Crayford rhd 914, Genuine car? Options

[pep1]

Hi - JD Classics in the UK have for sale a rhd 914 that they say is a genuine Crayford conversion. Registration number is NRX 538K. The car started life in the US and then was exported to Australia (doesn't say when) where the conversion was done. JD say that it is one of only 9 cars that were converted by Crayford. From the research I have managed to do it sounds like this cannot be true. I have asked for some proof of their claim but they have gone quiet. Could this car however have been converted under licence using genuine Crayford parts or is it more likely to be a conversion just done by some garage in Australia as I understand quite a few cars were converted there in this way.

[wonkipop]

@pep1

dug up my filed images.
picture is worth a thousand words.


a crayfords car looks like this if you are staring at the dashboard.
(hand made-ish).

#1 crayfords. very early car. 70 model i think.



one of the UK crayfords still in aus. 73 2.0 L
seat fabric not original. someone changed it from when i knew it.
used to be original cord fabric.



thats what you are looking for in a crayfords.
no mistaking them.
all originally european spec, uk delivered cars. all converted when brand new as part of original purchase by owners from Everest.

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later aus conversions from late 80s into 90s.
all will have been sourced from USA. generally from california.
my car. i had it converted and did about 50% of the conversion myself - 34 years ago.
still have the car. so i remember all the esoteric detail involved. also had a access to a crayfords car to guide my conversion.



instantly recognizable. dash is heat shrink vinyl skinned over fibreglass moulding.
there were lots of industry car component manufacturers and specialists attached to the big ford and gm plants here who could do this stuff for you as side jobs.
not all of them had the ashtray incorporated but a few did.
in my case the mould was indeed either the original crayfords mould or had been made using the crayfords moulding with some further modification to house the ashtray.
the mould was sourced from one particular guy in melbourne who had it. he did not do all the conversions but he had the mould.

i have seen other cars that were converted by workshops in other cities in australia that used a technique that involved sectioning up the original dash moulding to produce a mirror dash moulding and then having it reskinned. you can usually spot those as no matter what there a faint ridges that show where it was cut and shut.


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and i remembered one more give-away.
all the crayfords cars shifted the fuseboard across to the right hand side. quite a job to do and not sure why they did it. its the hard way to do it. most of the aus conversions leave it on the left hand side and extend across or rewire as necessary to get to the switches and instruments. if its got a fuseboard on left hand side its not a crayfords.

[pep1]

Many thanks to you all for answering my query in such detail. I'm amazed at the level of your knowledge. I certainly know where to come now for info on 914s.