Ughhhhh... it's late. How to write this up diplomatically?
I finished adding to this build thread last summer - the car was on the road, running well. I was piling the miles on and having a wonderful time. But keen readers will recall the problems I had with the headlamps not fitting - in short, the two beautiful new wings that I bought direct from The Mothership (at £800 each) turned-out to have headlight bowls that were installed wonky, with the top edge a few millimetres too deep in the wings. This meant the headlamp bezel would not locate correctly. Because of the wings' provenance (excellence was expected, accept no substitute, etc), I never imagined they would be anything other than perfect and I only discovered this issue once the F****** CAR HAD BEEN PAINTED.
And so I made a mantra:
Test fit your sh-t
Befo' you paint yo' whip
Muthafucka.
But it was too late. In order to get the headlamps to fit, I had to carefully chip-away the brand new paint at the edge of the headlamp bowl. It looked like crap, but the area was hidden once the headlamp was installed. I painted the exposed metal lip with black epoxy primer and re-shaped the top securing lip. It -sort of- held. Sort of. Ugh. I had to use very thin VW Beetle gaskets to get the thing to locate properly. One had to be shaved-down further. The car was gorgeous, and the headlamps were a bodge. It made me itch.
I talked to Barry about it at the time. He hadn't noticed it when the car was with him and, well, why would you? Two new wings with the Stuttgart seal of approval and an enormous invoice to match. He has since found other wings with the same defect. Absolute hand shandys.
Barry came up with a plan to put the headlamp bowls right, and today I drove down to Carter HQ and we (he) got stuck in. Six hours corrective surgery, in the freezing cold. At the end he declared it a warranty repair. I'd say whichever feckless twunt welded those headlight bowls in the first place owes him a hot chocolate or two.
Here's the process:
Paint off...
Welds carefully drilled...
Next, shitloads of bashing from inside the wheelarch (no photos here because I was the assistant for this stage). Barry used a big block of wood and sledgehammer to move the bowls out. Brutal and delicate at the same time. The wood was shaped on a bandsaw to fit the curve of the back of the bowl so there was no damage to the form of the bowl.
Re-weld the spot welds in their new position...
Got to make those welds invisible...
Headlamps installed with the correct seals, fitting beautifully and solidly, and not a mark on the rest of the wing...
For the sake of disclosure I will hereby declare that I am a paid-up member of the Barry Carter Fan Club. I have the Barry Carter limited-edition pyjamas, dressing gown and collectable soft toy. I love this guy's work and I am overjoyed with the result from today. In my eyes, the car is now done (save for a bit of re-sealing of the wing behind the spot welds).
We finished the day with the famous miserable maestro shot. Another beautiful work of art to add to his long and growing list
Barry Carter - Bodywork Restoration Specialist - 07741 273865
