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Customs This is not long beach..

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by KFC, Aug 27, 2018.

  1. KFC
    Joined: Jul 17, 2008
    Posts: 445

    KFC
    Member
    from UK

    It happens here to, I’m in auto restoration as a trade so i like things to be appropriate to the car, that said this has a modern ish drive train but that does mean it’ll cruise at 80 now
     
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  2. KFC
    Joined: Jul 17, 2008
    Posts: 445

    KFC
    Member
    from UK

    So over paint / tidy up turned into bare metal pretty quick.
    It turned out the car had had a good accident at some point in its life, probably early on as al the repairs where gas welded and leaded, the rear drivers quarter needed moving out an inch, drivers front and rear wings needed reshaping, some of the work on the chop got tidied up. No real rust to speak of though.








    The colour is a custom mixed pearl based off a 2018 astonmartin colour
     
  3. LBCD
    Joined: Oct 28, 2009
    Posts: 1,059

    LBCD
    Member

    Great color, love the pearl!
     
  4. general gow
    Joined: Feb 5, 2003
    Posts: 6,407

    general gow
    MODERATOR
    Staff Member

    oof. i love the redo this awesome car is enjoying. well done! can't wait to see what's next. can you share your IG handle? via DM is fine if you dont want it super public. i'd love to follow along over there.
     
  5. KFC
    Joined: Jul 17, 2008
    Posts: 445

    KFC
    Member
    from UK

    Instagram is @typesticky

    Next up was a lot of fitting up and the beginnings of the interior. At this point it started to be come obvious bits that where fine before weren’t anymore. So the kidney grills and bumpers went off for plating , all the stainless got repolished.
    Pete Ayers (nutrocker and tech week winner on here) remade the 1/4 lights in stainless for me using shoebox latches rather than the winder type it originally used. I managed to track down a new windscreen surround that Pete also chopped and welded for me to tidy things up a bit.
    I also stripped and polished the Appleton’s and replaced a few parts I had from a spare.





     
  6. X-cpe
    Joined: Mar 9, 2018
    Posts: 1,958

    X-cpe

    Ain't that the everlovin' truth.
     
    KFC likes this.
  7. PugetDude
    Joined: Jun 24, 2015
    Posts: 43

    PugetDude
    Member

    Excellent job on the rework. Can't wait to see the interior.
    Spent a lot of time in the 90's in your little patch of the UK; we had offices in Bristol and just north of Cheltenham.
     
  8. KFC
    Joined: Jul 17, 2008
    Posts: 445

    KFC
    Member
    from UK

    Headliner first, I had most of the bows of the original. We had to make a couple of replacements and mounts for the twin jaguar mk2 interior lights I wanted to use.
    The car also was missing most of its tack strips from the chop so a lot of behind the scenes work took place to reinstate it.
    I made the headliner up in polythene first to get my patterns sorted then transferred it to the moleskin material I used, it’s strictly a seating cloth but I wanted all the fabric to match.

     
  9. KFC
    Joined: Jul 17, 2008
    Posts: 445

    KFC
    Member
    from UK

    Rear shelf , I wanted a luxury coupe type parcel area with storage beneath as there is no room for a rear seat, constructed in birch ply and covered in analine leather. The stainless parts where all custom made to suit, the latch is from a chandler in Hawaii the speaker grills came from Greece.

    Stock sun visors got trimmed to match
     
  10. KFC
    Joined: Jul 17, 2008
    Posts: 445

    KFC
    Member
    from UK

    Carpets up next, I used an auto Wilton 100% wool carpet bound in the same leather used for the rest of the car. I wanted a clean look so spent a bit of time evening up the floor with under felt. Pete (nutrocker)
    Stepped in made some sill plates, and an accelerator pedal assembly using an old cosmic pedal I’d found.
    Ian Whitaker was kind enough to make me a white rubber brake pedal.

