Well, almost three years (and a job change and a wedding) later, and my pet project finally has some real traction again! You thought I abandoned this project, didn't you?

One of the primary difficulties was trying to work on a car stored 20km from one's home. Well, we bit the bullet, and made it fit in the one garage. Don't underestimate the difficulty in trying to work on such a large car in a townhouse complex, where one is not allowed to - say - work on the car outside the garage.

I have installed some decent super-bright lighting in the garage, made a large hanging shelf in the roof to store parts (currently most of the interiour of the car) and we are good to go.

This past week-end, I basically completed the removal of all interiour fittings, including all the side windows, door lock mechanisms, chrome bits, etc. It looks bad, I know... but may I refer you to earlier posts, still showing the plushly-fitted, complete car :-) We're going to make her like new again.

It is just such a relief to be able to step outside the house and spend a few moments tinkering with this lovely old machine. You know, when the effort to get there to start working on it outweighs the effort of actually working on it, the fun is rather spoiled. But no longer!

I also spend a lot of time studying old mechanical repair manuals (Chilton's, etc) to prepare myself for the uncharted territory that awaits next - the removal of the drivetrain and the engine...

The Long Lost Update

It struck me today how unreliable I have been in updating this blog! How is the restoration progressing, you ask? Slowly, but surely... At least there isn't a month that goes by in which some decisive restoration event doesn't occur.

Wood:

The preparation is complete (every single last piece), and I have also acquired the tools (compressor, spraygun and related equipment, as well as the necessary paint and chemicals) to complete the job - that deserves a post on its own.

Leather:

All the seats have been removed, and J has completely (and carefully) stripped all the upholstery from the leather, and the leather from the seats. 95% of the leather is salvageable (and in remarkably good condition) but one or two panels will have to be replaced - with a similar type and exact colour. I suspect she has a rather long task ahead of her!

The seats of this car is upholstered using natural fibre (from South America, I believe) and the springs in them would make for a wonderfully sturdy mattress. A nice find inside the seat was a card from the upholsterer, indicating the date and place of upholstery.

Interiour Disassembly

Most of the doors have been disassembled: Looking at the before- and after-image of the left rear door, it is hard to imagine the hours of effort required to removed (without damaging) the many rubbers, window glass, window frames, opening and locking mechanisms, etc. Here again can be soon the remarkable completeness of this car, right down to the little plastic covers which keep dust and moisture out.

All seats and carpeting have also been removed (not visible in the earlier image above) leaving a rather empty shell. The carpeting in this car is thicker and softer than any short-hair carpet I have even seen (even in a house) but sadly, has been ruined by water (the carpet appears to also contain a lot of natural fibre). I shall have to shop around for a replacement, and cut it to size. I am a bit concerned at getting the curvature (over the transmission tunnel, etc) right for a carpet this thick.

Next steps:

• Start finishing the wood (staining, coating, repeated wet-sanding and polishing)
• Rip the old and brittle stitching from all the leather, find replacement panels for the one or two damaged ones, and start stitching it all up again - by hand, mind you, as a machine will effectively cut through the existing stitching holes, destroying the panels.
• Remove all exterior trimmings and chrome, and send the car to a panel shop to perform minor repairs and replacement of rusted panels

Time will be very pressing, as the intended first purpose of this car is to serve as wedding coach to the hard-working couple restoring it :-)

Project Relocation and further ramblings

Well, the donor car has finally been relocated closer to me (to the business premises, in fact) so I expect to be able to spend a lot more time on it. The interior is already mostly dis-assembled, but I have been eager to get cracking on the seats.

This is such a remarkably complete car, even the insides of the doors still contain every last plastic dust cover , the thin ones stuck over the holes to reduce dust and noise. The boot (trunk) contains all the original lining and carpeting material. The list goes on and on...

The task at hand is now to completely disassemble (to the ground - or, rather, to carefully- labeled, photo-referenced boxes) this well aged machine. I just know that it will be a lot easier than putting it back together again. But what a pleasure!

For the first time, I have been able to do a fairly thorough bodywork inspection, both for rust, and general condition / straighness. Apart from a small dent or two, everything lines up perfectly! This is great - because don't you just hate that "wavy" look of a poorly panelbeaten restored car?

Dashboard disassembly

Well, it took almost a whole day to disassemble the dashboard - now all that is left are the main electric harnesses, and the heating.



The dashboard is a fixed metal part of the chassis, and it is quite difficult to remove all the elements from within this framework. This is luckily counteracted by the overall simplicity of the car.

It was difficult to reach in everywhere to loosen the delicate chrome and wood panels, but by far the most difficult was to get in there and remove the instrument cluster. Most modern cars have simple electrical plugs that connect to the instrumentation, but in this case, several metal and copper pipes that physically convey water temperature and oil pressure had to be carefully loosened. The instrument cluster has the look and feel of a very old, delicate science instrument at the back, and you have to contort your arms and body into ridiculous positions to be able access the back of the cluster whilst still in position. I only found out later that I actually only had to loosen the one large retaining screw, as well as the main electrical plug, and that I could then pull the whole cluster out far enough in order to loosen the rest from the front

Interestingly enough, I had to physically remove the temperature gauge module from the instrument cluster, as it is connected to the engine with a single-piece metal pipe that cannot disconnect from the gauge itself (visible in the image above, wrapped in plastic for protection). But I fear for the day when I have to put the instrument cluster back together again!

I'm sure that the damaged soft vinyl covering of the dashboard could be repaired, but I'm just going to use the one from the other car, still in great condition. The wood, however, will be carefully re-finished.