Pre Spray Preparation

The car is all but sprayed. By that I mean the body has been rubbed down, and the holes left by various chrome parts being removed have been welded and filled.

The brackets for the lights have been manufactured and one has been riveted to the roof. Here you can see the car all preped for spraying. I'm supposed to get it back on Monday:

Click the image to enlarge......

I thought I should post a picture of the car in this state. Not a big update to the blog, but thought you all might like to see this part. After this it's logo time, but I'm really looking forward to seeing the car with the lights mounted on the roof. It's going to be a major step.

If anyone has any idea how to get a long 7 foot flexible CB areal, please let me know. They don't seem to make them at that length any more, there's only one that could qualify, but it's £280 and for something cosmetic I don't think it's worth shelling that amount of money out. I have an idea on how to fabricate one, but would like an authentic one. So if anyone has one kicking around from back in the 80s let me know.......

Over and out.......

Spray Time

A few weeks late, but tonight the car is going in for a spray. This is the last time it will look like this:

The rear doors will be black, the roof will be white, and the whole car is getting a respray. The original plan was to patch up the paintwork to give a rougher look, truer to the original. The chrome strips are being removed and the lights will be mounted on the roof. The 7 foot areal and mount has also been aquired and will be on the car when it leaves the workshop. The number plates will be mounted too. All the work is due to take about 1 week. The longest week of my life I reckon.

According to the sign writer, the logos can be put on the car in a matter of hours, and so as soon as the car leaves the bodyshop the artwork will be in place shortly after.

This is the final leg of the design stage.

Anyone going on Gimpo's M25 spin is likely to see me there..........

Ladies and Gentlemen: We have an MOT

The hurdle of acquiring an MOT has been overcome. After almost 2 months since the initial failure parts have been sourced, work has been done and we're now in a position to progress with the project.

Which is a good job, because tonight the car is booked in for the respray of the roof and rear doors. While it's there the mountings for the lights on the roof will be welded. And once that's all complete the logos will be applied.

Tomorrow I will head down to the DVLA office and attempt to register the car now that I have everything I need to do so. I've already ordered the registration plates which should arrive in a few days. By the end of next week it'll be on the road.

Due to some work commitments I am having to delay the trip to Spain for about 3 weeks, so we're looking to leave in the second week of April now.

Over the coming few weeks the car will transform quite rapidly and should start to look very similar to the original, pictures will be posted of course, so check back regularly as there will be quite a few.

Getting the MOT is a major step forward, it's great news. It's been very hard work to get a US spec car of this age up to MOT standard in the UK, getting hold of parts has been a real challenge and I've learnt a lot about the car in that time. The rest of the project from here should be a lot easier, and I'm looking forward to having a bit of fun with it.

Check back very soon.

Over and out.

MOT Update

It's been nearly a month since the MOT failure.

During that time we've had snow and Christmas to delay proceedings, however, work has continued and all the welding is done. Indicators have been fitted at the rear and front, the shocks have been properly located too.

The front brakes have been cleaned out and adjusted, the rear shoes are in my garage waiting to be fitted at the same time as the handbrake cable is put on. The handbrake cable has been the sticking point in this whole thing, difficult to get hold of, and complicated to ensure you have all the right parts. I'll only know when it arrives whether we'll need more parts on top of the three cables that make it up. Current location of cable: Illinois.

One thing I'm really pleased about is the lights for the roof, I've managed to find and buy some. These have been, without a shadow of doubt, the most difficult item to find in the whole project, even more so than the car itself. Hours upon hours of posting in a range of different forums and searching various online shops had yielded something that was only vaguely similar. Then, as part of my daily eBay search I uncovered a pair of these little beauties:

They will be sprayed white and have the protective grill added when the car goes in for the cosmetic work. I'll need to get some mounting brackets made up to fix them to the roof. Importantly they are the right size and shape, although the picture gives an impression of a conical shape towards the rear they are the same diameter from front to back. In fairness they aren't exactly the same as the originals, but they are probably as close as it's possible to get, so I'm really pleased.

Hopefully the next update will be to report that the car is on the road, keep your fingers crossed. March approaches fast............

Over and out......