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
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. DC6E3657-46BF-4D12-BAB9-127E26E0DBF0 by KFC posted Aug 27, 2018 at 4:28 PM 4F827BA2-3A09-428C-B8C3-C8705E3916E1 by KFC posted Aug 29, 2018 at 6:43 AM 12232624-02BD-44EE-89C0-C48D674C6E6D by KFC posted Aug 29, 2018 at 6:43 AM 051C52D9-63D3-4F4A-8215-ADEC1B01BAD7 by KFC posted Aug 29, 2018 at 6:43 AM E3D6D211-1E55-4002-94AD-E543DAE01145 by KFC posted Aug 29, 2018 at 6:43 AM E1057608-E5FF-4D4A-A1AA-076E9CD810B0 by KFC posted Aug 29, 2018 at 6:43 AM E383156A-FEA6-4ECA-9DE8-6E2B2A61067E by KFC posted Aug 29, 2018 at 6:43 AM The colour is a custom mixed pearl based off a 2018 astonmartin colour
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.
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. A5F87BE2-C91A-4D75-BE07-46E04B24E15A by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:13 PM AF1E6F3F-CE31-49A1-870D-3E1D3F234782 by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:15 PM 33723571-8108-471E-A436-00FD324A69C7 by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:13 PM 4746192A-935E-4F58-81AA-5BA8C88312B8 by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:17 PM EF8DE677-BBE0-4ED1-8D23-3D246B9B7A4D by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:17 PM
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.
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. 95230E41-7176-4C5A-86B1-F440CF52F583 by KFC posted Sep 3, 2018 at 1:48 PM 111CDEFE-5080-4DE4-82EF-7BCC5A052434 by KFC posted Sep 3, 2018 at 1:48 PM 7DF59C8B-13B9-46BA-B22B-E3F702FC1312 by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:13 PM 10DE5B99-10E6-44DB-8794-7737203A2404 by KFC posted Sep 3, 2018 at 1:48 PM
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. 85B81ABE-0DB9-4265-BA06-2EAA74447156 by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:15 PM FC0804D8-90EC-45E7-9A9F-FF81AFCF79D1 by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:15 PM 23361E25-2DD7-4AFB-9B76-FD665A1D8BEA by KFC posted Sep 6, 2018 at 3:27 PM Stock sun visors got trimmed to match
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. ECC77DA6-EDDC-40DF-ACA1-F3D4868A8FC4 by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:15 PM 7981D746-7CA1-4702-97EF-1FB5138C0421 by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:17 PM Lots of internal binding, or cats assholes as we call them 2254322D-43CD-474E-B42E-5E658677208A by KFC posted Sep 3, 2018 at 1:48 PM I also made a firewall cover in diamond stitch moleskin cloth with an eyelet for the throttle cable
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.
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 !
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...
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 E408BE91-E5A4-4837-998E-1AF9DA6EB11A by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:13 PM C6B07E6F-8353-406B-BD4D-07767050C734 by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:13 PM Mock up 47F473F6-C77B-4DB6-AA79-39CC907E13D6 by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:17 PM I used top stitch pleats on the door base and the armrest top, I used stock 41 door furniture and full stainless escutcheons
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. 3CFE0D76-0437-48E2-B8B8-D17B47F9DEC9 by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:15 PM I shaped up some foam for the style of seat I was after. 970170A8-2FF9-46DD-888C-03FA68817B48 by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:15 PM I wanted a square pleat with buttons, after a bit of searching I found some oval buttons and had them covered in matching leather 05B6FE69-56CB-4430-B21A-173251E367F8 by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:15 PM B79100C3-7091-405A-AB86-DC49844AA8C9 by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:17 PM F2D91C90-0D70-43EA-9CE8-CB79AFDCBEBA by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:17 PM
Soo... 7F129D9B-E6C6-4675-B155-A0E092A6B50D by KFC posted Sep 3, 2018 at 1:48 PM Interior finished I stripped my Appleton’s gave them a polish replaced a few parts, I’ll get the chrome done day 4584A128-07E6-42BE-A89A-A1CF6C050C71 by KFC posted Sep 3, 2018 at 1:48 PM First drive FEBEAE65-1E30-4B7A-88A8-C7EF10B08270 by KFC posted Sep 1, 2018 at 6:17 PM
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!!
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 Pit stop at lemans and V8 fords down the mulsanne straight 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 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 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) 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 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! 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 Stopped in Giverny for Monets garden And Brexit via the Pegasus bridge memorial 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 ...
826703CD-31B1-4810-9948-DA934A9FF271 by KFC posted Oct 3, 2018 at 3:33 PM 89F72614-98C4-4AD8-8116-B1691000F1D6 by KFC posted Oct 3, 2018 at 3:33 PM