Right hand drive

dreamchaser · Post by **dreamchaser** » Mon 09 Aug, 2010 14:37

Have just returned from a fortnight on the French Riviera in my Z1. Had a great time posing around Monaco and looking at the fantastic cars parked around the casino area. On returning to England and whilst waiting for the ferry at Le-Havre a guy spoke to me who said that he had a right hand drive Z1 some 10 years ago, he said that it was a factory produced one for the English market, has anyone else heard about this as I thought that the only right hand drive one was a conversion.

Racing Tortoise · Post by **Racing Tortoise** » Mon 09 Aug, 2010 15:07

dreamchaser wrote:Have just returned from a fortnight on the French Riviera in my Z1. Had a great time posing around Monaco and looking at the fantastic cars parked around the casino area. On returning to England and whilst waiting for the ferry at Le-Havre a guy spoke to me who said that he had a right hand drive Z1 some 10 years ago, he said that it was a factory produced one for the English market, has anyone else heard about this as I thought that the only right hand drive one was a conversion.

You're right and he was talking cobblers.

benslick · Post by **benslick** » Tue 10 Aug, 2010 08:17

He must have been talking about the griffin Z1. there was a company in the UK converting Z1s to right hand drive for crazy money but some drove better than others and there were not many done because of the costs to an already expensive car.

I saw one in London but to be honest put me off! looked wrong...

I believe jet authored a thread about the Griffin Z1 ????

felix · Post by **felix** » Tue 10 Aug, 2010 12:58

I think Birds did some conversions - here are photos of one I looked at back in 2005.

sfh3l · Post by **sfh3l** » Tue 10 Aug, 2010 16:47

Very eloquently put Tortoise!
Correct too.

benslick · Post by **benslick** » Tue 10 Aug, 2010 22:22

Sam,

Are you saying that only birds converted Z1s to right hand drive?

sfh3l · Post by **sfh3l** » Wed 11 Aug, 2010 09:13

Not sure mate, but so far as I know there were no factory rhd cars - full stop

benslick · Post by **benslick** » Wed 11 Aug, 2010 21:23

Ahh I see, yes it's true that there were no right hand drive factory produced cars for sure, only converted cars by a couple of UK companies...

Jet · Post by **Jet** » Thu 12 Aug, 2010 08:09

felix wrote:I think Birds did some conversions - here are photos of one I looked at back in 2005.

What did you think of the conversion?

felix · Post by **felix** » Thu 12 Aug, 2010 08:26

The seats had either been died or recovered and weren't aging well so that put me off the car straightaway. But that's nothing to do with the RHD conversion.

I was offered the chance to drive the car but as I had already lost interest I turned it down. The seats aren't swapped over so the passenger ends up with the height adjustment . Other than that it looked OK. I don't know how important details like the brake master cylinder location were dealt with - was it moved to the right side of the car or was a mechanical linkage installed. Anyone have an engine compartment photo of the Griffin RHD conversion to see what they did with the brake master cylinder?

Bluebaur · Post by **Bluebaur** » Thu 12 Aug, 2010 10:05

In reply to the question of whether the master cylinder was moved, I have located a press picture of the engine bay of a Griffin converted Z1, but it only shows the radiator expansion bottle and the washer bottle in their correct places. There seems very little room for the master cylinder to have been moved as the engine exhaust manifold is still clearly where it should be. The article that road tests the Griffin conversion completes by saying "the driving position and brakes suffer in the transition from left to right". ie: Autocar & Motor 7 November 1990.

SCORPION · Post by **SCORPION** » Thu 12 Aug, 2010 10:19

I saw a black RHD at Tatton Park (in the car park). The dashboard was a mess. It had obviously been dismantled and rebuilt to fit the other way around. All the joints were falling apart.

Jet · Post by **Jet** » Thu 12 Aug, 2010 10:28

felix wrote:The seats had either been died or recovered and weren't aging well so that put me off the car straightaway. But that's nothing to do with the RHD conversion.

I was offered the chance to drive the car but as I had already lost interest I turned it down. The seats aren't swapped over so the passenger ends up with the height adjustment . Other than that it looked OK. I don't know how important details like the brake master cylinder location were dealt with - was it moved to the right side of the car or was a mechanical linkage installed. Anyone have an engine compartment photo of the Griffin RHD conversion to see what they did with the brake master cylinder?

This sounds like the same car up for sale on ebay, last year I think, the light switch relocated and the seats dyed green. I wonder who bought it and what happened to it.
Would make an interesting Project Car.

zroadster.net

Right hand drive

Right hand drive

Re: Right hand drive

Hmm

Sam

Ahhh