DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

The other side was much the same -





as is the case with this car its very holey in some places but perfect in others -





my favourite repair -

New A pillars back dated and fitted.

might as well keep going while i'm on a roll -

Working towards the rear inner wings-





again getting very thin/pin holey -











more beautiful fab work -

Weld had broken on a nut-

The Front well had suffered a little corrosion so that was cut out and replaced with fresh steel -

img]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4279/354 ... cc3c_c.jpg[/img]

Thats nearly the inner tub done. New torque tube ends were fitted -





It all lines up on the jig as it should -









Ready for outer panels. I've used mostly Genuine panels but I did go with Dansk battery boxes and inner sills. Barry said the boxes were a decent fit but the inner sills took a bit of work.

This has got me looking back at old tear down pics. The engine bay is clearly black but I've only just realised how little evidence of black paint is on the rear wings. Is this how the black paint goes from years of neglect? The inner wings looks much like the underside which obviously were never black and just covered in years of crap.







My current plan for paint is -

-Epoxy entire shell
-Seam seal
-fill where necessary underneath
-Epoxy
-Underbody spray in light grey/beige with schultz gun - underside, arches, engine bay and where necessary in trunk
-Lay down top coat under arches, trunk, engine bay, inside, door shuts, hinges, inside doors, under boot lid etc
-Refit panels, gap up and pass onto my friend for prepping and topcoat. Spec white sealer under Tangerine topcoat.
-Hand paint in satin black - engine bay, arches and the other places as per factory.
-Spray dash satin black.

Does that sound about right?
Just want to make sure now my arches definitely were black at one time?

Hi Ash,

Saw your shell at Barry's last week. I think I missed you by an hour or two. Looking very good indeed.
Arches, yes, black (in my view). But the black was pretty haphazardly applied, and not very durable.

I assume you've seen these pics of the 700 mile 1970 car?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/80724421@ ... 169538658/

Cheers, Richard.

Ash - sorry you have probably already made your views clear on this - are you keeping the Sporto?
Cheers, Richard.

also down at Barry's last week and saw your shell. Was tempted to steal it but Barry wouldnt let me. Roll on the day - not too far off - when mine looks as perfect as yours did!

Looking forward to seeing the paint job report!

I thought i'd fast forward a bit and get up to date...

The shell as it came back from Barrys, gapped perfectly as expected -







Seems a shame to strip it back down but it had to be done...





It took approx 50hrs of prep to get the shell ready for paint. This wasn't much fun but had to be done. I've got to remember this is where I save the Pounds and thats much needed. I certainly saw the benefit of a chequebook restoration after 12 hrs of rubbing down.

Having a great time...



I invested in some cheap Chinese air tools - Mini DA, DA and die grinder which certainly took some of the pain away. I also invested approx £350 in an air fed mask set up which really is a treat but it will allow me to paint a lot of my suspension components later on.





















I was a bit worried about getting a good covering of epoxy on a few of the hard to get areas, particularly up in the rear wings so I sent barry over some paint and he laid it on before the rear wings went on. He also did the inside of the doors and a few other areas in the Lecher epoxy.

Thats it for now.

Another milestone! Looking good

Exciting times

You're posting this just to upset me aren't you?!

As someone who barely has the patience and manual dexterity to tie their own shoe laces, I am blown away by the skill demonstrated here.
Fantastic.