    Lots of internal binding, or cats assholes as we call them
    I also made a firewall cover in diamond stitch moleskin cloth with an eyelet for the throttle cable
     
  11. japchris
    Joined: Apr 21, 2001
    Posts: 362

    japchris
    Member
    from England

    Just come in from the garage, (where its all going quite badly).
    Thought I'd go on the HAMB looking for some inspiration.
    Seems I've found it! - Thank you. - Your car is something to aspire to.
    Back down to the garage now with a cup of tea and a little more enthusiasm.
     
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  12. KFC
    Joined: Jul 17, 2008
    Posts: 445

    KFC
    Member
    from UK

    Thanks Chris,
    I’ve seen where your car started out and where you’ve got it to now and all done yourself and it’s impressive to say the least. I’m lucky to know some top notch people who like a challenge but I’d love to be able to do it all but metal work/ fab is not my strong suit !
     
  13. Stogy
    Joined: Feb 10, 2007
    Posts: 26,345

    Stogy
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Theres a lot to aspire too around here and yes, this attention to detail and style is one of those builds...enjoy your tea I'm having a coffee...;)
     
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  14. KFC
    Joined: Jul 17, 2008
    Posts: 445

    KFC
    Member
    from UK

    Doors and kick panels next up, I wanted to avoid the traditional tuck and roll interior that’s often used but have a period luxury feel, with stainless trims and some texture changes to break things up


    Mock up

    I used top stitch pleats on the door base and the armrest top, I used stock 41 door furniture and full stainless escutcheons
     
  15. KFC
    Joined: Jul 17, 2008
    Posts: 445

    KFC
    Member
    from UK

    Seat was up next, the car came with a really butchered fixed back bench seat that wasn’t going to cut it. Sourcing an appropriate split bench isn’t the most straight forward thing in the Uk. I found a reasonable sized seat that apparently came from a falcon.
    We decided to round the outer corners of the backrests use the rails of the seat that came with the car, a cover was made for the centre pivot and dome valances made to make the seat seem more period.
    Pete (nutrocker) stepped in for the mods.


    I shaped up some foam for the style of seat I was after.

    I wanted a square pleat with buttons, after a bit of searching I found some oval buttons and had them covered in matching leather


     
  16. KFC
    Joined: Jul 17, 2008
    Posts: 445

    KFC
    Member
    from UK

  17. KFC
    Joined: Jul 17, 2008
    Posts: 445

    KFC
    Member
    from UK

  18. Turned out great! Nice work.
     
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  19. Brand Apart
    Joined: Jan 22, 2011
    Posts: 808

    Brand Apart
    Member
    from Roswell GA

    Impressive. Inside and out!
     
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  20. Jalopy Joker
    Joined: Sep 3, 2006
    Posts: 31,174

    Jalopy Joker
    Member

    very Cool ride - terrific tech information on all of the work that you have done - Thanks
     
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  21. Mr.Musico
    Joined: Jan 7, 2007
    Posts: 1,639

    Mr.Musico
    Member
    from SoCal

    So glad your enjoying the car, it looks great. All the changes you have made are spot on. Over the years I have built many cars, some from the ground up, and at times bought cars in various stages and hopefully made changes to improve upon was was already done. That was the case with this 41. Each of the previous owners were responsible for various stages of completion. I can only take credit along with my buddy Matt means for the chop (which I still think is one of the better looking chops on a short door coupe)
    Working on a tight budget I wasnt able to complete the car to the degree you have, it really looks great. When you dig into someone elses work the quality or lack thereof becomes apparent. Thanks for showing class and not trashing the work of the previous owners..keep up the great work!!
     
