Restoration begins

In the summer of 1988 the job of dismantling the car began. The previous owner had astonishingly enough paid a lot of attention to the chassis. It was not a beautiful job, but all rust had been removed.

When all steel panels, wings and aprons had been removed, they were bead blasted and thereafter metal-sprayed with zinc from the underneath. Here you can see before and after, it gives a perfect surface for painting as well as good corrosion protection.

Although the rear frame was also in good condition and did not need to be removed the front was completely rotten wood behind the dashboard so new pieces were made. One of the pieces removed had the chassis number punched into the wood. Before reassembling, the number was repunched with the correct font.
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Then it was the hood´s turn. Ulf is of the opinion that it is far better to carry out such jobs before the painting to avoid the risk of lacquer damage. Note the small original size of the rear window, the colour (maroon) of the matching edges of the hood and of course the separate rear side screen instead of the single piece hood that was fitted to the car in 1982. Ulf thinks that the factory way is by far the most elegant as it allows the hood to be up on hot days, without the ugly "C-pillar"-look.

The original door inner panels were missing, so new ones were made using a borrowed a pair. The next task was to sew the leather upholstery on to the new plywood backing. It took two weeks to sew the decorative seam through both the leather and the plywood. This was carried out using a pair of pliers, a hammer and several sewing-machine needles and a tool to support underneath. Indeed, a very trying procedure, but Ulf was quite satisfied by the result.

The original front seat with its two seats and single backrest had been replaced by those from a saloon. The single backrest is needed so that the tonneau cover can be buttoned up to it. New bases and springs, bought at a mattress factory, were made up by copying from a friend´s seats.

New door skins were made and fitted.

Marine plywood was used for the floorboards and rear deck.

These pictures show the correct layout of the engine compartment. However, the coil is a provisional and the "Nesthill" hose clips are missing here. The engine has been restored by a professional - it needed maximum oversize pistons.

The car is now nearing completion and is is nice to see that it has a suitable home. The signs on the garage door are appropriate and the layout of the garage is very much in keeping with the car.