[johnnym]

Hi,
I own a Mk 1 2600 Sprint. The first owner added loads of period switches, gauges and other bits & bobs, most of which no longer work. I'm returning the car to orignal and need to know which holes are the ones to keep!

Can anyone please post a photo of a Mk1 dash please?

Many thanks,

John

 

[johnnym]

May have sorted the problem myself. I bought a couple of sets of old dash parts on eBay, expecting to be able to get the re-covered and installed.

Trouble is, they are all different sizes! Another case of parts being made for THE car rather than A car.

They have however given me a template from which to work. I'll post some photos when I get the chance.

 

[tubut]

I meant to respond but was busy with other stuff (and also hoped a Sprint owner may chime in): Probably one of the best sources of information is the owner's manual. Here's a page from the CarDisc CD:

 

[johnnym]

Thanks Ruedi, but I have that already. Problem is, it doesn't show the exact location of the knobs (ash tray isn't shown in dash etc) and also the way that the dash was covered. Mine had a black leather top, black vinyl covered flat section (area where the badge was located & radio mounted) and blue leather covered bottom part. I know the latter is original; want to know whether the flat section was originally body colour.

Many thanks,

john

p.s. just about to update 2600SZ blog- it left today to go to the bodywork restorers.

 

[wimr]

hello wil this help ?
the top is leather with a foam padding
middle section is car exterior colour

greetings wim

 

[Frost]

Hi and great to here another 2600 sprint is getting the treatment, sorry I am no expert in these matters but my resto project is also a sprint MK1 and the dash was untouched, so I can tell u that the center section is body coloured, and the top dash panel on my car is covered in matching leather to the botom half(light tan in my cars case)
I have seen the MK2 top cover being black , dont know if thats a rule or a coincidence?
Hope this helps

 

[tubut]

My experience with other cars is that anything but black for the top of the dashboard will create really bad reflections in the windshield when driving against the sun, making it in some cases almost impossible to see the road and therefore dangerous to drive the car in such conditions.

 

[Frost]

I fully agree with u, I actually thought the italians may have realised this and made the MK2 dash top black no matter the interior colour for the very reason u mentioned , I have not driven the car(and probably not for a long time to come) but can just emagine the glare from the tan dash

 

[johnnym]

Great! many thanks everyone.

The middle dash was covered in black vinyl and had the addition of (from left to right): switch to operate electric aerial, a knob to select front/rear speaker, a volmeter, the wipers (repositioned from next to speedo), circular alfa badge, clock, then on other side dimmer switch (I think) and light switch. Underneath, there were 3 toggle switches in the leather to the left of the steering wheel and five to the right. These were connected to the two spots that were mounted on the front bumper. Finally, another switch under the dash operated an electric washer pump. :-O

So, I've stripped out everything that wasn't original with the exception of the washer pump and electric aerial switches (both of which will be mounted under the dash out of sight). The central part of the dash is being filled and re-sprayed the body colour. The bottom part is being recovered in leather, but because I can't match the leather in the rest of the car, this will be done in black. This should be the only non original part of the restoration, but with the blue metallic colour I think it will look good.

 

[johnnym]

By the way, I still have the 2600 badge that was mounted on the dash but all the numbers have been broken off. I don't want to pay £100 for a new one from OK parts; anyone got a spare one they want to sell me?

 

[Redmerlin]

Badge

John

PM your full address and I will post one to you - it may need the gold repainting but otherwise OK

Ian

 

[tony hawker]

In response to jonnym,s dash question.Series 1 cars if you refer to the workshop manual have a variety of guises for the dash, I have owned a series 1 for about 20 years and there are 2 other cars in Australia that I know well and they also have slight differences.

For example in my car ex.UK was a RHD conversion by Ruddspeed, they used a vinyl cover for the centre of the dash,instead of it being painted , this could possibly be to do with the quality of the metal work during conversion. One car here has a wood veneer centre RHD ] and the other is painted [ still LHD ]. There were no RHD built series 1 cars, therefore the conversions probably dictate the centres, LHD different story.

The diagram shown earlier in the thread and the photo indicate the switch positions exactly.

 

[johnnym]

In response to jonnym,s dash question.Series 1 cars if you refer to the workshop manual have a variety of guises for the dash, I have owned a series 1 for about 20 years and there are 2 other cars in Australia that I know well and they also have slight differences.

For example in my car ex.UK was a RHD conversion by Ruddspeed, they used a vinyl cover for the centre of the dash,instead of it being painted , this could possibly be to do with the quality of the metal work during conversion. One car here has a wood veneer centre RHD ] and the other is painted [ still LHD ]. There were no RHD built series 1 cars, therefore the conversions probably dictate the centres, LHD different story.

The diagram shown earlier in the thread and the photo indicate the switch positions exactly.

My car is actually a very early original RHD Series 2 (854015) but is a bit of a mixture of both, with disc brakes but Series 1 interior, bumpers and 601 engine. The central part was body- coloured but then covered with black vinyl; not sure if this was done at the factory or later. Anyway, it is now in for respraying (the dash) having yesterday removed about 10Kg of superfluous wiring!

 

[Redmerlin]

50 years old and still original!

John

The wonders of old Alfas

My car is an early original LHD Series 1 supplied to Beiruit! Which has been converted to RHD , including an exchanged front bulkhead , and Mk2 interior - which doesn't fully fit in a Mk1. Rear drum brakes and a prototype framed boot lid. Dash is wood veneer with, black on top and red/brown ( bit of each ) lower section. Doors are wired with 2 window switches on the passenger door.

Maybe if we parked the two together and exchanged bits we'd end up with an original Mk1 and an original Mk2.

Ian