[Chris Reynolds]

I’m doing one door at a time. If there’s a better knack of getting the top trim that holds the pleated leathery bit off Pallas doors then I’m yet to find it. Plastic trim tools to lever the shiny bit up then get a screwdriver in to undo the self tappers is kind of working but doesn’t feel optimal, I guess they were ever designed to come off really.

Now on my second door I’ve found a component I didn’t have on the first one

Part 27 on the diagram is incredibly useful to hold the threaded piece in place while you position the handle. On the first one I had an utter nightmare trying to hold the back of the screw in the door while lining the handle part up, walked away a few times in frustration, never thought that I was missing a part!

[Chris Reynolds]

That’s a nice touch, I like that, tempted to do the same!

It is really good to be driving again, sadly they’ve been gritting the roads around here so I need to think carefully about whether I want it to have a salty bath just yet!

I’m being very cautious with the bits and bobs I’m doing on the car as I want to be able to drive it as and when opportunity arises. They’ll be time in the depths of winter to attack more jobs…

[Chris Reynolds]

Thought it was about time I uploaded a few pictures after I lobbed a bucket of water over it (side note, rinsing a car with buckets used more water than using the forbidden hose).

I’ve had a few drives out and been really happy. More importantly my wife, Sue, came out for a drive yesterday and enjoyed the experience (I suspect the last time she was in a DS was when we used my old one for our wedding in 2000)

It came with an engine

As I said earlier, it’ll need new paint at some point

One knackered door card

One newly fitted door card and leathery top bit

Half way through sorting out front carpet I have th epiece to go over the brake button box – I was just dry fitting the main carpet to see how well it fits

Important accessory installed (I don’t smoke but thought it suited the car)

[Chris Reynolds]

Incredibly frustrating for you, from the picture it does look like a design issue

[Chris Reynolds]

Thanks Paul, that’s incredibly helpful.

Yes, it’s a repro carpet and does have the straps on and new clips so hopefully I have everything I need apart from screws. I’m hoping the box of assorted self-tapping screws I bought from Screwfix 20 years ago will have something suitable.

I see now the asymmetric layout of the clips which makes sense (mine is also LHD) to have double coverage on the drivers side. I think that it’s only carpet on the front-seat box (no padding) but I’ll check.

To make life easier I may take the seats out as I’d like to give them a good clean. I think that will help when doing the rear foot-well as I get what you’re saying about the slope on the front edge

Thanks again

Chris

[Chris Reynolds]

That’s really kind, thank you Peter and thank you for the ali express link, that’ll be really useful.

In removing the cards to check for fittings I found that one of the plastic membrane sheets was unstuck and had let damp in so I’ll be checking and re-gluing all of those too. While I’ve got the panels and membranes off I might as well squirt some rust preventative in the doors too. That snag list is getting bigger…

[Chris Reynolds]

Thanks Paul, much appreciated

[Chris Reynolds]

One of the reasons for going for the DS21 5-speed was that several people had recommended that engine and gearbox combination as a sweet-spot whether as a DS21 or a DSuper5 and, based on yesterday, I can understand that.

That 3D printed overlay is a really neat idea, I do have a 3D printer so if don’t mind sharing the files then I’d love to give it a try, thank you.

I do also have several stacks of MDF leftovers and short lengths of timber that will come in for something one day – and just occasionally they do. I made a concerted effort to tidy them up so there was space for the car!

The snagging list is also growing the list of bits I need to order (so far I’m missing a lot of the plastic bits that go in the doors for the door card clips to go into). I’ll let that build up for a while to consolidate postage. Quick question if anyone knows, only my front door cards have the bend over clips (and they have them front and back of the card), were they also on the rear doors? The parts book says there should be 4 of them so presumably 2 on the left and 2 on the right but is that 2 on the front and none in the back or 1 on each? I suspect that providing the card is secure it doesn’t massively matter

[Chris Reynolds]

Well, to be fair I’ve been used to LHD because of my Barchetta and so it was more muscle memory coming back on the gear lever and remembering to cancel the indicators. Struggled a bit with visibility pulling out into the next lane as the passenger side mirror is small and I hadn’t got it adjusted quite right. I usually drove the Barchetta with the roof down which does wonders for all round visibility 🙂

Remembering my mental maths for converting kmh to mph took a little while. I eventually set my phone up so I could see GPS speed against speedo measurement. Turns out that the speedo is pretty much bang on double mph rather than the 1.6 multiplier one would expect

I’d have thought bvh is more of a mental shift to get used to so not surprised that took longer

I’ve started a snagging list to keep me busy. The car came with new door cards and front carpet so I’ll be getting started on those fairly soon. I didn’t mention it but the car is mostly Pallas trimmed.

I’ll try and get some more photos uploaded

Darrin has been very helpful with the purchase and with giving the car a service to give me peace of mind. I’m grateful to him for his support

[Chris Reynolds]

The garage is actually pretty tidy after an extensive summer clean and floor re-paint – the pile of stuff on the left is waiting for a trip to the tip.

The search for a D took a back seat at the end of the summer as, sadly, my mum passed away (she was 93 and had late stage dementia so we were expecting it at some point) so I’ve been busy dealing with her estate.

I then got a tip off about this one coming up for sale and it just felt right.

It’s a 2.1 carb 5 speed manual from 1971 LHD in Bleu Platine with blue fabric interior. There’s a few cosmetic tidy ups that need doing and it’ll probably need some paint before too long but it fits my bill in terms of being a solid car that I can use regularly. I drove it home about 80 miles today and it didn’t miss a beat and cruised at about 70 on the motorway comfortably.

What did slightly surprise me was how quickly I got back into D driving after over 20 years away, it just felt like coming home again.

Thank you to everyone for their help and advice and I’m delighted to be properly back in the club now…

[Chris Reynolds]

Welcome to your new home!

EDIT – Getting image tag correct!

[Chris Reynolds]

Nice, must be a very satisfying feeling. It’s looking really good

[Chris Reynolds]

Yes, 10/10 for sticking at it, you’ve earned every ounce of pleasure you get from her.

I remember sitting next to my old D in the damp garage where I swear I could hear her rusting to nothing and thinking that I’d never have the time, money or skills to bring her back to life. I wish I’d had your dedication and kept her but after a few years of that it was just depressing me to see her and so I let her go…

[Chris Reynolds]

Brilliant news, you should be so proud of what you’ve achieved, she looks beautiful

[Chris Reynolds]

Hello Richard, as Paul says that’s a lovely colour combination, I hope you get lots of happy miles from your new purchase

[Author]

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