PS. I’ll email the seller and ask him to take a close up of the gearbox’s ID plate this eve.

Alan

Good idea! Also worth checking with Luke, he's broken a few now so not only is he likely to have the gearbox but anything else you may need eg driveplate (what serves as a flywheel on autos, torque converter etc.

That said, if the ones on fleabay turns out to be the right one and you want to start gathering bits now, you said you had a planned road trip to Devon and Hampshire for next week. The fleabay one is just outside Romsey.

I've just enlarged the pics from the ebay listing to see if it could see the spec plate on the left hand side of the box. Still not clear enough but there's no speedo drive or cable on it, they've cut the downshift cable about 2" from where it enters the box so you'd have to replace that (gearbox sump off) and there's no PNP (Park, Neutral, Park) switch but that said, some are gearbox mounted, others are selector lever mounted but there doesn't appear to be anywhere for electrickery connectors so there's a good chance it will be the right sort of box for an easy (ish) swap.

Fingers crossed on good news from the seller in terms of what sort it is! :thumbs_up:

I’ve just collected the Royal Barge from the tyre fitter, it looks much better with the 195/65R15 tyres, which fill the wheel arches much better than the lower profile ones. It seems to drive much better as well, I only did a few miles to my son’s school to collect him, but already the tyres feel much more in keeping with the car’s character (smoother and quieter).
I’ll post a photo this eve.
Alan

Excellent news Alan! :thumbs_up:

Even on mine which was designed for 195/60/15s, the 195/65/15s are more in keeping and the car handles, rides and holds the road better, much smoother too!
The 195/65/15s are optional on mine but for some reason, people seemed to fit them as standard. :err:

Here is the Royal Barge with its new boots:

https://i.imgur.com/vrcSxJyh.jpg

... they do fill the wheel arches much better, and are generally much more in keeping with the car.

I'm very happy with these.

Looks good, Alan. Hadn't noticed before, but I think you will find the side repeaters are a later addition too. I don't recall them on any of our 2-series cars (N through Y) although they may have been fitted to later models.

Regards, John.

Vast improvement Alan! :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up:

As John rightly points out, the side repeaters are an aftermarket addition They "look good and sit right" with the car though.

If memory serves, it was 1982 when side repeaters became mandatory fitment on new cars although some manufacturers fitted them before that date.

Thank you John,
I think they are one of the changes over the past 40 years that I quite like - and it looks like the job has been professionally done.
Best wishes,
Alan

Hi Dave,

As I wrote to John - they are one of the changes I quite like. Overall I think most of the non-standard bits are fine (the black stripes, the wheels, the boot spoiler, electronic ignition), a few were awful (the roof spoiler, the alarm, the low profile tyres) and a few will either need modifying (the accessory lights at the front) or I have not made my mind up about yet (the wing mirrors and the window tints).

I think I've developed a coherent plan for this car since I bought it last week - and I thank you and the other contributors for helping me see the wood for the trees.

I wonder, does anyone happen to know the name of the green paint shade used on my car (or even better the paint code)? I'm struggling to get rid of the adhesive patches where the awful roof spoiler was (even with acetone, but that is helping to soften the patches) - and there is some damage to the paint where the spoiler was. I'm thinking I may need to get a couple of rattle cans made up to improve the back of the roof to a better level. I like the green (and the black stripes), it just needs a bit of touching up here and there.

Alan

PS. The manager of the garage where I got the tyres fitted this afternoon asked me to take it back sometime so they could look over it - he and the fitters just like older cars and thought the Royal Barge was in remarkable condition underneath. I was quite proud of the car :-)