S525 OVP - Restoration Comments Thread
Use this thread to post any comments regarding the restoration of OVP the club car from the closed sticky thread here
:smilie_re: S525 OVP - Restoration: The Long Road Back |
Beautiful car. I hope everybody who had a hand in restoring and rescuing her gets a chance to see the completed project (even those who are aren't members now). If you ever want her to do a tour of northern ireland I'm available as a foster mum
Well done everybody ! |
Interesting read, and the car looks not bad compared to what was started with.
Amazing what can be done when you pour many thousands of pounds into an old wreck, and it goes to show anything can be brought back from the brink. Nice job ;) Brian :D |
Is this the white OVP that was at the NEC? Is she still owned by the club? The updates on the other thread are old (or my phone isn't scrolling lol)
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Yes, it’s the one at the NEC. The thread dates back to the time we first acquired the car, and has been added to by me over the past week to bring it up to date :}
The car is an asset of the club. |
OVP looked beautiful under the lights at the NEC and it's great to see the little touches that hark back to the cars previous working life. The paint shop did a first rate job and she's a real credit to the club.
If the chance arises, it would be great to give her a full detail sometime in the spring :}. Cliff |
A very good read.
Nice to see and hear that the old girl has finally got what she deserved and has been restored :bowdown:. I wasn't up to attending the Classic Motor Show this year, may one ask when "OVP" will be next appearing in person? Jim |
She’ll be at the March National at the Fleet Air Arm in the Westcountry (details to follow when I next get a spare few hours) then with any luck the second National oop North.
Now she’s done, let’s get her out to as many members as we can :sunny: |
No thanks left to give Paul, used them all up this morning reading the excellent updates. Thank you for taking the time to post an update and pictures too
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I got to drive OVP at the NEC, only moved her into her parked position on the stand. But what a joy to drive her.
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Let's hope I'm restored as well as OVP by then ;). Jim |
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S525 OVP looks superb, well done to everyone involved. :clap:
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Ah, I can see the whole resto thread on my laptop! Fantastic! :) I think its wonderful the club car is a "white" as well, but as a white lover I am biased....:)
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The old bones perhaps :D
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Fantastic read very interesting history with its many T.V. appearances all the way through to restoring back to former glory and being at the NEC 2018.
Well done to all those involved past and present brilliant work. Paul |
Last time I saw it was Avoncroft back in 2012 I think? From that to it's present state is a big well done to all involved:bowdown: https://i.imgur.com/yg1E5fOl.jpg~original
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A couple of pics showing the engine bay earlier in the year: https://farm1.staticflickr.com/822/3...27ff25e4_b.jpg https://farm1.staticflickr.com/938/3...2bd3546c_b.jpg Cliff |
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Can’t wait to see OVP again, the last time I saw her was also at Avoncroft whilst looking into her running problem which we managed to solve...
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What magnificent hard work folks :bowdown:
Well done to you all :cool: And a big thankyou to this man for designing our wonderful cars! https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/for...41e1ad6fdb.jpg |
Seconded!
Cliff |
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Cliff |
Richard Woolley - Studio Director, Rover Design
Thanks Cliff, good link :bowdown:
We were able to interview him some years ago for the club website, you can read that here :smilie_re: Richard Woolley Answers A Few Questions and I was lucky enough to have a chat with him at the show too, I asked him if he had many constraints placed upon him by BMW in terms of costs, or the type of platform or materials that should be used, he said no, they gave me a brief to design a quintessentially British car and left me alone to come up with whatever designs I wanted. To this day he is still immensely proud of what he achieved and is gratified that his design still gives enormous pleasure to us owners. He owned a 75 back in the day and was sorry to part with it, in fact now he is actively looking for a low mileage, cared for 2.5 litre V6 Cowley example. This was his original concept design, and the only thing he wasn't so happy about once it went into production was that the rear 'sat up' a little too highly for his taste, he would have preferred the car to have a lower ride height as seen in his drawings, but the decision to raise it was made to increase ride comfort. https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/ima...lleydesign.JPG You can see him being interviewed by Top Gear at the car's launch in this YouTube clip (he's 3.13 in) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JYKBcoRAWk |
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Going by the wheelbase too, and position of rear wheels it would have had great comfort. Although being low down as that, I would reckon the expected customer base would have had issues getting in and out of the car. Sent from my SM-A600FN using Tapatalk |
In terms of the engine, would it not of had a ROVER mems3 engine cover rather than an example with blank rectangle as well as a black coated cam cover rather than bare alloy?
