Time for Some Real Progress

After some patching and sanding various parts of the car, mainly repairing star cracks, the dear old Bond has sat for some time.

This inaction was principally due to being busy at work with my new freelance design business, Conceptual Voodoo Design Services. Months turned into years before I was finally employed full time by one of my clients, so the car yet again became a priority.

 

Copious amounts of grinding work to dig out cracked glass

Having money for the first time in years, and with Norm otherwise engaged, I decided it was time to get serious. First, the hideous 1980's glass pop-up sunroof was removed...

Urgh...to the rubbish bin!

The body stripped to the bone (note sanded rear section...so much dust!)...

Good mate Russell unwittingly caught in the action

The engine removed...

And off the little chap went to some new experts for a faster crack at the repairs...

Dan the man, he loves driving my cars around

Advanced Fibreglass Techniques agreed to take on the project, arriving in mid-Winter it was the perfect off-season project for them the while away the months between boats and jet-ski's! It wasn't long before the body was broken down into its major sub-sections, gently sandblasted and work commenced. More to follow.

Bits...everywhere...not quite at ground zero (chassis yet to come apart) but hopefully some form of re-assembly is not far away! Note sanded bonnet standing up rear centre

Rusty rear end ready for sandblasting. Roof hole to be filled in

Rusty bulkhead with BIG windscreen issues (stay tuned)

A Screen Too Far

Well, after a long absence it's a little difficult to know where to start dear readers. Suffice to say, there has been periods of sustained sporadic activity over the last 3 years since I last wrote, interspersed with redundancy, starting a new business, other projects, numerous shed clean-outs, you name it. So, where were we...

...that's right, attending to some unfortunate damage at the base of the rear windscreen.

The completion of the right side of the bodywork allowed us to focus on the gutter corner. Applying a level to the area revealed quite a substantial drop at this point, but using a block of wood and a car jack, we managed to get everything back where it should be.

Brackets and a small steel plate allowed us to tie everything together and incrementally fill with glass.

Alignment of the gutters required a lot of brackets and jiggery pokery

Brackets removed, the broken gutter corner can now be filled with chopped glass - note improvised clamps!

Finished the major work, ready for sanding

At completion, everything was now level. Whilst crucial, of course, none of this is terribly exciting, nonetheless a job well done. Let's move on!

With the lower ledge now level, we decided to test fit the rear screen, just in case there were any issues. Here's where something weird happened...the screen that cam with the car appeared inches short each side and featured a notable curve not matched by the bodywork. IT WAS THE WRONG SCREEN!!!

After some furious emailing a replacement screen was located in the UK, and thanks to the generosity of regular parts contributor (more to come), Adrian Schollick, we were back in business. A crate was custom made by sensational packaging experts Universal Packaging, and the screen was on its way to Australia in weeks.

It's here!!!

Once we unpacked the wonderfully protected rear screen, we quickly tested the fitment to make sure all was perfect...only to find it was no different! I put the 2 screens on top of each other for comparison; IDENTICAL!!!

So, I guess now, at great expense to the management, I now have a spare - another lesson learnt in haste and jumping to conclusions. Sigh.