  22. KFC
    Joined: Jul 17, 2008
    Posts: 445

    KFC
    Member
    from UK

    Thanks Tim, I’d like to think the cars ended up somewhere all the previous owners hoped it would.
    The car was finished late April

    So beginning of May we had planned to drive down through France into Switzerland and then Italy and back, top idea in a car with only a few hundred miles on it after a major rebuild

    Plain sailing to the first stop bar a faulty inhibitor switch on the shifter
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    Pit stop at lemans and V8 fords down the mulsanne straight

    [​IMG]
    An unexpectedly posh restaurant and a couple of brand new polyurethane exhaust mounts had failed by this point, luckily a very nice Frenchman and my wife’s legendary phrase of “je vousdrais regarde derrière mon voiture si vois plais “ saved the day

    Onwards to Switzerland
    Arrived in miserable weather woke up to this
    [​IMG]

    Unfortunately the nearly new alternator had a funny turn and overcharged the battery ..
    queue Roland the Swiss aa and a Facebook plea resulting in a meeting with Alex halter and his pretty amazing shop, bit muscle car for here but huge, they supplied an alternator and a battery which I fitted in the car park
    [​IMG]

    Onwards to Italy
    Hmm 40 ish miles down the road strong smell of fuel and oops the brand new fuel pump failed ..... all while driving through the 17km gotthard tunnel .
    Another phone call to Alec and his team revealed we where barely 10 miles from Nico who had a second hand fuel pump and a American car shop. He fitted it on a red hot engine and charged us 30 Euro for supply and fitting
    The Man is a legend ( and looking for a 57 Chevy two door post car with manual box please)
    [​IMG]

    Onwards to Italy part 2
    This time we arrived with out incident in bellagio on lake como, the whole point of the trip was getting here as I owed my wife a return visit due to purchasing a certain 34 5w ... so failure to complete would have ended badly

    [​IMG]
    Waiting for the ferry across como looking at bellagio
    We made it with 25mins to spare before Sally’s spa appointment


    Next we drove up the Aosta Valley intending to do the petite col St. Bernard but we where to early in the year, when we got back I saw pics of the 20 ft drifts on the pass!
    [​IMG]
    It was this night that is filled with shame.. Sunday night both restaurants in the village full we headed to Aosta and while bad tempered and hungry decided on a mc Donald’s drive through ... god punished me for eating McDonald’s in Italy and I gave a fender skirt a healthy whack no photographic evidence.

    After that it was plain sailing again, normal service resumed random architect designed b&b with a luxury Gucci theme in a medieval walled town, explaining why I wasn’t taking my car on a cobbled street that was hard to even walk on over the phone etc

    Spent the night in an empty chateau the owners didn’t even sleep in it and I was scared to open my eyes in the night (ghosts!) our room had a long drop

    [​IMG]

    Stopped in Giverny for Monets garden
    [​IMG]

    And Brexit via the Pegasus bridge memorial
    [​IMG]

    That’s all really 2000 ish miles with an average of somewhere between 17-21mpg , it’ll cruise at 80 all day, you get beeped and waved at a lot and meet a surprising amount of Americans who get confused about an American plated car with gb stickers and brits on board, one lady even got emotional.
    I need a break from it now ...
     
  23. Hogman
    Joined: Nov 22, 2011
    Posts: 193

    Hogman
    Member
    from Dallas, TX

    AWESOME!!!
     
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  24. i.rant
    Joined: Nov 23, 2009
    Posts: 4,301

    i.rant
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. 1940 Ford

    Stunning...........
     
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  25. KFC
    Joined: Jul 17, 2008
    Posts: 445

    KFC
    Member
    from UK

  26. jhexide
    Joined: Feb 23, 2012
    Posts: 334

    jhexide
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Awsome Car And Awsome Read!!!!
     
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  27. Stogy
    Joined: Feb 10, 2007
    Posts: 26,345

    Stogy
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Good to see you out and enjoying it...breathtaking imagery...congratulations again...
     
    KFC likes this.
  28. kursplat
    Joined: Apr 22, 2013
    Posts: 296

    kursplat
    Member

    driving it like it's meant to be. nice :cool:
     
    KFC likes this.
  29. edcodesign
    Joined: Mar 30, 2007
    Posts: 4,716

    edcodesign
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Great job and story, good luck !
     

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