Car looks superb, a real credit to all involved |
Good to see this project finished off, the end result looks great.
Orange wires in the interior lamp - Trikey is spot on about the phone, those wires and connector are for the microphone for the phone system, see the 'integrated telephone' in the earliest sales brochure and in the Technical Brochure, which almost made production but was pulled at the last moment. The connector actually has a receptacle in the lamp housing to 'park' when there is no microphone (as is the case with all these early cars), and the microphone was a standard BMW one, like that used later for the SmartNav, and clips in place to the back of the 'grills' in the lamp unit. The microphone wiring was fitted even up to mid-2001, and my car has it despite the cancellation of the telephone over 2 years earlier. The white connector in the same area was for the front passenger occupancy sensor, which was scheduled for later in 1999 but was also cancelled at the last moment. I believe this would have automatically detected a passenger or child seat to turn the airbag on or off as appropriate. I think it would have 'seen' through the black part of the lamp unit lens, maybe using infra red? The connector is actually listed in the Electrical Library in 2003, although the wiring was only fitted to very early cars. The roof joint trims - I think these should be completely plain without the bungs for the roof rack attachments, as fitted to other pre-production cars, but finding a plain set would be extremely difficult. The driver's cupholder - originally this was to be standard on Connoisseur and Connoisseur SE models, and indeed the earliest sales brochures list it, but it was cancelled late on and no production cars had them as standard (they were available as an accessory). As this model is a Classic, I don't think it would have had a driver's cupholder, and that only Connoisseur's were to have it, so it probably never had one originally. Front seats - these look to be speckle velour? Whereas a Classic should be plain, and the rear seat I think looks plain. Easy to correct if so. And a good spot with the badge on the wheel trims, didn't know that! |
Excellent background knowledge about the telephone orange wires and the white connector too Bolin, the telephone wire connector plug was indeed sitting in the parked receptacle within the interior light housing.
The seats fitted to OVP are in fact Club seats with speckled velour both front and back. This was done by someone at Cowley or Longbridge, probably to enable the extra capability of folding rear seats which the original classic seats were not designed to do. |
Birmingham NEC
I spent a great deal of time examining S392 DEH the Wedgewood Blue Connie at the NEC mainly because it had a Neptune Blue interior & briefly spoke to the owner.
I regret that I glanced only briefly at OVP & didn't appreciate it's full significance back in November, taking only two photos but now I've post humorously read this article I've found a new appreciation for her & I'm glad to say I've seen her in the steel. The remarks about poverty spec cars rarely surviving as owners naturally tend to look after the top spec vechiles certainly rings true & will make her even more unique as the years pass by. She probably returns quite healthy mpg figures without gadgets ladening her down down. https://ibb.co/VLgpGHM |
Some similar characteristics mentioned between OVP and our tourer. The hole for the light bar on ours wasn’t as neat as OVP’s and ours was just drilled through the roof. Also, we have a single fine cut mark on a door from the decal fitting which luckily doesn’t look as though it’s broken through the paint.
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Didn't think I would get to see this car just yet but I have seen it today and it lives up to its hype
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Would have looked a darn sight better had it been washed :getmecoat:
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I will see her again hope it's clean I can't believe how basic it is
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Simon |
A basic BMW 3 series was similar spec
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Simon |
For me, that's a big part of it's charm. There are many examples of the higher spec models in amazing condition, but most of the basic ones have either been upgraded at some point, or are unloved (not all, I hasten to add!).
Having said that, if it were mine, I doubt I could resist adding lots of walnut and all the upgrades - ruining the cars history in the process :o. Cliff |
For the very first time ( In ten years. Lol.) I've read right through both threads. Interesting but such a long gap with nothing happening half way through the restoration.
I bet the old car felt abandoned.----;) |
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Wow, beautiful car! :D
Very glad I am getting my own white 75 soon. What has happened with her now? As she is SORN and untaxed. :shrug: |
There has been no need to tax her while the pandemic has been with us as she can’t go to any shows or meets, so the club is saving on the pennies by putting her on SORN ;)
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It's in dry storage until next year, but thanks for the offer. :}
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