Lydia has been hard at work over the last week or so on the roof of our 1969 MGC GT. First, she stripped the old headlining from the roof. As with a lot of materials from the 60s and 70s, the foam had disintegrated, leaving a sticky mess.
Taking the roof apart was challenging as it was not immediately apparent how the headlining part came off the exterior of the roof. Two hidden screws finally showed themselves after a thorough inspection. Lydia used the old headlining as a pattern and made the new one from a brushed nylon fabric. As you can see, it looks a lot fresher and plumped up as it should be compared to the old one. Whilst doing this, she also took time to renew the cover on the rear crash bar, which goes over the boot hinges. This needed a completely new foam underlayer and then new brushed nylon on top. She refitted the rear interior light back to this as well.
Next were all the parts on the actual car body. Lydia first cleaned off the old foam and used a scotch brite pad to prepare the surface. Then, she applied new foam to the sides to offer some sound deadening and a base for the headlining to go on top. After this, she had to put the frame and the outer skin of the roof on, and tighten the nuts to hold this on.
Afterwards, Lydia cut the headlining to size on the job, then sewed it where necessary, and glued it to the car. The edges were glued to the metal frame and finished with some top on edging. The front piece of headlining was looking somewhat bumpy, so she cut a piece of cardboard to size and placed this underneath. It helped to smooth out the bumps and give it a much better finish. Then Lydia replaced all of the items attached to the roof, wind deflector, rear view mirror and sun visor clips.
The doors and the bonnet of our MGC were painted before the car was flatted and polished.
