The car was bought with a 'new' Leather interior and new black carpeting (Range Rover), which whilst it may not suit the purists out there (as post war Paris built Tractions were very basic), is going to be used in the car and give it the more luxurious look of a pre war Traction.

However only the seats and interior door cards were covered in leather leaving a lot of other parts in original blue cloth and in some areas, some near white 'vinyl' so thought had to be given on what to do.

The rear of the car looked like this (seats removed) and you can see that the area around the bottom of the headlining at the rear window and parcel shelf didn't look good. This was hidden behind a home made 'bolster' that looked a head rest so wasn't spotted until we got the car home.

You can also see the 'vinyl' on the head pad and wheel arch in the image above that someone has added before.

However when the rear window frame was removed the reason for the rotting head lining became apparent as the rear window fell out!

The sealant had completely failed allowing water to leak in and it looks like it has been doing it for years as the lower half of the rear window wooden frame used to secure the head lining has rotted away.

In the picture, the parcel shelf 'carpet' and under-felt has been peeled off and a coat of Hammerite applied as a temporary measure. As the head lining is original, we are going to see if a way can be found to save it and we want to retain as much original character where practicable.

The door panels, made of fibre board, have all been subject to water coming past the poor glass seals and have swelled and buckled so are going to be replaced.

They will be covered with leather from the door cards that came with the car, but which had no holes drilled for the hidden fasteners, plus some additional leather we had to source.

The dashboard paintwork has also 'reacted' to an attempt to re paint it sometime during it's life as well so that is going to be looked at.

The colour will probably be black with a contrast on the ashtray and glovebox to give an 'Art Deco' feel.

Plus the steering wheel has sun and heat damage to the centre boss
Now it is a non standard wheel for the car as some has fitted a 'Volant Quillery' wheel to the car at some time in it's past (it was available as an accessory).

It is worth saving and we will look into the best options to do that, but we may yet look for a replacement.

The Carpets

Well the original carpets are looking very tired and rotten

In the image you can see the bulkhead carpet and the one from under the front parcel shelf, both of which have signs of 'water' damage, probably from a leaking air vent in front of the windscreen.

The top carpet is the one from under the parcel shelf (slot is for the handbrake lever)

The bottom one the bulkhead (it's actually upside down in the picture as the accelorator pedal slot should be at the bottom)

I did say previously that the rear parcel shelf carpet was in a mess.

Well this is a view of the reverse side where it's literally attached to rust from the parcel shelf.

17th December 2012 Today some 'unseen' work was done on the cars interior. Along the edge of the sills, where they join to the body is an aluminium cover strip that runs along to conceal it. Underneath that, once chopped out, there was the remains of some old carpet held in place with..... 'nails'

Yes, the carpet was 'nailed' to the inner sill and looking at the amount of pins that required removal and the older holes, it would appear that the car had at least 3 sets of carpets during it's lifetime.

26th December 2012

Now that I have the car back at home (24th December) I can take a look at the interior but before starting on that I replaced the nearside rear door lock which, looking at old MOT's, hasn't worked since 2008.

Part of the lock was actually missing (as shown in the image on the right) and wasn't in the door bottom either, so a complete unit was sourced from a Traction Owners Club member and that had arrived on Christmas Eve.

To change that involved removing the window winder and that ended up being a 2 person job to refit as you need more than 2 hands to hold the glass up and relocate the winder rollers into the guide on the glass (deep sigh)

I also started replacing the window guides on all 4 doors as they have rotted away.

They aren't the easiest things to get in place and need to be done before the door panels and interior frames are fitted. Rain forced the replacement of those due to lack of room as the car really needs to be outside to get maximum access to the doors.

28th December 2012

Completed fitting the new interior sound proofing today along with the final window seals and the interior trim on the rear wheel arches as we had a dry afternoon and I could work on the car outside.

29th December 2012

Today I started fitting the rest of the carpets, but as the weather is still against me it was slow going as there isn't a lot of room in the garage. However I managed to get the offside sill area, the floors and the bulkhead completed and started on the offside doors.

I have covered the inner doors with plastic as a water barrier, held in place with black 'Gaffa' tape.

I then put both door cards in position to try and see which of the holes in the cards should be used for the retaining clips, but again, lack of room, meant that the job could not be completed.

30th December 2012

Well I'm not going to get the car finished in 2012 due to the weather, but made some progress today.
The rear window was bonded in before I brought the car home from the paint shop so was nicely set and the interior frame could be removed to allow me to attempt a trim to cover the rotted headlining.

I didn't have enough leather left and used a vinyl instead, which would withstand any water that did get in a bit better. It needs a bit of 'tweaking' to tidy it up, but you can see what it's going to end up like.

The rear parcel shelf is also vinyl covered PVC boarding (actually a bit of spare 'soffit' cladding cut to fit) which won't rot either

It's not perfect, but at least it means that the original roof lining can be saved.

I also fitted the rear seats and the rest of the trim around the wheel arches etc. so things are moving on, just not fast enough for me....

31st December 2012

Today I finally finished off the soundproofing and carpets inside the car and hung the interior door panels. The images below show the bare door (on the left) which has had a vibration pad added (and has already been treated with rust protection on the inside.)

Centre image shows the door covered with clear vinyl as a water repellent (although not strictly needed as the door cards are Polypropylene and not 'card', however it will help protect the leather covering)

Right image shows a completed door with a new grab handle and the handles and upper surround fitted. Just got the 0ther 3 to complete now.

2nd January 2013

Finally finished off the interior today fitting the interior window surrounds, grab handles etc. etc. and cleaning and feeding the leather.

All that's left is the glovebox, which I have left out until I check on the indicators as it's easier to get to the switch with it removed.

The car is off to have the wheels changed in the morning so hopefully will be able to get some images once it's all completed.

3rd January 2013

The car is now complete apart from 1 front mudflap (that requires a new bracket welding in position 1st) and some tidying up of the cracked steering wheel centre boss.

Whilst it can be seen from the images above that the interior is nothing like a 'French' Traction (which are pretty basic) it does suit the car and the aim was to give it a suitable 'Art Deco' look and feel without spoiling it's character which we have hopefully achieved.

The tyres and tubes from the old wheels were swapped over with no problems, though they have yet to be balanced as the wheel shape is a bit unusual.