Part 4
I got the newly rebuilt engine back form the Engine Room, mated it with
the transmission and installed it into the car. The radiator and front
valance went on. I went to hang the doors and discovered that the door
opening was about 1/4 inch too short.
I went back to the company who did the body work. The person who did all
the work had been fired shortly after finishing with my car because the
owner discovered that he was coming into work on Heroin. He took back
the car to lengthen the center section 1/4 inch. I got the car back about
a month later with the doors hung.
I put the wings on with a couple of bolts and brought the car back to the
paint shop to have the outside painted and some scratches I made
installing the engine repainted. While I was installing the engine &
other major interior stuff and having the car lengthened the paint shop
had gotten into financial problems. A partner estimated a number of jobs
low, emptied the company bank account and left. The remaining partner
was loosing money doing the jobs that were under estimated. I had to
prepay for my paint job just so he could purchase paint and keep the
electricity on to do the painting. I paid for a colour coat and to come
back after the car was assembled for last touch ups and to have the car
colour sanded and clear coated.
The car got painted and flatbeded home. I mounted the wings, replaced
the old worn crooked wire wheels with new Dayton chrome wheels & splines.
I discovered that the new stone guards do not fit properly to the
leading edge of the rear wings. A call to The Roadster Factory confirmed
that the reproductions do not properly fit. So I bent them and got them
to fit.
I also discovered that my new door sill finish panels didn't fit properly
and had to grind them a little. I went to mount my freshly painted
bonnet and boot lid to discover that the body shop did not make any trial
fits so the fit is poor and gaps are uneven. I went to install the newly
rechomed and reglassed windscreen and discovered that it would not fit
properly. When the body shop repaired the cowl damage they built the
corners up too high and checked fit of the windscreen without the meal
sliders that go between the windscreen and the body. The windscreen fits
without the sliders.
I went back to the paint shop to see if they could redo the top edges of
the front scuttle. The paint shop had closed down. I had a bunch of
stuff still there. The owner had come through and sent a lot of stuff to
the dump including all my rear body cappings, the sticks for the hood,
scuttle vent and opening hardware and a few other bits that needed
painting. Luckily my hard top was sitting in the yard out back and I was
able to retrieve it. My prepaid colour sanding and clear coat had
disappeared along with the company.
AT this point my morale was at a low point. I wanted to do it right and
have everything turn out perfect. I gave up on the project for about a
year. Meanwhile condensation from the rains & mud had affected the
finish of polished work under the bonnet. My roommate's little dog
urinated repeatedly on my new chrome wheels and her cats were spraying
there too.
TeriAnn Wakeman Border to Border
Santa Cruz, California Expedition Society
twakeman@cruzers.com "Live the adventure"
http://www.cruzers.com/~twakeman http://www.bordertoborder.com
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