The 'lift the dot' strap in the boot of a Minor Saloon

[firedrake1942]

I suppose that this counts as bodywork.

Does anyone know the change point, if there was one from the ' lift the dot' strap in the boot of a Minor Saloon (- to secure the rear seat / to allow it to be folded down.) to the two wing nuts I have seen on many later (Series V) cars.

Mine broke back in the late 1970s and I foolishly threw it away.

I did a bit of detective work to try and find an original at the National Rally and came away with a lot of ad hoc solutions but no real original, until I remembered a local car which was a barn find. I now have a template, I have sourced the fasteners - which I think were black rather than shiny, the tool to press them onto the leather plus screws and cup washers and a local saddlery is making me the strap (s) out of a neutral coloured leather - it appears that they were coloured to match the parcel shelf covering / heater shroud - at least on the (1960) donor car and I think I recall mine (1957) being a faded reddish brown.

Does anyone want one of these, made to original spec? I might as well get the bits to make more than one. The ESM replacement one on their site, is unlike any I have seen both in shape and material.

[geoberni]

We appear to have discussed this elsewhere on the Interweb....
So you've already got most of the answers.

I certainly learned that they changed the strap location from MM/SII to the S3, before switching to pair of wing nut bolts.

I made Basil's replacement from the end of an old belt, and the fastener that ESM sell for hood repairs. I also wasn't impressed by the look of the one they sell

(Now I've seen the photo, I must clean the dust from that nice new shelf covering. It's a little lighter shade than the upholstery, but you can't exactly see it and it's better than the old cardboard that was on show before)
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20250707_195139.jpg (1.29 MiB) Viewed 46 times

[firedrake1942]

Many thanks for all the help.

All the original straps I have seen bar one, yours and the ESM version have been simple leather straps with a slightly angled ending on both corners.The service parts list appears to mirror this. It would be useful to know if this was the case for all and whether the Series MM were the same as the Series II. Yours and ESM's appear to be arch shaped at the end and with side stitching

I have secured some light brown leather from a local saddlers which could be dyed as required, I have made each 8" long as they can then be trimmed as required.

Both Series III and Series II appear to be 4 1/2 " long and of course screwed into the back seat in different places.

The lift the dot fixings, pegs, 2 BA screws and cup washers are all black as appears to have been the case originally and I just await the leather to start making them. Three are already spoken for.

As with other things, this may all seem arcane but I think it is good to produce good quality, correct replacements.