Interior swaps

[TheBaldMonk]

After talking to SWMBO about the Montego and it's tidy up. As normal she has her priorities right :rolleyes:.

She says she doesn't like all the brown everywhere, I suppose I have to agree a small amount and being spoilt with brand news cars for the last four or so years doesn't help.

She wants the brown interior, dash, door trim, center console and anything else that as she puts it "looks poo" gone. This seems like a huge amount of work and I don't even know where to start looking for a new interior, Black would be good I think, I notice that the plastic isn't that flexible, what do you guys think to plasticote? Was there a Monty built with a black interior? if not, what other colours were about?

Also, what about leather seats? I presume that there was a Monty built with leather interior, but which one and what colour were they? Failing that, has anybody managed to fit seats from a different car in there? as it's a saloon I image it will be quite a task.


All of this is neither here nor there, I'm fighting the rust patches at the mo so until thats all sorted there's not much point.


Any ideas before I hide her under the patio? ;)

[E_T_V]

I've never seen a black interior, I've seen beige, blue and various shades of brown and grey too. You could plasticote/vinylcote the dash and see what it turns out like. If it isn't anygood then you'll not have lst anything as you were going to have to change it anyway.
Leather seats might be available but mose I've seen are the half leather ones from a rover 200 welded onto the maestro frames. Apparently you can fit the armchairs from a rover 800 in a similar way but I imagine that would be a tight squeeze. As to the rear seat I'm not too sure, re-covering the original might be the best option.

P.S. Remember to dig the hole deep so that the animals don't try to dig her up

[Ed]

Leather interior was available on the Montego Vanden Plas and also as an option on the Montego 2.0GSi. The chances of finding an intact interior would be quite hard I should imagine due to those models being practically extinct.

Black was never available as far as I am aware and old brochures only suggest the grey, beige, browns and blues.

Changing all the coloured items of the interior is not as huge a task as it might appear. It can certainly be done in a day. The biggest job is the dash but even then it is easy to do, just methodical.

What colour is the car? If the interior's brown, i imagine the paintwork would be red, white or gold? I think your best bet for red or white would be grey as it is still easily available in scrapyards. Gold is more difficult as beige and brown seem the more matching colours and these colours would be more difficult to track down. Perhaps a nice interior out of a late MG Monty? Can't go wrong there.

[talkingcars]

The only good plastic I have seen reminded me of new born baby poo brown.

I have some gray leather seats on monty runners on Ebay, I also have the backs but still on the Rover 220 frames.

[SimonR]

I know of a Monty VP saloon with leather grey interior (inc door cards)in a scrapper in Hitchin. Last time I saw it (three weeks ago) everything was intact, except for the headrests although things tend to deteriorate fairly quickly in that scrappo. I would describe the condition as mostly good but with some wear to the driver's seat.

The scrapper in question is in Hitchin off the A1M.

[MG1600S]

There is a D reg Monty VP in a local scrapyard near Lichfield just off the A38. It has Caramel leather and door cards (biege). It was complete about 2 weeks ago and the interior was good....now getting hard to find:(

[TheBaldMonk]

Oooooh, grey sounds like it'll work :)

It's a dark blue DLX, I think it's an ex MOD one as it got those funky back seat lamps on swan necks. and the V5 is wierd. Says it was first registered in 1998 but declared manufacturd in 1994 so makes it an L reg, shame it wasn't registered as a 98 ;)

Beige might look a bit wierd in there, brown does a bit and as far as I can tell and maybe it wasn't supposed to be???

Would go for the grey leather ones offered above BUT I would need the back seat, I dont know how to weld (yet) so I wouldn't be able to make the back seat up. So going off that, I would rather get the original ones if I can, failing that if someboday has a matching grey leather back seat already done, could I buy that?

Thanks for all the offers of scrappies but I'm in North Manchester, I don't mind travelling say 30-40 miles for the right ones but anything more would be overkill I think, especially as I would be karting the baby around aswell.

[TheBaldMonk]

Oooh, one more thing, There isn't anybody with a set of chrome or even just metal door handles lying around that I could perhaps purchase is there, the chrome mirror covers would be good but I can live without them.

It already has one metal one on the rear passenger side so I presume the plastic one must have broke at some point. It has been a taxi in a previous life as well so I presume a careless customer snapped it off.

[E_T_V]

The chrome mirrors can be quite difficult to get hold of as they were only standard on a few models, HLS, VDP and maybe the mayfair? I think yours as standard would have had plastic ones which may or may not have been colour coded to the car.

[TheBaldMonk]

[QUOTEThe chrome mirrors can be quite difficult to get hold of as they were only standard on a few models, HLS, VDP and maybe the mayfair?[/QUOTE]

Yep, thats why I'm saying I can live without them. I have indeed got plastic ones on there at the moment, I might smooth them over and have a go at spraying them either chrome or body colour depending on what handles I manage to find. I'm sure I should be able to get a replacement black plastic one if need be.

Might do the same as long as I can get metal handles, if they are the chrome ones then fantastic, if not then they will probably end up bodycolour.

By the way, this isn't some attempt to "Kev" it up, I'm just making it look as nice as I can, I understand they are not that common BUT while I'm sorting out the bonnet/other dodgy bits I might as well put the niceties on :)

[John S]

Hi,

If you only manage to find the front seats, I have the door cards and rear seat available. You can have them at a reasonable cost. I am keeping the front seats though and I also would like to keep the electrics/mirrors.

John

[talkingcars]

The easiest way to colour code the mirrors is to use coloured mirror covers, the late black ones just pop off the main mirror (although this is best done with the guts removed), the smooth coloured one pops back on.

You don't need welding skills to fit the seats, the back base should lift and the backs are bolted in.

James

[TheBaldMonk]

Well, what would you know, how do women do it?

I drive the car round everyday and just driving home from work getting ready for some nights, driving along think, yeh, grey might look ok in here.... it'll match the seat until I replace them, and the material bits on the door cards :rolleyes: aaaaggggghhh, it's all grey :) problem solved.

Now just seats and twiddly bits.

Talkingcars - the front seats are done yes? you said the back one was on a Rover 200 frame? do I not need to cut this frame off and weld the montego frame on?

If not, why don't more people do this? whats your auction number? When does it end as I can't pay for them till pay day next Friday, Whereabouts are you located?

[TheBaldMonk]

Ah bugger, I'd have bought you bodykit set to but local colection only and absolutely miles away.

:mad:

[talkingcars]

The auction says "local collection" only as it was easier than pricing up for postage or courier, however I have been asked by several people so I looked at interlink's website and I guess transport will be in the region of £60 for the bodykit. Alternativly I don't mind holding stuff for a little while if you want to collect at some point or it may be possible to either meet you halve way or if work takes me up north (was at Manchester Town Hall last tuesday) we may be able to work something out, I just can't afford to lose money on transporting these things more than I have to, the body kit cost me £50 from deepest essex (so about 150 mile drive) and the seats were £80.

And now to the seats, they were on Rover 200 runners which apparently you can drill out and replace with monty runners, I actully took the seat pads off the bases and put them on the monty bases. I have removed the hindges from the rear base and this sits nicly in the back of the monty although the monty hinges should be drilled and screwed to secure it, I just never got around to it(I still have the monty hinges). The backs were a bit harder as I had an estate and the seat shape is completly diffrent but with a little effort the leather should fit the monty saloon seat back, it is more or less a case of recovering. I also have a few bits of the same leather around that came from a rover 800.

The body kit needs preping before it goes on but as it will need a respray to match your car that is not so bad. If you or anyone is genuinaly interested please contact me direct.

James