July 20, 2019 – Center Console Map Pocket & New SM Restoration Started!

After I finished the hidden Bluetooth stereo setup in the ashtray earlier this week (details here) … …it was time to build a new map pocket to go in the old stereo slot next to the hand brake (filled with blue towels in the photo above). I created a map pocket out of some heavy […]

July 14, 2019 – Hidden Stereo and USB Charge Ports Installed

2 days ago, I prepped the center console by removing the old after market radio/tape deck and doing some general cleanup. Goal is to put a hidden Bluetooth setup in the ash tray location along with a USB charge port. The original radio slot will become a map pocket to hold things like cell phones […]

July 13, 2019 – Cars & Coffee Meet in Port Angeles, WA USA

Met up with Doug Breithaupt and his blue SM to caravan to Port Angeles for the monthly “Cars & Coffee” meet this morning. Here is Doug’s car on the highway in front of me: And here are some nice shots of the blue ’72 Canadian Market Model (carburetted) and my gold ’73 Italian Market Model […]

July 12, 2019 – Radio Delete & Console Cleaning pt 1

The radio in the SM is problematic for a number of reasons – it is ugly – housed in a cheap plastic cover sticking out of the console like a home built project whose designer started by saying “hold my beer”. it is long-wave/medium-wave and only picks up a few AM stations in the US […]

July 3, 2019 – Gear Lever Surround Cleanup

The gear lever surround that indicates the gear positions on my car is rather pitted. Unlike most of the shiny parts which are stainless steel – this part is chrome plated. I got a good used one in better shape from David Hume. Today I spent some time cleaning and polishing it in prep for […]

July 2, 2019 – New Dash Lights And Clock Replaced

Time to swap out the (way too) dim incandescent dash lights and replace the clock with the one I cleaned up and got working last month. After removing the dash panel, I replaced the clock and the bulbs – the gauge on the far right is the new clock: Here are the gauges illuminated with […]

Late June 2019 – Vacuum Capsule Fix, Circuit Breaker Renewal & Fame!

Well…I’m up to over 750km of driving time now and only had a couple of work items on the SM over the past couple of weeks. First, I borrowed a good vacuum capsule for my Auxiliary Butterflies from David Hume and verified that it should release vacuum immediately after vacuum is cutoff to it. (see […]