something like this would probably be about £25 for the pair, and that's just a guess at the moment based on volume of plastic.

To get them printed they would have to be drawn or scanned, made into a 3-D CAD file (STEP, IGES or similar) and then they could be printed, so there is some work to the job before the 3-D printing stage.

I tried to get one of mine off the car so that I could look for detail on what it came off, and also to measure it, but they have been firmly bonded in and I don't want to pull too hard! regards, Jonathan