Brand new '81 262C Bertone Coupe . . .

Carl

NORRIS

ARNOLD

BRUCE

But I like SVINNY

I found it !!!!

Propped up in bed after an early morning pee with my laptop in my . . . lap . . . I asked Mr. Google for help and discovered the perfect name. The third most popular girl's name in Sweden in 1981 was so obvious it is a wonder that no one had suggested it!

Kristine

The spelling with a 'K' rather than the English 'C' seems appropriate.

. . . or maybe the Italian Cristina.

. . . or maybe Kristina.

As the owner of a red and white 57 Plymouth, please not anything that could be taken as Christine.

All due respect to Mr. King and to political correctness - neither of those cars is a girl, or even identifies as a girl.

1981 Volvo driver door electrical lock switch

I was able to find the OEM door lock gaskets (3536509) from Tasca, about $2 each but the shipping was more that the parts. This would have shipped for $0.49 in a first class envelope rather than in a $9.00 box

Big deal getting the driver door electrical switch back on. The lock itself will only go in one way but I never was able to find a picture of the switch. So, here is a carefully labeled picture of the switch installed on the lock for all those future web crawlers looking for same.

It is not possible to install the switch without knowing what it looks like.



After 19 years I cleaned out the garage, painted and otherwise brought it up to merely awful. In the process turned over the big tool cabinet. I now have a wheelbarrow full of tools that will need to be sorted back into the dozen drawers. Guess the tool fairy was jealous of the new paint and wanted to get cleaned up also.

I bet that tumbling tool cabinet made cool noises on the way down.

Scared all the bears away.

Guess that is resolved.

Christine was a '78 Plymouth that killed her owners in an Alen Clark movie. I can relate to that.

Kristine was the 3rd most popular girls name in Sweden in 1981.

Since Christine was finished in Italy I converted the Swedish Kristine to the Italian Kristina.

Still working but life is bigger than this car.

Just fooling around.

Got the seats out again. Not happy with my carpet install job so I will do it over . . . or at least the front section. If you will remember I cut the one piece 4 door carpet into front and back and had matching binding sewn to the rear section just like OEM. Don't have to touch that part but the front piece just was not right. New carpet in hand.

Meanwhile, found an attractive LED running light housing. Initial battery test indicated that they are comparable to current production manufacturer's units, cast aluminum, painted black and waterproof. I am going to wire them to the B+ found at the ignition module so they are on anytime that the ignition is on, off when the key is off. I was happy with my earlier effort at putting a LED strip inside the reflector below the headlights but that was a hassle cutting the reflector apart.

Walking around the car you will not see the new units.

I'd tuck those ugly things back as far as possible so as not to detract from your beautiful restoration. Maybe even hide them in the inlets for the front spoiler? Light coat of black tint paint/film to make them even less noticeable?

Don't do it.

Put those on the wagon maybe Tom - but not the Bertone.

Get that Chinesium off that Volvo, Mister.

Where did you get them?

Sorry for the Bertone revilement.

They do look like high quality devices and are mounted in existing holes so reversal is easy.

Off Ebay of course.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-6inch-18...oad-SUV-4WD-/222592693884?hash=item33d38ef67c

US shipping $4

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2Pcs-6-18W-...d=222592693884&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

China shipping free

Glad you posted that picture of the central lock switch. Had to fix the wire son my 90 240 and what a PIA to get that thing back on. Had to take a break, come inside and eat then check TB for the pic. My right hand was getting chewed up by the door panel. B*TCH!

I double taped around all the sharp edges of the stamped steel. Still awkward and difficult but at least not sharp.

Adventure in carpeting

My first efforts at installing replacement carpet left a less than satisfactory job around the shift console, both front and rear. Spent the big bucks again to get a whole new steam formed piece of carpet. Of course, all of the reproduction carpets come as a single piece. In order to make this as original as possible I cut the first piece in half at approximately the same place as Volvo did it. That made installing the rear section easy. Ordered vinyl binding to match and had a local upholstery shop sew it on. I cannot imagine trying to fit the entire single piece in place.

Because I did not take the time to fully remove the auto shift console and the center console face it was guess, cut and hope trying to get to fit. Also, due to lack of attention to detail the heal pad ended up too close to the transmission hump with too little hidden carpet to move it over.

Everything is out now and I have unencumbered access. You need to start with the formed center 'hump' in the new carpet and work forward and outward to get everything in place.



The center shift console is not hard to remove. Start at the bottom with the linkage arm bolt. Remove the console light harness because it is easier than finding the connector behind the center console face. Remove the 4 bolts holding down the linkage 'cup' and wiggle it out. Now you have complete access to cut-to-fit the carpet.

Perhaps I was being a little anal about measuring and cutting but at $160 a pop I can take a little time to try to get it centered. The first effort left the heal pad too far to the center all trimmed so it couldn't be realigned.



As I imagined with the shift lever and console out everything formed much easier.

TestPoint said:

Pictures tomorrow.

Click to expand...

While you are in the picture taking mood. Care to snap one of the battery hold down? I can't find ours and need to determine if I do a JY crawl or get something universal?

Had a guy over looking at some Amazon wheels (for a 32 Ford) while in the shop I showed him the Bertone. "Never seen one of those" I explained, Italy assembled by Bertone, bla bla bla. I told him to open the door and look at the glove leather interior. So he opens the door peaks inside wasn't too impressed until he shut the door. That Volvo door closing sound!
He stops turns and looks at me and opens and closes the door again with wide eyes. "Damn"