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Vandalism to front - click for larger size

Vandalism

September 2007 (Correction)

Early one morning in September, I had an unwelcome visit from some intruders who got into my garage and "decorated" my NG with black spray paint – virtually every panel, front lights, windscreen, seats, dashboard and steering wheel (though mercifully they seem to have missed the carpet). Not content with that, they also sprayed all over my other car. I was beyond tears!

Vandalism to side - click for larger size I suspect it was local yobbos who broke in to find some petrol for their mini motos or quad bikes and then jealousy took over. I’m just glad they didn’t use the petrol in my garage! The police were supportive and kept me informed but there is probably not a lot they can do except, eventually, identify the moron whose “tag” was left on my garage door.

Having sought advice at the body shop where my NG was painted, I managed with copious amounts of cellulose thinners (and 3 hours work) to remove the graffiti from my MG (although it needed a jolly good polish the following weekend).

Vandalism to dash - click for larger size Having “tested” the method on my MG, I then set about removing the graffiti from the NG. Thankfully it came off the paintwork successfully and I cleaned the windscreen and surround (both sides!). The technique is:
  1. use thinners to soften and dissolve the extra paint (using plenty of fresh clean rags and working a small area at a time)
  2. quickly and carefully wipe dry
  3. neutralise with a spray of detergent solution
  4. wipe dry again
Vandalism to seats - click for larger size I also cleaned the steering wheel and managed to get the paint off the vinyl padded trim around the dash and side “openings”. A toothbrush was useful here to get into the grain of the vinyl. The polycarbonate wind deflector reacted to the cellulose thinners and became opaque so I had to fabricate a new one. The front lights and number plate cleaned up fairly easily, although I had to remove the rims to get into the edges.

A thourough polish the following weekend (Autoglym polish is really excellent! I suspect this minimised the damage) brought the NG back to her former glory in the body department. The seats and dashboard were much more difficult. It took a long time with a toothbrush, lots of rags, doing a small patch at a time but after cleaning each seat 3 times they were nearly presentable.

New dashboard - click for larger size The dashboard also cleaned up quite well without destroying the glossy surface of the wood but the vandals had tried to get into the glove box and had marked the surface around this as well as burring the lock. The warning lights were also affected by the thinners.

I therefore replaced the dashboard with a new one from NG (which was supplied very quickly). The changeover took some time and I found it useful to write down everything that I disconnected so I remembered everything on re-assembly. I also replaced the glove box lock, warning lights and oil pressure/water temperature dual gauge; the latter had been over reading for some time (see repairs). The photo on the right shows the new dash which has a more striking pattern than the original, is slightly lighter and just as attractive.

New seats - click for larger size Despite careful cleaning of the seats, they could not be brought back to their previous standard; the stitching was badly stained and some of the mottled colouring was removed by the action of the thinnners. This meant I needed new seats or at least new covers for them. I decided to replace the seats with new ones as this option gave the car the least amount of time off the road. The insurance only paid for a new dash and recovering the seats but I recovered some of the difference in cost by selling my old seats.

Although a lot of time and effort has been spent, it is at least good to know that it is possible to overcome such problems.


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