Classic Car Blog

This particular DB4 came to us as it required new front and rear bumpers. These were sent unchromed to allow for changes to be made to ensure the best fit for the car. Although a labour intensive process, it is worth it to get the best from the new bumpers.

As the photos show, the car was taped up to protect the paintwork before fitting them for the first time. To get the gap correct and even around the car, a rough guide was marked onto the bumpers before removing them again and grinding off the excess metal. This process had to be repeated several times to get the correct fit. Once the front bumper was done, the overriders and numberplate holes needed to be drilled as this cannot be done once chromed. The rear bumper was also fitted up in the same way and then they were all removed and packed up to be sent of for chroming.

Progress has been steady on the TR6 that was brought to us for fairly extensive bodywork. On inspection, the chassis was good enough to repair so a replacement was not necessary. As the pictures show, it quickly went from a rolling chassis to having the engine and gearbox removed, wheels and suspension taken off along with any remaining pipework to leave a bare structure. This was then sent away for shotblasting and priming to give us a better idea of the repairs that will be needed. As you can see, there are areas of corrosion that will need work along with replacement parts that we have ready. Overall, the chassis is not in too bad a condition and once works are completed will form a solid base for the body to go back on to.

A fair amount of progress has now been made with this project. The body was braced using tubular steel welded to the inside of the now empty bodyshell. This was done to make the body as rigid as possible once removed from the chassis to hold it together. The bracing was then strapped to a two-post lift once all fixings had been removed and it was ready to come off. As you can see from the photos it was a quick and straight forward process to remove the body in this way so the chassis could then be rolled out from underneath.

The chassis itself is in quite bad condition towards the rear and this will need a lot of repair work before it can be blasted and painted ready to be put back together.  Although a new or reconditioned chassis could be used, in this case it will be better to repair the existing one. New body panels have also arrived to replace some of the corroded originals and work will now begin to repair the chassis. Further updates will follow to fully document the restoration.

The TR6 has now been stripped of all 4 wings as well as the interior. The extent of the corrosion on the sills and previous repairs to the inner wings can now be seen. There was also a large amount of filler on the rear deck panel (as you can see below) which was almost 1cm thick in places.

Replacement inner and outer sills will be needed along with some other repair panels to remove the corrosion. Further progress updates to follow.

Following the completion of our restoration workshop last week, the Jaguar E-Type restoration project we currently have underway was moved into it in preparation for works to continue. Yesterday saw the engine and gearbox being removed from the car so that the engine can be looked over and stripped for work to be done. Pictures of the removal can be seen below - as you can see, it's a large mass to be removed from a relatively small gap and takes a lot of care and patience!

More updates will follow as work continues.