Thread: ROSIE

Picked up a new mate (and organ donor) for Arfa yesterday - both '55 86s with serial numbers only 139 apart, found and 'saved' about 10 km apart.

Is there any way of tracing their original export and dealers/first owners/anything else from these numbers on the bulkhead plate? - 57661371 (Arfa), 57661232 (Rosie).

'Rosie' has had a hard life - chassis and bulkhead a total mess but a enough useful bits to be interesting.

She once had a canvas top - windscreen 'teeth', bonnet supports, door surrounds and other fittings remain.

Also rear grab handles mounted inside the tub rather than on the capping - I suppose this worked better if a hardtop was fitted sometimes.

The other odd thing is a panel directly in front of the grille panel, between the wings. I have never seen these on a SI so assume they are from a SII, but same layers of paint as the rest of the body so must have been there a good while. Is there any chance this was an original fitting?

She has what I take to be a later 2.25 engine (confirm from pics?), stromberg carb and fuel pump at the tank end (I think). I'll probably try to swap this for some other SI parts one day - unless there are enough engine parts in common with mine (2L spread bore) to keep it for spares - can anyone advise?

Also threw in a pic of the steering wheel - the rim's finished but centre with switch are intact - just needs a horn button. Maybe worth restoring?

Here's some pics, anyway. Don't you love driving home with a new SI grille looking in the back window?

Cheers

D

Yep - 2.25 with aftermarket racing airfilter.

Looks great!