More Pictures

Since the car has returned to my garage, I've added a few odd and ends to help finish it off.  Things like exterior and interior badges, floor mats, interior door panels and a nice chrome fire extinguisher.  Leslie says there's nothing more reassuring than strapping yourself into a car that comes with a fire extinguisher.  I think I sensed sarcasm in her voice.  I still need to calibrate the gauges, but I can't do that until I can get it out on the open road.  And I can't do that until I get the paperwork back from the state in a few weeks.  So for now, here are some more pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

Finally!!!

Well, the day finally came yesterday when I was able to drive up to North Carolina to pick up the finished car!  Brad and I have already assembled a "to do" list of future projects to improve or finish up little odds and ends, but for all practical purposes it's finished.  Now I'm waiting on the title to show up (two to three weeks....aaaahhhh) so I can start the process of getting it tagged in Georgia.  In the meantime, it will have to sit in the garage and taunt me.

Picking up the car on Saturday at Whitbys.

Unloading the car from the trailer on Sunday.

 

 

 

The final "To Do" list on our whiteboard for the past 11 months.

Coming Soon!!

Brad and I have been informed that the car is now finished.  We have not seen any completed pictures yet, but have been told that it looks fantastic!!  Based on other completed cars I've seen from the same shop, I have no reason to believe it will look anything but perfect.  I am making the long 6 hour drive up to Greensboro this Saturday to pick it up.  Watch for pictures soon!!

Finally.....Some Updates

I apologize for the long delay in updating our blog.  Getting any kind of updates or commitments from the body shop has been an extremely painful process.  We have been told "it will be done at the end of the month" on at least four occasions.  Of course the month would come and go.....and nothing would be finished.  But every time we would begin to completely lose faith a vague email or even a photo would arrive to revive our spirits.  At first we were thinking that this aggravating process was limited to just our car, and our body shop.  But when I started talking with others who have built or refurbished old cars, I quickly learned that the entire antique auto body industry is based on glacier like progress.  I can't tell you how many time I was told "If you get your car back within a year, you're lucky."  We even spoke with another gentleman who had his car finished by Whitbys and shared similar stories.  Here's the good part, though.  He said that if the car hadn't been flawless when if finally arrived, he would have been pissed.  Needless to say, he's very happy and said that we would be too when we finally did get the car.  Well, we're closing in on 11 months now and I'm happy to report that Whitbys has finally committed to a completion date of September 15th.  Of course, everybody at my office has reminded me that he didn't specify a year!  I won't believe it until I actually see it, but this time it appears to be the real deal.  Brad said he wouldn't buy his plane ticket down here until they were sure, and they told him to go ahead and get the ticket.  They're even in the process now of getting the car titled in North Carolina as a 1965 Cobra, which should make tagging the car in Georgia much easier.

Well, it's not a lot but these pictures represent the bulk of pictures we have received in 11 months.  (actually that's not true, we did receive a lot of pictures a while back but had to point out that they weren't of our car)  Enjoy...I know I did when they arrived!

Ready for the paint booth.

In the paint booth, ready for paint.

Stripe painted and taped, ready for body color.  And.........

Lexus Indigo Pearl with Wimbledon White!!

Body Work Photos

The body work on the car has been a SLOW process, but I do see headlights at the end of the tunnel.  Realizing that our car wasn't getting the attention it deserved, I recently paid a visit to Whitbys to speak with Jeff personally and to get a definite schedule for completion.  Very long story short...I have been assured that the car will be complete at the end of April.  There's a lot of work to be done, but we have worked through the schedule and it appears that it can be done.  My job now is to remain the squeakiest wheel of all his customers for the next 4 weeks.  Here are a few photos of the finished body in primer.  Hopefully I will be able to post MUCH more complete photos very shortly!!

Body in primer awaiting final wet sanding before painting next week.

Apparently our experiement of adding rigid foam in the doors caused quite a headache.
The team at Whitbys was able to get all the ripples smoothed out though, and the doors look great.

Finished brackes for concealed trunk hinges.

Trunk lid.