[TR] Front apron woes

[Doug Hamilton]

Dave,
I have a fiberglass Smith Deacon(sp) front apron for a TR3. The fit and 
overall shape of it is much better than the steel one a friend of mine 
bought for $2k about 5 years ago from one of the Big 3. My friend never 
used the new part on his restoration because his body man said it needed 
more work to fit it to the car than to fix the damage to the original.
I can send you pictures of the fiberglass apron if you like it's not 
installed at the moment.

Doug Hamilton
1960 Triumph TR3A
1963 Fiat Cabriolet

> Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:07:50 -0800
> From: David Ljung Madison <team.net at daveola.com>
> Subject: [TR] Front apron woes
> To: triumphs at autox.team.net
> Message-ID: <E1JPN5O-0005e3-VK at dave.getdave.com>
>
> As mentioned before, my front apron is damaged.
>
> http://DavePics.com/Album/Trouble/2007-10-22.Triumph-Accident/
>
> The options I've found so far are:
>
> 1) Buy new front apron for a whopping $2250
>
> 2) Buy a fiberglass front apron and deal with possible fit issues
>    with an apron that can't really be molded (is this a concern?)
>
> 3) Pay my body shop guy $1200 to repair my current apron
>    (I'm skeptical about this - in particular the space above the
>     grill is crimped a bit, I'm not sure how they could ever get
>     it to look right again):
>
> http://DavePics.com/Album/Trouble/2007-10-22.Triumph-Accident/tn/cimg0827.jpg.html
>
> 4) Drive around my sad Triumph until I can finally find a used
>    apron on ebay.  The only ones I've seen so far are full of
>    rust.  I'd love to find one that doesn't have more than surface
>    rust and light body work, but I don't know how often these show up.
>
> Any suggestions?  I'd rather avoid #1, and I'm tending between
> #2 and #3 because I don't think another apron is going to show
> up on ebay.  (Although Murphy's law will ensure that one shows
> up just after I fix my car   :) 
>
> Do people have thoughts or experience with the fiberglass or
> with trying to unbend a damaged front end, and how much it
> should cost?
>
> And if anyone on the list knows where I can get a front apron,
> please do tell!
>
>
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> Dave Ljung Madison          http://GetDave.com/                415.341.5555
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