End of March Update

The body shop have finished blocking down the middle 3 coats of primmer and prepped it for final primming which will be done this coming week. With a bit of luck it should then be moving towards final paint in the second week of April.

In the meantime I have been doing some outstanding electrical work; I took the resistor off the back of an old push button switch unit and soldered it onto mine to make a repair. I also re soldered all the wiring back onto the connector plate on the steering column\ignition unit cover.

All of the aluminium trim has been gathered together and will be going for examination by a refinishing company in Northampton, including the early rim embellishers. I had to do some extensive metal bumping to get one of them back into shape - if any one has 2 good ones to sell that would be great.

Finally Larry Edson kindly has sent me a part damaged rear boot latch mechanism which I hope to be able to use to mend my own 62 unit.

As I have no new pictures to share this is a video clip of what the car looked like about this time last year when it was due to go to the body shop.

Chroming

I received the front and rear bumpers back from The London Chroming Company this week - absolutely excellent, the photo doesn't do them justice as all the specks of dust look like marks which they are not.

Also souced a vinyl paint, KolorBond, to refinish the original 62 style floor mats and will be spraying them once the paint arrives.

I haven't seen any progress at the body shop as it was closed this weekend due to Easter holidays, hopefully there will be more to report after next weekend.

Paint progress

There has been some good progress on the paint work. Three coats of primer have been applied this week and all doors, bonnets prepared as well. Next week sees the final pre top coat stage with hopefully final paint going on over the following 2 weeks.

Roof trims

I bought a pair of roof trims from Type3 Detectives. They arrived today, no major dents, no scratches and certainly no chance of being bent in the post as the guys had wisely not tried to remove them, just cut off the bit off the roof they were fitted to and sent them on - Thanks guys, a final vital part of the car now sourced.

T3D also sent me a replacement rear hub seal cover. Mine has been refitted 3 times, using new VW seals, RTV sealant and Blue Hylomar to stop fluid escape but it still happens. I have checked the existing cover, it doesn't appear to be distorted but I am going to replace it and see if that stops the leaks.

Ninove, Belgium meeting

Just got these photos, amongst others, from Mike Dempster who went across to the Nonove meeting in Belgium over the weekend. Looks like a wet but great meeting with quite a few good looking T34s. The Fastie belongs to Mike, a very nice car which be bought back last year after selling it and has spend some time undoing the lowering that had been done to it - it has a great Pigalle coloured interior.

March looks promising

I went to the body shop this morning. The car has finished being prepped and will be undercoated on Monday. With luck another 2 weeks should then see it sorted ready for spraying. I'm hoping it will be back home for the start of April but not getting too excited yet.

Here is a shot of it last week taken by Mike Dempster when he called in, hard to spot the progress but there was some.

Every little helps

I called in at the body shop this morning. Rubbing down of the filler primer coat has at long last been completed and the primer coats are to be sprayed on and flatted down this week.

Here is a photo of the rolling chassis with the seats and fuel tank temporarily in place.