1980 Austin Princess mild custom - 1951 Lanchester LD10

That would look really cool, but would be better in my eyes if the window panel wasn't flush.
If you can manage to run a nice recessed channel around the perimeter using an English wheel or something it will reduce the booming heaps, and make it look more like a factory option.
Not sure how much space you'll have in the back when its on bags, though.

Renault Van = win!

It may look better with longer doors, but it is actually not uncommon that factory built panel vans are using 4-door front doors.

@elwoody: I know the PT of which you speak, he's done an excellent job of that.

I don't want to go into the hassle of extending the doors, it wouldn't give any real advantage and if you look at the 70s micro-vans that were factory built they were often 4 door estates without the rear doors and windows cut out, essentially. I also think the Simca would look better with shorter front doors. Perhaps this is a personal preference thing?

Went to the unit today briefly to have a look at the Renault and see more realistically what's likely to be involved in this van conversion I want to undertake. It did highlight another option for it which is to just panel over the rear side windows and door handles but leave the doors fully functional thus giving the appearance of a van with the a little more functionality of side loading ability. It would also mean the rear seat could be used for passengers if they really had to travel with me, thought experience tells me that it's not the nicest way to travel.

Either way, I did decide a smooth side panel is better than a recessed one on account of the rear door design. You can see the window reveal is stepped, it might be enough for laying the fresh steel on top of and welding to, making life far easier than butt welding and minimising the need for filling. I have two spare doors so I can use segments from those to patch in the big door handle recesses so that I don't have to try and make the piece needed to match.


To weld the door up there's a couple of areas that need more than just tacks putting in. The top of the door has quite a large gap between it and the gutter and this would need to have a thin strip let in to bridge the gap, as shown here in blue.


For the leading edge it's a little more complicated. I'm considering removing the hinges completely and letting in a filler panel though I don't know whether it should be perpendicular to the door or curved, the former is definitely the easier option. If I leave the rear hinges attached it makes lining the door up easier but you will get two squares sticking out which will likely detract from a tidy finish on this section. Again, the blue points out roughly what I'd need to fill with fresh metal.




There are other considerations too. The rear arches both sides aren't brilliant looking, I suspect I'll have to clean these up and possibly let in some patches before welding the doors shut. You can also see that the rear wing has flash rusted through the paint. Since I've got some paint on its way to me I'll get this sorted when that arrives.


The inside of the doors is easy to resolve if I leave them functional, I'd remove the window winder mechanism and the door card and replace it with plain vinyl covered ply or hardboard. If I weld the doors shut the same would apply but I'd also remove the latch and the rubber seal which is just glued to the door, a strange solution compared to other cars I've worked on but one that looks like it was Renault's way of doing things. I would also need to cut a small section out of the bottom of the door to allow access to the bolt that attaches the body to the chassis should it ever need to come off in the future.


The recess for the window on the inside of the door is quite deep, plenty of depth to apply sound deadening material and trim fixings for a vinyl covered panel.


Inside I'll likely remove the parcel shelf brackets but keep the trims as they are. I'm not sure what to do about the small section of headlining that goes into the rear quarter window surround, it depends what happens to the fabric tension when that section is unglued. I do plan to leave the full length headlining in, I see no point destroying or cutting it down to suit the van at this stage.


If it were a better vehicle to start with I'd restore it nut and bolt. It's a rare car but it's not valuable without me sinking a lot of money into it that I don't realistically have. As a van, I can get it back to being a useful, solid little vehicle for much less money and not much more effort. For what I need in my collection, it will be a more sensible use of this little car.

My final consideration on van options is to weld up only the driver's side rear door, panel all the windows and keep the passenger side door as a functional side loading portal. We shall see.

I've had people tell me the Renault looks too far gone, then they've had a look at it in person and seen that really it's not. The Renault looks much worse than it is. I've done as much as I can on the Princess without getting more welding gas, something I'm still saving up for after being repeatedly let down by the person that said they're supplying the gas. Once I have that sorted it's game on with both cars.

Seconded...

This is my point, if you need to save up for something as cheap as welding gas then you don't have enough money to build 2 cars.
Build one first, then start on another - otherwise all you end up with is 2 half built cars.

VW Fox etc...