The mk1 tidy

Well, hello again, sorry i havent been very vocal on the forums or active, but i have been looking in as and when i could.

Been looking forward to the time when i can get into the garage without freezing my moobs off and start work on my scamp.

After my first attempt at making it look better (abysmal) i decided to work on the bodywork first before i get on with the mechanical problems my scamp has.

i've started putting a frame which should give the car a bit more rigidity, allow me to put doors on it and still let me have the best of both worlds, utilising a canvas roof for that one sunny day i'm sure we're going to get.

Here are a few pics in progress


Starting to fix the mess i made in the panels with filler.



More filler, stumped as to what im going to do with those windscreen wipers...



most of the rear frame welded in, working on the front uprights..

More soon, hope i havent upset anyone with my changing my mk1, but as has been said, all scamps are different, and mines certainly going to be

Looking good, now the hard bit is keeping it going

Hi Orbski,

You've probably got your design sorted by now, but I had to face exactly the same problems myself so, at the risk of blowing my own trumpet on your thread, may I post a couple of pics?


[with acknowledgements to whoever it was that took this one]

The frame was designed to support either a canvas top (made by a local coachbuilder, £200 in 1984 and worth every penny), or the original Mk1 sheet-aluminium hardtop, so its main job is to keep the Scamp frame from twisting. The back section is removable, bolted down to rounded-off wheelnuts that also serve as locating pegs. The whole affair is extremely rigid and serves well for load carrying or for being pushed.



The doors are made from sheet ali (by Robert Mandry, not me), internally braced, with perspex windows sliding in frames fabricated from Woolies' ali channel. This makes for nice lightweight doors, but if you go this route, buy twice as much channel as you need unless you can already weld aluminium! The lift-off door hinges came from a double-glazing supplier, and have adjustable inserts which, along with the stainless hinge pins, try to fall out and get lost at every opportunity.

Your wipers seem to be in the right place (interesting, mine park on the opposite side) but you may feel like making up a new panel to hold them as 2mm ali does a far better job than the original. A word of warning though. Make sure that the front edge isn't directly above the carb intake, otherwise after a few hours of rain, you may find a cylinder full of water.

Thanks for the input tugger, and its more than welcome hehe.

The problem i have with the windscreen wipers is that whoever built it, didnt do it too well.. (unless the idea was to have huge holes that let water drop straight onto the feet of the driver)

The wiper boxes are set at such an angle that they rub the body, hence the huge hole thats been made leading up to the windscreen. I think my father and i have worked out a fix for it, making a new wiper panel and affixing it to the old one at more of an angle but without access to the car (its in a friends garage and he's gone on holiday for his birthday) i cant really get much done this week.

I've done a 3d model of the final look i hope to achieve (its a bit rough, but you get the gist i think)





The doors are going to be lift off, as yours is, but hinged at the back (suicide doors) The back end is being built up, to turn it into a pick up kind of affair, but with no back panel to the cab, as that is going to be part of the canvas roof i'm making.

I'm going to put a hinged panel that drops down in the back seat area, making the rear area flat, but when needed, it can hinge up and become the back seat (havent worked out a way of, when the seats up, it being rigid enough as yet)


Thoughts or suggestions?

I like the 3D model - do I need a pair of 3D glasses ? Those tyres will cost a fortune with a profile of 10.
Its about time someone digitised the Scamp perhaps it can be used in a virtual offroad game on PS3 so I don't get muddy?

Heh. The wheels are a little unrealistic but it is rough :-p

oh and I'll get right on that computer game :-p

Bleeeeeeeeeding 'ell ..............planning

Wot appened to making it up as you go along

make a b**ls up and you just get the angle grinder out and start again

All the same i'm sure you will do a great job and it will look brill

Not much changed really as its been a tough couple of weeks for getting things done on it.

But, the frame is finished, and 1 door is pretty much built and hanging on its lift off hinges.






Should be done in a couple more visits to the welding shop and then its time to finish off the body panels and spray it!

I spy a coke can, I hope you added brandy or vodka to the contents!

Nice to see you're cracking on with it. I'm afraid we haven't progressed any further with mine, even though it probably only needs a couple more weeks worth of work to get it MOT'd...

Elaine&Reg

That's called product placement Elaine

I've just noticed the gear knob. Well cool dude

it was free!!!

some more pics





new (to me) wheels, almost finished with the panelling and fabricating, hopefully doing the prep and respray this weekend!

Cutting it a bit fine..............only 2 weks till Stoneleigh

Do I spy a nice set of Dunlop wheels??????????

You do :-). Picked4 of them up for £75 from a scrappy and then another 3 for £20 off eBay. Shot blasted and repainted. They look a lot better than the 12 inch revolutions.

The panelling work and door locks should be finished tomorrow and fingers crossed I'll be able to respray it this weekend ( weather permitting ).