Introducing another South African MK3

This is what the Newton one looks like :



I think Minispares does sell Newton items.

That's great. Which one do you have? Is it the cream crackle? Can you upload a close up detail of the pattern?
-M

Ok, I was looking at Coco's photos and found a nice close up and link to the Newton Hornet/Elf headlining. I will go for this set as well. My visors look clean but may as well go for a matching set and replace them.

Apologies for the delay in reply. I was originally going to order the cream crackle one, but in comparison to the South African lining, it is a very creamy colour. The white colour option is a little more in line with the South African lining colour. It is slightly creamy, so not a brilliant white. Obviously the texture of these items are different as the material used is different for the UK and SA. Naturally, the choice is yours, but that's my opinion in choosing the white lining.

So many options...

Are we sure the Elf/Hornet has a special headlining distinct from Minis?

I contacted Minispares about ordering the Newton Commercial headlining for Elf/Hornet and they said they don't carry it. So, I went directly to Newton's website to order the headlining and carpet set. Their shipping quote from the UK to SA was very rich. 170 GBP! Granted, carpet is a big item maybe I can order the carpet from someone who does bulk shipping from the UK.

I believe that the ELF/Hornets and Minis have a different pattern of headliner bows. I would verify which one the MK3 has before committing to one or the other.

That is a good question. I will have to check. Jared, any thoughts?

OK, here is a photo of my headlining in the car. I will look at photos of Minis and E/Hs to compare. Maybe we can see which is a match.

I can't tell enough from the posted photos to make a judgement call on the headliner. Two other items are of interest in the latest photo, however.

Although the Mk 3 is of vintage Mk III, the car pictured retains a Mk I-style dome light and it looks like the rear quarter windows are Mk II-style. Check the chrome window surround. Does it have joins in both top centre and bottom centre?

Thanks! From my photos I only see a seam at the front of the side windows, halfway down.

I can't tell from the posted photos, but it it something else worth taking a closer look at.

Exciting news for me. The shop working on my car in Cape Town just emailed some photos of the paint work. The color is just what I expected and looks nice. It is the original color, which looks like porcelain green. They did a pretty thorough job of stripping parts off before paint. There is a little overspray on a few bits, but that can be corrected. From the photos I can see some texture in the engine bay but I don't know yet if they sprayed stone chip or something similar. They shop doing the work has a rep for being the best, so I'm trusting their judgement. And being out of the country, I don't have too much say in the work.

I still don't know which headlining to order... Elf/Hornet or Mini...
In the last photo you can see the South African headlining pattern (I just figured out online that not an SA patten... it is called Longhorn). But it is very stained and brittle. I'll replace it with cream crackle once I figure out which one to order.

She's coming along really nicely, and that colour is just perfect.

I'm thrilled with it. I do need a new white mirror. The old one is pretty rough.

My car didn't even have the original mirror in it when I got it, there was some cheap replacement in the car.

Hi everyone,
Nothing new to share. Just heard that a few bits are being installed. We will be getting close to arranging shipment from South Africa to the USA in the next three or four months. I've been reading online about import/export regulations, but I was wondering if anyone has some recommendations of shipping companies and methods. I'm leaning towards a shared container. The trick will be finding a good company in Cape Town.

seem to be a few MK3s around. had one now for 4 months!

i see the body plates are in the same place on my car, just assumed mine were wrong and had been moved in the respray... interesting!!!

now where could someone find those door pockets....

The body plates in this car were put all over the place, same basic position, but all over the place in terms of being skew or something - seems this depended on what mood the fitter was in.

The door pockets are unique to the earlier cars, namely '69 and '70. These doors looked like yours, with the chrome around the window and the different locking mechanism to the Clubmans. These doors, like mine too, had the pockets fitted as there was place for them to screw in. They subsequently found that these doors developed rattles and customers complained, which prompted them to fit the Clubman type doors to rectify this i.e. no chrome, different locking mechanism and no door pockets. Your car should have these pockets, but I can tell you now, they are very hard to come by in this country. I've been asked a number of times if I would be willing to sell mine.

were the door pockets fitted to UK cars? or is it something i'm going to have to source locally?

The door pockets were fitted to UK cars, namely the Elf and Hornets. Our SA Mk3 cars, are essentially MKIII Elf/Hornet bodies with the standard front end of the round nose cars. This then included the doors with the chrome, different locking mechanism and the door pockets. These cars also retained the small rear windscreen while the Clubman got the larger item. There are many similarities, but also one or two differences.

Fairly certain the same type door pockets were used on Innocenti Minis as well. Possibly on all Minis or variants that had early roll-up windows prior to the standard Minis getting them.
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/innocenti-mini-1973-part-sale-door-161717525

A few new photos.

wow! really looking nice hey!

gonna be a real beauty

She's looking good there, going to be a real stunner.

Just something I've noticed, the seat backrest, the hole that's there - it looks to be original and big like that. Mine is about half that size.