53 1500S Radium Green

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Dr Oliver Strobel
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Re: 53 1500S Radium Green

#16 Post by Dr Oliver Strobel »

James Davies wrote:Glad you found the original dash paint Ross! Yeah, maroon dash was the most common dash color for beige upholstery and carpet. It also went with the reddish-brown leather and leatherette too.

Thanks for sharing the Reutter data for your car Oliver. Yeah, same as Ross' car it seems. I've seen a couple others this color combo as well. Pretty!

On the Reutter sheet, it is really nice to see the upholstery manufactures listed - Ott for corduroy, Häfele for the Bedford type cord, and Roser for the leather. Roser also supplied Mercedes Benz in the 1950s. Geller for carpet and Happich for headliner. Happich also supplied the pull-out interior light for bent-window cabriolets.

I wonder how much of the sheet is derived from the built sheet specific to your car, and how much is filled in from general knowledge from gaps in the record?

I ask, as two things on these Reutter built sheets stand out to me as being incorrect.

Blinkschalter: dunkelrot-schwarz
- Your car certainly had this combo - black housing, red blinky tip. But on another Reutter sheet I've seen for a mid-'52 car, it lists the same thing. And this seems wrong, as the car very likely had the ivory housing with red blinky tip, as did every original bent-window car up through ~May/June 1953 (change occurred between coupe 50503 and 50685) based on photos of dozens of existing, unrestored cars during this period.

Lenkschutzrohr: maron lack.
- I've seen this on 2 of these Reutter sheets now, and also on an old period document from Porsche. The fact is that the steering columns on the pre-A cars were always painted black. I hesitate to use "always", but I've never seen anything different. I have not come across one original car where they were painted the dash color. Very odd. Perhaps Lenkschutzrohr refers to the defroster tube where the steering column attaches? This might make sense for a cabriolet, but for coupes, the defroster tubes were body color, not dash color. So this is a mystery.

Otherwise, all the other data looks correct and is very interesting!

Thanks for sharing.
You are welcome, James. I hope Guido Eickholz Is able to read your post to answer your questions.
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David Green
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Re: 53 1500S Radium Green

#17 Post by David Green »

James,
A bit off topic but to a point you raised, my '53, 51015 (Aug 10, 1953) has a black turn signal switch with red blinky tip (looks black except when lit).
David
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Ross Copeland
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Re: 53 1500S Radium Green

#18 Post by Ross Copeland »

Engine nearly ready for a test start
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Dr Oliver Strobel
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Re: 53 1500S Radium Green

#19 Post by Dr Oliver Strobel »

Ross Copeland wrote:Engine nearly ready for a test start
Outlaw engine from my Pre A Continental:
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Ross Copeland
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Re: 53 1500S Radium Green

#20 Post by Ross Copeland »

How many 1500s coupes built in 1953?

Jeff Trevillyan
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Re: 53 1500S Radium Green

#21 Post by Jeff Trevillyan »

"How many 1500s coupes built in 1953?"
From my research, I know that 1547 (#50099 - 51645), Coupes were produced in the 1953 production year. There were
567 1500S 70 HP Type 528 engines produced that year. How many of those were placed in Coupes,
as opposed to the 370 (#60001 -60370), Cabriolets produced, is an answer I haven't found. I suspect most went
into the Coupes, since the body was stiffer, and more suited for the 70 HP racing engine. Perhaps someone has the
answer to this...
'53 Coupe #50431

Ross Copeland
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Re: 53 1500S Radium Green

#22 Post by Ross Copeland »

Thanks Jeff- that’s good information. Wonder how many survivors? 1/2 or 1/3 perhaps - I see maybe one or two at club events here in Oz and only a handful for sale each year on internet.
With very healthy valuations I hope to see more restored and on the roads .

Dr Oliver Strobel
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Re: 53 1500S Radium Green

#23 Post by Dr Oliver Strobel »

Hey Ross,
do you have a few pictures of your 53?
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Ross Copeland
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Re: 53 1500S Radium Green

#24 Post by Ross Copeland »

Hi Oliver. Yes a few pics here. Engine ( ignore later coil- just there for test )and tranny are conpleted. Brakes and suspension done . Body now in hi-fill booked in for paint in January.
I received my Reutter Build sheet this week . It’s magnificent !
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Dr Oliver Strobel
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Re: 53 1500S Radium Green

#25 Post by Dr Oliver Strobel »

Ross, wow!!!! It looks fantastic!! "My" metalworks will be finished in December. Whole car end of April hopefully.
When will your project be finished?
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Ross Copeland
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Re: 53 1500S Radium Green

#26 Post by Ross Copeland »

Thanks Oliver. I’m aiming for April too. I’ve got to get interior sorted as my local guy just retired which is a real shame . Do you know if the OEM headliner , carpet and Bedford cord can still be obtained ? I googled the manufacturers from the Reutter card without success. No doubt there are similar products avail but I’m after the best match possible . The biggest challenge in this resto has been the 1500 Super motor - I started with a very good case , found a Hirth Roller Bearing crank - and then the going got harder - but we got there in the end after many months of trawling across the globe . Found a beautiful Blaupont Radio last month and just got my new gauges, steering wheel and knobs back from restorers . So it’s all coming together .

Ross Copeland
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Re: 53 1500S Radium Green

#27 Post by Ross Copeland »

And I to the booth she goes
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Dr Oliver Strobel
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Re: 53 1500S Radium Green

#28 Post by Dr Oliver Strobel »

Did you compare our certificate of production? Do we have similar cars?
I am still in contact with Guido Eickholz from Erlkönig Classic. I will ask him for the best matching interior stuff and can hopefully tell you more about it, tomorrow.
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paul vantol
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Re: 53 1500S Radium Green

#29 Post by paul vantol »

My cabriolet, 60240, was black with a maroon dash as well....
paul r. vantol

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James Davies
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Re: 53 1500S Radium Green

#30 Post by James Davies »

Ross Copeland wrote:Do you know if the OEM headliner , carpet and Bedford cord can still be obtained?
No, but you can find excellent materials that are almost identical.

For the beige headliner, see the other thread in Pre-A Corner on pre-A headliners. The supplier is LeBarron Bonney.

For carpet, our cars used fine-weave wool boucle. It is German square weave, but finer weave than the later cars. http://cabrio.de/de/teppiche/teppichmat ... arn-boucle and http://www.doepper-profile.de/artikelau ... rgarn+fein supply this carpet. Not sure if they can cut it or bind it for you. You may have to get Autos Intl or elsewhere to do that. Perhaps Autos Intl can also supply this carpet. Ask them.

For the corduroy, the beige stuff used by Porsche is standard cotton upholstery corduroy, not wool Bedford cord (wool Bedford cord was only used on Blue and Green interiors as far as I know). Keymer's "Manchester" ribstoff made in the Netherlands is a perfect match for weight, pile height and number of ribs per inch. They make a beige, that is almost spot on to the original. http://stoffenwereld.nl/merken/keymer/m ... beige.html

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