Author Topic: Progress! Restoration  (Read 3118 times)

Shvegel

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Progress! Restoration
« on: February 06, 2012, 23:07:21 »
Progress!

For those of you who have not been following the story of my body restoration or should I say re-restoration. My car was rusty then butchered by someone in 1980 with a torch, some brazing rod and an air chisel. I honestly believe that is why the owner quit driving it and it sat for 23 years.  I bought it 9 years ago, rebuilt the driveline and fell in love.  5 years ago I was working out of the country so I sent it off to a friend to have a few parts of the body replaced. The original plan was to remove the brazed on fenders, replace the inner wheel houses and fix the rocker panels.  Well...that turned into 5 years and replacing pretty much everything except the strip behind the tonneau cover. He started cutting away all the cancerous and damaged panels and then got an offer of a new job which ended up being a 70 hour a week gig. He finally voted for sanity so the new floors, trunk floor, rocker panels, inner wheelhouses, nose panels, tail panels, fenders and quarter panels are now going back on the car. He finished the floors and rockers this weekend and the car is off the fixtures and is now making great strides. Life is good.

Having been around classic cars for the better part of 40 years I have always counselled people contemplating a restoration that you have to decide if you love this model of car or do you love THIS car?  If you love the model and year go out and find a nice one and buy it.  It will cost less and you can drive it tomorrow.  If you love THIS car you are in trouble. This is what happens when you love the car.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2012, 01:13:16 by 280SL71 »

KevinC

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Re: Progress!
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2012, 23:36:38 »
So essentially a 2012 280SL! Looks good....

dseretakis

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Re: Progress! Restoration
« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2012, 14:07:27 »
Definitely an ambitious project! What's a BMW guy doing fixing your Benz- top right corner.:)

Shvegel

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Re: Progress! Restoration
« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2012, 17:11:21 »
dseretakis,

 I used to be a BMW trainer so I don't mind the Roundel.

Rick has many and varied interests.  He owns a Porsche 914 with a 928S aluminum V8 in it that he did a beautiful job converting and 2 of the three 914's painted an ungodly strawberry pink known to exist(thank god...Sorry Rick). A Healy bug eye with an injected Suzuki engine, a Healey 100-4 and he recently sold a BMW 2002tii with all steel group 5 flares he built by hand.  I'll dig up some pictures of some of the work he did building the panels he needed at the ends of the rocker panels. He really is a wizard. Today he is off to the machine shop to have his spot welder tongs modified to spot weld the front fender lips.

« Last Edit: February 07, 2012, 17:19:38 by Shvegel »