First bare metal - Jul'11

I had to get my first 'taste' of bare metal... Forward trunk floor is pretty good but the rear-most section is a nasty botched job by a previous owner. Will put that right with a Restoration-Design floor panel. The black is Kurust treatment on areas where rust was brushed out - but I'm not totally sold on this stuff; it doesn't adhere well to clean metal or brush on smoothly....will look at other options.

The panel along the bottom of the windscreen is really good but the seam between this panel and the wing has alot of rust. But I think I'll probably make it worse if I try taking the wing off to fix this. So this might be one bit of rust that gets away....

Dash and Dials and WIRES!!

Dashboard and dials out...loads of fiddly hidden screws to find to finally set the dash frame free. Frightening tangles of wire and plugs in the back of the dials jammed into place with toilet paper!...doesn't bode well. But I guess I'll probably need to replace with 911 dials to go with the 6cyl engine.

Get Yer Seats Out...Jun'11

Seats out and start on stripping the interior trim. Much is cracked from sun damage - the car came from California originally. Sills/Thresholds will be replaced. Guess what colour the car was orginally...just like the Cali sun!

Removing and stripping the doors...

The doors are removed and stripped. There's alot of surface rust on the inside of the door skin. This will be impossible to remove by hand without taking the door apart so I'll probably get them dipped and e-plated. The bike in the background is my father-in-law's Bantam 175. Needs electrics sorting - I'll try and get it going....one day!

Teardown begins - May 2011

Some 6 weeks later the teardown begins. The car is a 15 minute drive from home at my in-laws so I have to plan my time well - until I have my own garage I need to put in a good few hours of work at a time to make the trip worthwhile. The garage needs a good sort out but it's got plenty of room..potentially. Stripping the car starting from the front and working back. Headlights out...then fuel tank, windscreen, interior; finally the engine and gearbox in time etc.. First issue to note; the channels that hold the rubber seals under the front trunk hood are pretty corroded so will need replacing. The nasty late bumpers from '75/'76 must have been added to the car later..it's a '74 model so I wonder if it had a small shunt and needed new bumpers. There are signs of a small knock but nothing serious...

Delivery - March 2011. Bought on ebay as a project (obviously) from a indy garage in Essex. Although I think I paid more than I would had I bought from the US, the advantage was being able to look it over in the 'flesh' It's a solid shell but everything needs doing to it.

....building up to it..

Lots done on the car but haven't been bothered to update the blog..I wonder if I will!