1972 innocenti T 1000

[colonel mustard]

At the start of this year and lockdown still overhead, the Cooper engine build halted till the lockdown was raised I was dabbling with the idea of another mini project (Alfa gt junior and elan+2 out of my budget). I had recently collected some items from another forum member when it was mentioned that the innocenti T might be on the market as a uncompleted project.
The car had all the typical rotten metal work completed by Pete Henry back in 2014, when repaired it went to Wrights for the paint work and the original Castro paint with a none standard roof colour. Once completed it has sat in the corner of a garage in a painted shell state till earlier this year.

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Due to its rare nature it was quite difficult to make sure all the items were still with the car, so laying out interior, lights etc… it all seemed pretty complete, well 98%, with a few items still to source.

So….
While lockdown was on, work was, well…. None existent, if was a the start of the Italian job!
So far the I have.
*made and run all brake and fuel lines under the car
*installed the rear sliding windows with the most trickiest small nuts holding the lower steel frame known to man.
*installed the bar doors with original glass. - again the rubbers are a bloody nightmare to shut the doors, managed to close both doors where they have stayed closed for 2months now to compress the rubbers
*overhauled the existing loom with new connections etc…
*cleaned and reinstated the roof lining
*the existing ventilator windows had beyond repair frames, managed to source some second hand frames with pretty good rubbers, after a good strip and clean down, reinstating the original date coded glass, they look darn good.
*original door locks cleaned and installed

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This innocenti T is 1000cc rather than the earlier innocenti T’s had a 849cc. Of this mk3 model only 2023 were produced between feb 1972 and March 1973 (I believe and correct me if I am wrong).

A key design detail of these cars was a chrome trim than ran down the side of the car from the front of the door through the the rear lights, again very rare to still have a complete set. All the clips were rusted and after a few trials with different methods of fixing, Bresco had the right clips for the job!. The tricky bit is the line through level with the door handles.



Hopefully will update in the coming weeks as currently stripping the suspension, radius arms and the like to start building up the subframes.
Also collected the original chrome 5 bolt bumper back for ACF Howells, along with other bits and they did a fantastic job to boot!

Subframes collected from powder coaters who also have done a cracking job.
Hopefully have another update soon.

[colonel mustard]

And a few more of the original lamp bowls cleaned up with Carello head lamps

[colonel mustard]

And more
Sound deadening completed with wax oiled seams, cavities and the like

[Mini Mad Swede]

Now thats a really nice puzzle coming together!
Will be really interesting to follow.

[surfblue63]

Very rare. Not sure about that roof.

[colonel mustard]

Thanks both
Yes the roof colour will be changed to either standard Castro or a coffee creme colour.

[InnoCooperExport]

Looks like a great (and very rare!) project, that roof is quite something indeed. I would get it painted in Castoro to match again, or indeed maybe cream would finish it off nicely.

Good luck with the rebuild and let me know if you're still looking for anything, I might be able to help if you can't find it in the UK.

[colonel mustard]

Many thanks Daniel, will certainly let you know if there is anything needed (side repeaters being one!)
Agree on the roof also.
Hopefully have an update soon.

[AndyB72]

A great project and please please change the roof colour asap, my eyes my eyes.

[AndyB72]

Does the engine have a 295 head?