Hi,
This is something I've kept meaning to ask on here and never got round to it. When I bought my car the interior was original, however I was never too sure of the carpets (they are in much better condition than the rest of the interior, though the pile is disintegrating). Looking online I read that around '64 the carpets material was switched and I've found photos of the new material and it was ridged. As you can see my carpets are also ridged so I wondered if it were original or not. I'm never going to go full concours but it would be nice to keep it appearing to be so
Thanks,
Chief.[frame][/frame]
The carpets in your picture are later replacements. The original carpets were not bound around the edges and being wool based, they tend to fall apart in the harsh environment of a car all these years on
The carpets I've seen for sale have never had grey piping on them except on Newton Commercial carpets which these look nothing like (or at least nothing like my new ones I bought from them recently) so I'd wondered if grey piping = genuine late carpets.
The later Minor 1000 carpets (introduced in the late 1960s) were made from a material known I think as "Veltone" and differed in that the the front carpet was cut from one piece - to include both footwells AND the transmission cover. It was laid OVER the gearstick gaitor rather than secured by it. I think the rear is also one piece and fitted over the rear ashtray. On earlier cars, the ashtray was fitted over the carpet.