Body Repair - January 2019 to November 2019

My two sons James and Liam get ready for some sanding.

How long is it going to take?

Evidence of previous repairs coming to light as the paint comes off.

Boot interior needs strengthening in places.

Boot lock ready for removal. It will be sent for replating,

Rear seat pan is badly cracked.

Clearly the rear set pan needs to be much stonger.

Seat runners will be zinc plated.

A posts and hoop will be removed for painting.

Previous colours of red, black and gold.

Bonnet safety catch needs attention.

To avoid damage the ID plates will be removed before work starts in the engine bay.

Previous accident repairs to the right rear guard need to be redone.,

Left front guard, more previous repairs need attention.

Right front guard, more damage that needs to be fixed.

A posts and hoop finally removed.

Perdal box ready for removal. It will be painted / plated before refitting.

As can be seen, the body is very thin in places.

Still more repairs to remedy,

A posts and hoop look worse than they really are.

Firewall and engine bay need a lot of work.

Rear seat pan repairs in progress.

Trial fitting the front grille.

Six months in and still a lot of remedial work needed.

A posts sand blasted and painted in 2-pack

Door hinge plates zinc plated.

Refitting the A posts and hoop.

Trial fitting the doors.

Much work was needed to get the gaps right.

Getting the body ready for primer.

In the booth at last.

Boot and engine bay still require attention.

Only minor repairs were needed for the bonnet.

It's nice to see the body in a uniform colour at last!

Much work still remains before we can apply the final colour.

First view of what the final colour will look like.

Like any restoration, we found more than we bargained for once the old paint was removed. The car had more hits than Elvis, and every panel needed some form of repair. It wasn't too bad, mostly just fixing what had been done in the past, as well as adding some strength in areas where the fibreglass was very thin. It was a laborious process, and working with fibreglass is not the most pleasant of jobs. Any exposed skin soon itched like mad. While good progress was made, the weeks ticked by. It wouldn't be ready for paint for another 10 months. It was a good thing in a way, as it gave me more time to decide on a colour.