CoachBuilt Prams | Perfect Elegance

This is the damaged footboard on the LBC which has just been replaced. I have also had a new hardwood handle made for it and hardwood spacers, which go between the body and the leather straps, but not a lot more has been done as yet (July 23rd, 2007). I will add photographs as things get done.

The new footboard almost finished.

The new half inch beading in place on each side of the foot board.

Rubbing down the edge of the new footboard and you can see the nice wide moulding on the side panel.

You can see various blemishes and split on the old paint finish. In the end I decided to strip off all of the old paint because it w as very flaky and the damp had affected it quite badly. Before I did that though I recorded the coachlines both with the camera and by taking a tracing using greasproof paper.

Stripping the pram down

I wanted to remove the body support bars next but they just wouldn't come out and so I had to start to strip out the lining before I could do anything else.

I took the following photographs to remind me of how the finished pram should look, with the neatening tapes in place over the top of the raw edges of the fabric and hiding the stpales which actually held the lining into place. The tapes are held in place with upholstery nails which have been covered in the same leathercloth as the lining.

Removing the staples underneath the finishing tape.

Taking up the first layer of the lining after I have removed the staples. This is hte footboard of the pram.

The piece of plywood at the back of the footboard panel was tacked into place, it had to be levered off before I could remove the whole of the foot board lining. In this case, the head and foot board were completely upholstered separately and fixed into place after the sides of the pram had been upholstered and so were the first to be removed.

The tacks holding the panel in place. Goodness knows how on earth they hammered those in underneath all of the upholstery!

Pushing the panel forward towards the body of the pram you can see the back of the footboard.

So the whole panel can be simply lifted out of the pram, this should make the final upholstery easier at the ends, much easier than the Wedgwood was, but then again that was my first one! Mind you I have got to work out a way of fixing that panel into place when it is finished.

So the footboard has gone and this is the end section of the left hand side of the pram and as you can see a lovely date stamp on the wood of the footboard. I am surprised it doesn't say 1st April, because it definately wasn't 1989 when this pram was made! It may have been 1969 but not 1989. They must have been bored that day I think.

It's definately an '8' isn't it?

How the ends of the side upholstery is fixed to the foot end of the pram

Beginning to remove the staples securing the side upholstery from the foot end of the pram

I forgot to say that I had already removed all of the upholstery tacks from the inside and outer edge neatening tapes. The tapes on this inside edge seem to have only been put there in order to anchor the side upholstery and I presume it keeps the packing under the top rail in place.

Next I wanted to remove the side upholstery so all staples had to be removed once the inside edge tapes had been removed.

Final staples being removed from
the foot end of the pram

All fixings now removed from the left hand side of the pram body and the complete side lining falls into the body.

With the side upholstery lying there you can see how the bottom edge of the upholstery is fixed into place using a wooden baton.

Once I removed the baton I could take out the upholstery and repeated the same thing on the upholstery on the opposite side. The Picture above shows the wooden base of the pram after all upholstery had been removed. The opening that you can see is the footwell with the fixed boards, one at each end of the pram. On the LBC the boards are covered with the cotton backed leatherette, not just painted as they are with other prams, even the Marmet Lady and the Wedgwood had painted bases.

Now I wanted to remove the body support bars so that it would make preparation of the body of the pram easier but I found that they were stuck fast. When I looked at them underneath the head and footboards on the pram, I could see - and feel - that they had a fair amount of rust on them - not surprising when you consider the fact that it had been left outside in the rain in it's time! In order to get at these support bars to try to release them, I found it necessary to remove the floor/bed of the pram.

Once I had removed the leatherette covering (it was glued onto the plywood and came off very easily), I could see no fixings that I could remove easily and so I had to resort to brute force to remove the first panel. The material used in these two base boards was a surprisingly flimsy piece of plywood that splintered as I tried to pull it out, as you can see above.

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It's difficult to see what this picture shows really. Here I have prised out the base board that you could see splintered in the previous photograph and it came out leaving the wooden frame which supported it still in place and still supporting the other board at the opposite end of the body. (The fluffy stuff in the front of the picture is the top edge of the side rail, showing the cotton type stuffing which had been fixed there.)

Once I had uncovered this frame, I was able to lift the whole thing up and remove it including the board at the opposite end of the pram, almost in one piece.

Now I had to try to take out the support bars without damaging anything. I had to use a wire brush and then a sanding block to take off the rust all along the bar so that it would push out through the body wall.

The next thing that I had to get ready for was preparing the outside of the pram for a new paint finish and I decided that the first thing I should do was to take some greaseproof paper and trace the moulding and coachlines on the side panel, so that I would remember what I needed to replace.

I don't always remember to save myself some time, but for once I did on this day.

So now I had to have a look at the paint finish and see what it needed. I started with a sanding block and some wet and dry paper in a pretty coarse grade, but I used it dry because I didn't want the wood to get wet which would raise the grain on it.

I soon found that the paint was dry and lifting off in sections. I thought it was just here and there and that I would be able to get it back to a stable surface, but the more I did the more sure

I was that I had to remove   the   paint completely if I was going to do any justice to this pram   and I got out the paint remover.   I can assure y ou that I didn't   take this step lightly. I am no expert I am feeling my way around   really and I have never   stripped   a pram completely before, so my heart was in my mouth, but I was certain that I coudn't leave that old paint on it   and so I went ahead.

Once again   being   worried about the     grain being raised if I    washed off the   pram   with water, I did as the instructions told me and used   a   rather large     container of White spirit   to   wash it all off with.    I actually used a scrubbing   brush in the little   nooks and crannies to   lift out the paint, don't suppose that is   all that often   used in a paint shop?   ;-) all those lovely coachlines   gone for every! thank God I took   photographs of them and also traced them!

Next    while waiting for the     body to dry off and be fit to put back in the pram (it still   stinks of white spirit in there now!) I decided to have a look at the chassis and maybe start   rubbing that down.

As you can see, the chassis is also nicely coachlined. How am I going to put that back?

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I   took these photographs   to remind myself later of   how the    chassis was    coachlined, on both surfaces.   The lines   are very fine, no    wider than   1mm I wouldn't think.

And that is where I have got to up to now, on the 22nd of October 2009, I wonder how   long it will take me to being able to continue with this lovely pram?   I also have the Millson Portman stripped down but I have promised myself that   it will be the LBC which is done first, I have been passing it over for other prams for   far too long.   Last my back decided to through a real   wobbly on me and I have been unable to   do much   for quite a few days now, it is never very good but it is a lot worse at the moment.    I am hoping that it gives me some   breathing space   pretty soon, I am getting fid up of being tied to the house, I can't even drive at the moment.

To be continued asap.