E Type 888330

[sladey]

I saw this yesterday on the phone and coudn’t Understand the bit around the mouth. I thought Barry was bridging the gap with a new piece. Just managed to look at it afresh on the iPad and it’s brilliant - to get that perfect curve into top and bottom by splitting one part - genius and ingenious

[911hillclimber]

Yes, and with returned edges I think top and bottom.
Magic.

[murph2309]

Yeah. It’s alright. ....

[Jonny Hart]

Saw the car at the paint shop last week sitting next to my SC. Looks great! Don’t worry, no spoiler pics from me!

[jtparr]

so....to paint....

Steve at DC Coachworks was my preferred choice for 2 reasons; being local to Barry the two of them had collaborated on many a restoration project ibn the past....including a number of cars from within this parish, so any hiccups and additional tweaks would be simple to arrange....and Steve painted my 911....which after 13 years on the road shows no signs of deterioration

first order of the proceedings was to clean of all the old black primer from the replacement angels and clean back all of the bare exposed metalwork remaining on the inside and underside of the car, and blend in the epoxy primer I had applied almost 2 years ago





at least this way all of the remaining bare metalwork was to be limited to the outer panels, which were the ones which would receive the greatest amount of attention on the ensuing months














this wasn't to say that filler wasn't needed for a few tidying moments....all in the interests of a professional job




even in the inner faces of the wheel arches.....



so lovely to begin to see the car emerging as a single colour finally....














thanks for looking

Jp

[911hillclimber]

Just fabulous, lots of details please as it progresses.
Even the underside of an E Type looks great from any angle...
Graham.

[defianty]

Top drawer Jp. I think the favourite part of my build so far was seeing it in a single colour again. Everything started to become one again.

[jtparr]

Patience is definitely a virtue during the painting process, and in truth there is no point in it being rushed

Steve has always wanted to leave the car for days or weeks after application of filler or build up in primers to monitor any possible sinkage and reactions....and given my 911 has shown absolutely no signs of deterioration in the quality of the painted surface after some 13 years I am more than happy to take his advice

once the interior was coated attention turned to the outer shell, and smoothing out the last millimetres of alignment between fixed panels, doors, hatch, bonnet and external fixtures...with all panels in place and held other catches filler was applied across panels and then joints re-scribed















Ask anyone restoring a car and they will always advocate restoration of original parts if at all possible as the build quality of reproduction items is not so good

The rear light housings for series 1 cars are such an instance, and my original were too badly pitted and a replacement second hand set was bought.....however to get that last final shaping of the rear arches required hours of trial and error and then blending those new shapes in to the whole arch









and to ensure the concept of the perfect oval mouth was achieved Steve and Stuart spent hours on those flowing curves






It is vital to get the body to appear as a single for with constant reflections....especially on dark colours....so block sanding with doors inn and bonnet on are essential....












and checking headlamp units and front indicators .... small adjustments being easily possible on the chrome lamp surrounds as being brass they are quite malleable













and a final amount of attention to the bumpers front and rear....for a particular modification









to ease production tolerances there are stories of backing cars into walls to "persuade" bodywork to fit bumpers....and ultimately there was always the use of gaskets to mask the joint

in my case I wanted perfection in fitting and no gaskets....just a clean open joint between the chrome and the paint, so bumpers and bodywork have both been shaped and ground to match one another


I have never seen anyone do this....which is perhaps understandable...but if you're going to do anything in life....why not do it properly....?



thanks for looking
Jp

[inaglasshouse]

Great to see Steve at work on the E. Can't wait to see how that sculpted shape turns out.

And, since I also took Steve's advice on this, happy to hear:

Steve has always wanted to leave the car for days or weeks after application of filler or build up in primers to monitor any possible sinkage and reactions....and given my 911 has shown absolutely no signs of deterioration in the quality of the painted surface after some 13 years I am more than happy to take his advice

Cheers, Richard.

[Gary71]

Fantastic stuff Jonathon. Long board sanding the whole car, that’s commitment to the cause!

[hot66]

Wow .. really starting to look amazing

[964RS]

Looks great Jonathan. I’m sure the cost will be justified by the finished product!

[murph2309]

JP - that looks amazing.... going to be so cool when it's done, but this stage is fascinating to watch and see emerge too. Great team you've assembled around you for this, with Barry on the shell and these guys on paint, it's going to be world class is this....

[silver911]

This is going to be so awesome......so special; the details you have developed are exquisite. The air intake alone is amazing.

[sladey]

Fantastic stuff Jonathan - you can see why the hours are required for a perfect finish