p2 panels - commonality between models

[carcathan]

Hi all, i'm right in thinking that the 10 had very different panels to the 12 - 16 models aren't I?
Just looking at the 10 panels breaking on ebay at the moment - no use for my 1937/8 12 ss. Even i had to cut and shut it doesn't look like they really shared the same lines.

I assume that for early P2 models there was some commonality in panels like wings and doors between the 12 and the six cylinder models from the scuttle back? With the fact mine is a sports adding to the complication when it comes to doors. I guess the hand made element makes the cross referencing even less likely.

Just renewing my membership now that i'm determined to get back onto the resto - must enquire about the cost/availability of panels from the club spares.

Richard

[MacKellaich]

Hi there will be other members who can provide detailed information for you, but here I go. If your 10 is a P1 (okay we have had that discussion) and looking at your other post I assume it is. Which is to say that the body has ash frame and panels of steel or in some cases aluminium riveted too the frame, then P2 doors and nearly everything else body wise will never fit. The 1934-1936 10/12 (the 10 continued to be made for another year to eighteen months when the 12,14 et all changed to the all steel body P2 common until around 1947 apart from the war. remember thou that probably the older model P1 tens were probably were difficult to sell and may have been sold into late 1938?)
So P1 10/12 are basically the same car, engine block, but the chassis of the twelve is longer than the 10 (which is maybe where the sports you quote comes in) so yes at the front the cars are virtually the same. Behind the b post the rear doors of the twelve are around 7 inches longer as is the chassis (the ten around 105 inches the twelve around 112 inches) so again the rear items will not fit your ten. The other thing is that there were different coach builders so although the cars appear on first view to be all the same you will find differences in two twelves or two tens. If you have a coupe it is even more complex as there is a boot where the P1 ten/twelve has a spare wheel carrier. It is probaly easier to repair your doors than try to track down replacement ones.
You will hopefully get more views from more technically minded members but thought I would give you some views.

[Phil - Nottingham]

pre-war the cars were vitually one-offs built when by Rover Co even panels from the same model were different. The D back P1 10's had bodies made bt Pressed Steel Co so these were much more consistent. The "new" P2 10 panels were all different to the larger models. 10 apart pre-war P2 had a lot of timber in them that was not in Post war models

[chris dancey]

All the previous information is correct. The P1 ' 10 ' D Back Saloons did not have a wooden frame, the body is made up of many sections with wooden parts for attaching trim, fitting etc. and a kind of twisted cardboard pushed into some of the cavities for the same purpose , the main bodyshell was initially in three pressings, left, right and the piece in the middle from the sunroof down the back..all welded together and lead loaded to hide the joins.

I have made the replacement sill / threshold side panel by hand and mig welded in without too much problem.

Having two ' 10s ' 1935 models, I can say that both are different in details, my first one is a late 1934 and the second is a late 1935 model ( both '35 models ), they were obviously hand made as the panel fits are not that good and there are obvious differences. I am making panels at this moment by hand but I am only using the originals as a template guide, I use cereal packets to make templates that give a much better fit. On Snowdrop the difference in panels is as much as 2" from side to side, with lots of gappimg all round. The front end of the bodyshell is also very ' gappy ', allowing water to run through the door sills / thresholds box section, they even made an allowance for this water to escape by leaving an indented section under the rear doors. The nearside sill / box section was seriously corroded internally, there is a double skin, rivetted together probably for strength, the top skin had all but disappeared with corrosion, but none of this was apparent from the outside. I have just made a new sill, and I am in the process of brazing in the collets / inserts for the carpet securing pins...more on that in a later ' Freewheel ' article. I bolted the body shell to a plumbed up wooden frame before working on the body to maintain rigidity, once off the chassis the body is quite ' flexible '

Hope that sheds a little light. Chris