Restoration Starting Point
This page shows the condition of TPX 212 as of July/August 2014, before restoration began.
Body
The bodywork is complete, but there are a number of problems which will need to be sorted. There is a crack in the fibre glass to the left of the rear number plate. There are also many "star" cracks to the fibreglass in various places. There is a dent in one of the door panels which will need fixing. Clearly the paintwork has seen better days and at some point between Pilkie finding the car in 2012 to when we took ownership, someone has decided to paint the worst bare areas of bodywork with red paint. We assume this was to make it look superficially better than it really was. We are hoping that this won't cause too many challenges in getting the body ready for a full re-spray in the future.
Chassis
The chassis would seem to be very rusty. However, it is not 100% clear if this is surface rust, or full blown "rot". Once the body is removed we will be able to get a better view of the extent of the rust and how much work will be needed to repair the chassis.
Engine
The engine actually seems pretty good. It looks like someone along the way has cleaned it up a bit from when it was found in the farmyard. We were advised by Pilkie that the engine was seized, so only time will tell when it is rebuilt if it can be bought back to life, but we are very hopeful at this stage. The engine would also seem to be a "Gold Seal" engine and thus a replacement for the original engine. We cannot see the engine number at the moment, so again we will know more once the engine is removed ready for being rebuilt.
Interior
The interior is in very good condition considering that the car was left outside for 35 years. The seats are sound and the leather could perhaps be nourished back to life should we decide to keep the same colour interior. However, should we decide to reupholster, the actual seats are comfortable and would only need new covers.
All photographs on this page are courtesy of TPX 212's Italian owner from whom we purchased the car in July 2014.
Initial Restoration Plan
The plan of attack is as follows (in no particular order):
- Remove body from chassis
- Send body to fiberglass specialist to repair cracks and star crazing
- Re-spray body
- Remove engine and gearbox
- Engine and Gearbox to be completely rebuilt by a race engine specialist (but not for racing !)
- Remove everything else from chassis
- Send chassis for shot blasting to see extent of rot
- Repair chassis where necessary via welding - if too far gone, consider replacing either entire chassis or sections with newly built sections from a Jensen 541 chassis specialist
- Clean and inspect all other parts, such as suspension, brakes, steering column etc. Repair or replace as necessary
- Remove interior
- Reupholster seats
- Re-carpet interior
- Service all the dials, replacing non-standard gauges with correct versions if possible
- Re-chrome everything shiny such as bumpers, door handles, filler cap, headlight surrounds and all other chrome detailing
- Obtain new "black and silver" number plates to replace the current yellow number plate.
- Inspect wire wheels and probably replace with new
- Re-assemble everything
- Road test
It all sounds so simple ! We're sure we will encounter many unforeseen problems, but the heartache (and expense) will be worth it to put such a beautiful and rare car back on the road.