Coach lines

Hopefully, I get the SD1 back tomorrow after a full respray. But I didn't specify they did the dual coach lines (gold), so what are the options? Rimmers charge a lot of money for the originals.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)
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Paint them yourself. It's easy enough, but you need to buy a real Buehler (sp?) coach lining wheel and do a little practice first. These aren't cheap, even when you spot one on eBay.

Or else employ the alcoholic painter who used to sign write my dad's wagons in Liverpool (who'd be about 100 by now). Nose glowed like Rudolf and he never did anything complicated in the mornings. Morning shift would just be pottering about his workshop, maybe doing a bit of rubbing down old paintwork. He didn't need a sander, he just stood there with a cork block and sandpaper and let the shakes do the work.

After a medicinal whisky at lunchtime he'd get the varying sizes of brushes out, all with incredibly long hair (not mere "bristles", he insisted - they were plucked from Vietnamese maidens and made specially for him in France). With a single stroke and a 1/8" brush he could lay a coachline the length of a van, not a wiggle in it.

Nice chap, I never had the dexterity for the painting, but he taught me to lay gold leaf over lettering.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Any bodyshop refinishers (e.g. Brown Brothers) should be able to help you - they'll keep a box full of different types in stock.

David

Reply to
David Lane

There was an old signwriter who did work for the service department at the Humber many years ago who had similarly shakey hands, but they miraculously became rock steady the moment he picked up a paint brush.

Your tale also reminds me of the West Country pub where the early morning cider drinkers would undo their ties, leaving them to dangle and grap their glass and one end of the tie in one hand. Pulling on the other end of the tie would then elevate the glass to the region of the mouth without spilling too much of the contents.

Ron Robinson

Reply to
R.N. Robinson

"R.N. Robinson" wrote in message news:dcg6d1$9ov$ snipped-for-privacy@newsg2.svr.pol.co.uk...

Oops. For 'grap' please read 'grasp' or even 'grab'. I was sober at the time - honest!

Ron Robinson

Reply to
R.N. Robinson

Is this a sort of transfer on a roll, and is it easy to apply?

I've never been any use at freehand drawing or painting. ;-)

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

: In article , : David Lane wrote: : > Any bodyshop refinishers (e.g. Brown Brothers) should be able to help : > you - they'll keep a box full of different types in stock. : : Is this a sort of transfer on a roll, and is it easy to apply?

My glider was repainted shortly before I bought it. The previous owners only put the stripe down one side of it, but gave me the material for the other side in a roll in a box. I was delighted to find that it was a genuine "Go-Fast Stripe"!

Ian

Reply to
Ian Johnston

Fascinating! There used to be an old boy in a coachbuilders in Sutton (Surrey) with the same technique - a few dummy runs with the brush waving wildly, then several large ones from a hip flask then a perfect straight line down the side.

Must be part of the job spec....

Geoff MacK

Reply to
Geoff Mackenzie

They're on a roll - literally a line/lines on transfer paper which stick on.

There were 50+ types when I worked there.

David

Reply to
David Lane

Not a transfer. More like coloured sellotape, with a transparent backing, to hold the lines in place until they were stuck to the door or wing. The backing is then pulled off leaving the lines behind. The OE coach lines were only stuck on.

Halfords used to do rolls of it. Singles, doubles, in different colours inc gold. I'm sure it must still be available, if not from Halfords.

Piece of cake to apply and get straight. Stick one end first, then unroll enough to do the panel, then hold it taught as you lay it on the door/wing etc. I repaired a section on an SD1 door once. Looked original until one looked closely. The colour was slightly off. The only problem with a DIY solution to the SD1 coach lines, (apart from finding the stick-on lines that is) is the ends. The two lines come together at the front, and at the rear there was a curly bit. You'd need a sheet of the material to cut those out to make it look original. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

That reminds me of the sellotape type of coach tape you could paint yourself.

The sellotape available as single or dual coachlines is applied to the body shell in the normal way but you remove the middle section leaving the outer sections in place, then you simply paint the centre insert to the colour of your choice then remove the outer sections. The result is a painted coach line as opposed to the naff stick on stuff.

Steve.

Reply to
Stephen Hull

Good stuff. I've used it. On the SD1 the naff stick on stuff was what Rover originally used though. Fairly thin twin lines with shaped ends. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

That's what they looked like. A raised gold band.

I'll have a look.

Well, it would be the entire car, so not so much of a problem. I'm not worried about originality - just something that looks OK to me.

Oh dear. ;-) My memory of them was just an angled end. Not meeting or anything else. ;-) And of course I can't check now.

Thanks, Mike.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Sounds like the ones you had might not have been original. They definitely met at the front on the car I had, and at the rear, ISTR that the two lines blended into one, that then scrolled, (a bit like scrolled ironwork) into a curved rounded end. Difficult to explain. :-)

Then again unless someone knows what the originals looked like, does it really matter? They'd certainly look better joined at the front though, which you could probably fiddle. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

Hi Group / Dave

I have a box (large) of various coach stripes that you are welcome to look at. What design /colour are you looking for and how much in metres

-- Regards

Paul Tasker

P.S. If you use the reply button. Remove the BLIP

Reply to
Paul Tasker

It's a twin gold line the length of the car.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

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