Been a few weeks since I updated this guys, but work has continued to progress in the background and some funny stories also... this being one.
So many months ago I made a start to repair the roof lining, as it was torn when I removed it from the car:

Unfortunately the repair didn't seem to work as well as I'd hoped and the rooflining looked like a dogs breakfast after I'd finished..
Although I don't need one yet, it was at the back of my mind of things I will need to fix when I start the rebuild, and I was wondering how I was going to get round this problem.
Those of you who know me well, will know I travel all throughout Europe for my work (Sales) which gives me a chance to see what's for sale in all other countires... thankfully in Turkey... there continued to be lots of things for sale for the old R9/R11 models, as it's still a common sight on the roads out there.
After a bit of Googling, I found an advert for a brand new R9 roof lining in Turkey, so I asked my local guy there to help me track one down. Thankfully he managed to get hold of one, but the next problem was getting it back to the UK. I couldn't find anyone to ship it, and it was too large/expensive for Postage... So looked like my last option was to try & fly it home with me during my next trip there. I did some homework and found that "theoretically" it was within the sizing to allow it to fly....
Following another fun week in Istanbul travelling with my team there, I turned up at the airport with one of the guys with the roof lining all packaged up and ready to travel:

First we had to get it X-Rayed to get INTO the terminal... which took some time, and then finally we got to the check in desk. As you can imagine the check in team were thinking I was having a laugh and told me no, so I was so plesed to have one of our Turkish team there to "discuss" with them in the local language...

Eventually, they accepted the parcel and I caught my flight home. Few hours later I arrvied back at Stansted and then waited to see if the parcel caught me up... IT DID!!

So squeezed it into the back of the car:

Drove Home:

And then the final unwrap..... IT'S FINE!!
God the lengths we go to restore these old sh1tbag Renault's eh... :ag: