I haven’t posted about the 63 FHC restoration in a while. That is mainly because I am in the middle of the “bodywork slog”. This is the painful part of the process where you are getting the body ready for paint. Although from 10 feet away, my body shell looked to be very nice, when … Continue reading
Painting has begun on the 1963 Etype FHC restoration. This might seem a little early in the process but let me explain. As near as I can tell, the factory assembled the bodies fairly completely and then painted them, inside and out, with either enamal or laquer paint. Both products have fallen out of favor … Continue reading
I have spent the last week and a half dealing with the bonnet nose section. The body shell of the car is in great condition, with no sign of corrosion or collision damage. At the bonnet end, the Front Underpanel Assembly and the two Wings appear to be in good shape. The bonnet Center Panel … Continue reading
Sometimes while performing a restoration you reach a roadblock or realize you have spent an inordinate amount of time doing something that would seem to be pretty simple. Early in the restoration, when roadblocks are met you can many times jump over to something different, just to keep moving. This first installment of Odds and … Continue reading
In my article here, I discussed the fact that the engine frames that came with my parts trove turned out to have terminal corrosion. This set in process my procurement of new frames from Etype Fabs in the UK. I had previously procured products from them and found the workmanship to be outstanding. I used … Continue reading
In my article here, I discussed removing various items of sheetmetal I found in the car that were not repaired to the original factory configuration. Mainly affected were the footwells, the firewall, and the rear of the driver’s side sill. After removing the offending pieces, I had the body shell media blasted. A fortunate outcome … Continue reading
Last summer, at the Carolina Jaguar Club concours, I ran into a fellow, Brad Merlie, who informed me that he was marketing a stash of new old stock Jaguar parts. One thing that caught my interest was that he said he had some, but not all, of the items that made up the Tool Roll. … Continue reading
Months ago, I started thinking about having the body shell media blasted. That led to me thinking about what to do right after it was blasted. In general, the car was in stable condition with original paint or newish primer (that I applied 15 years ago). I knew that as soon as I had the … Continue reading
Today was a big day. The mobile media blasters showed up and cleaned up all the important pieces back to bare metal. Media blasting is the modern term for what used to be called just “sand blasting”. Sand has fallen out of favor, mostly because the silica in real sand was causing lung damage to … Continue reading
I put the body shell on my rotiserrie today. What! Did you think I was roasting chickens? I have a rotiserrie left over from my 67 2+2 restoration. It is made up from engine stands. The main advantage of engine stands is that they provide a stable base and have a built in connection that … Continue reading
