Following the completion of the chassis restoration in December 2016, the car has been waiting for its turn to go for full body restoration.
The car has now gone to Adam Redding Classics for the bodywork restoration. It will also go to Templar and Wilde for the front suspension and steering to be fitted. You can follow the progress on the Body Restoration page. The car has gone to Ron Clay (The "Chassisman") to begin work on the chassis. We need to get the chassis restored before we can really do much else.
Full details of the chassis restoration can be found on the Chassis Restoration page.
I found that the gauge used in the MG TD was very similar (but with a blue/green dial face). I decided I would try and see if I could get an MG TD gauge, but have a black dial face printed. I contacted a couple of MG specialists and one, Barry Walker said he could help. As it turns out, it was better than just helping.... he came up with the Holy Grail. Through his contacts he has supplied me the correct Jensen dial - X42638/41 with the correct face and correct bezel. I can't thank Barry enough for this. I can certainly recommend Barry, his website is http://www.barrywalker.com/
We've been on an eBay/Internet shopping spree collecting missing or replacement parts that we know we will need, or even additional parts to enhance the car. Some of these are really difficult to find, but if you wait long enough eventually they come up on eBay
While we are waiting for the work on the chassis to begin, we have taken the interior trim to be assessed. Once we got the seats and trim away from the car, it was possible to appreciate how musty and damp it was - sitting outside for several years clearly didn't do it any good ! We have decided to go for a complete re-trim as we feel the existing leather and PVC are too far gone to even attempt to save. The task now is to select the leather we are going to use, in conjunction with the exterior paint colour. Watch this space for news on the colour combination we finally decide on.
Now that the dis-assembly is complete, it is amazing how many "bits" of 541 are now spread throughout the workshop. It's when you see how many parts make up a car that you realise how daunting the restoration process is!
Still waiting for the chassis to go away for restoration - he is finishing off a couple of jobs and then I am told we are next in the queue. We have decided to try and save at least some of the original chassis if possible as we feel it would be a shame to lose all of the 1955 metal. However, we will of course be guided by the expert as to what can be re-used and what needs to be brand new. The hope is to use much of the front third of the chassis as this seems to be in the best condition, whereas the the further back you go the closer to dust the chassis becomes.
The dis-assembly work is complete with all the parts now removed from the car.
For more information on the dismantling process please visit the Dismantling Page. July 28th 2014 - The car arrived back in the UK from Italy on the back of a car transporter. By all accounts it caused quite a stir during it's journey, with people asking what type of car it was and even offering to buy it !
She will now go into storage for a few months until we are able to start work on the restoration, probably late in the year. |