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After spending some time in the US Navy and then graduating from
college, I finally decided that since I have a good job it was time to
get my Spitfire looking better. I got involved in a local
club, the Panhandle British
Car Association, and going to car shows with them furthered my decision.
So then I took the car apart leaving only the body and
frame. Next I loaded it on my trailer and brought it to the body shop.
This picture is outside the body shop after the body man stripped the old paint off, did
body work on the numerous dents and dings, and sanded it down. While waiting
for the body shop, I started on designing my British car club's website.
I continue to improve and update the site.[February 1999] |
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This view of the engine compartment shows how bad it was. I didn't
think it was that bad until I had taken all the devices off the firewall
and removed the engine/transmission. We even discovered a cracked frame
area from the original owner's accident. (lower right of picture) |
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I had the body shop replace the right rear quarter panel because the
original owner had and accident in or about 1979 and it was repaired with
a LOT of bondo. Because this is a restoration job, I bought a new panel
from Victoria British and paid the shop much extra money to remove and
replace it. |
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Rear view showing the trunk lid stripped & sanded, and rear bumper
removed. |
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In need of flash photography, this picture shows the result of hard
work to replace that rear quarter panel with a brand new one. |
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The doors needed a lot of thin surface work. Most do after a while.
But on the passenger door there was a large dent and a long deep scratch from a
bicycle rider who ran into my car when it was parked on a college campus. |
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The bonnet, rear panels, and trunk have been primered and next work
begins on the engine compartment area starting with de-greasing. |
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The doors were painted all around after the internal parts were removed. |
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The body painting begins! |
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Close-up of the trunk area during the painting process. I removed the
gas tank before delivering the car to the shop because they had to do some
welding. I did not want to risk their lives or my car due to an errant
spark. |
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The painting process is finished and the shop has rebuilt the doors,
re-installed the rear bumper and hood latches, and painted the wheels (not
the centercaps). |
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Now I have it back home and getting ready to pull it back into my garage
shop. View of the left front, ready for me to put it back together. :-)
[April 1999] |
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View of the right rear, ready for me to put it back together. :-) |
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Compare this picture of the finished engine compartment with the second
picture on this page. Looks great, doesn't it! |
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With a neighbor's help, the engine and transmission is back in the
car. Then came re-installing all the engine devices, radiator, and firewall
mounted devices. Trying to get everything ready for the show in two days
is too much, but I will do what I can! [4/15/1999] |
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This is me and my project at my club's Pensacola
British Car Beach Bash held every April. I received 2nd place in
the Restoration Class. I had the turn signals, side marker lights, and
rear lights back on. The engine/transmission went back in two days before
this show. It was trailered to the show because it was not driveable yet.
[4/17/1999] |
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The next show I attended was the Pace Pres.Church Scottish Festival.
I did more work on the car between the
PBCA Beach show and this show. First you can easily tell that I now have
the front bumper and the underriders back on. I had cleaned and replaced
all the engine compartment devices and next did more of the interior. The
engine ran and the brake systems were re-installed. But I still did not
drive the car to this show due to electrical wiring and no brake pressure.
[5/1/1999] |
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I also had more of the interior done since the Beach show two weeks
earlier. Both seats with seat covers, carpet for the area between the seats
and in the back, carpet over the transmission tunnel cover, and a new dashpad
was installed. I won 2nd place at this small show. [5/1/1999] |
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Still a work in progress! After putting the transmission back in, I
discovered that the clutch would not stop the flywheel to shift into gear.
There was plenty of fluid and the clutch line was completely bled. With
the transmission tunnel cover off, I could see the lever that the slave
cylinder pushes through a small space between the clutch slave cylinder
and the bellhousing. When I pressed the clutch, I could see it move forward.
But apparently it did not more forward enough to stop the flywheel. So
after fiddling with it for two weeks, I decided to learn something and
go to the mechanic. He discovered
that it was the pivot pin sleeve that had worn down. When I would press
the clutch and the push rod pressed one side of the bellhousing lever,
the worn sleeve allowed the other side to fall back just enough to not
give the clutch enough contact with the flywheel. It was an expensive lesson,
but now I have learned something! [7/1/1999] |
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After not doing any new work for a few months, I finally got back to
work on the project when other things slowed down. The frame for the convertible
top was rust treated, painted, and reinstalled. I installed a new Robbins
top from British Parts Northwest on it. I worked on solving the wiring
problem keeping turn signals and brake lights from working. I decided to
"modernize" the wiring for brake lights by running them from a non-ignition
source. Step on the brake pedal of your modern car and brake lights come
on w/o the key in ignition. This is a safety feature that I decided to
incorporate into my Spitfire and keep me and it safe. [December 1999] |
