,I am slowly collecting parts from Steve’s garage, basically anything I can fit into the boot of my car. So I have the boot lid, the spare wheel cover, radiator grill and those fabulous 12″ P100 headlights which despite their immense size I rather suspect were still not that efficient but they do look wonderful when the chrome is all polished up. I also have the tool tray that goes in the boot lid, one bumper (so far) and all the repair panels that Steve created whilst at college. The repair panels not surprisingly, need the surface rust removing and sealing with a zinc based primer to protect them against the elements ready for welding in. I will make drawings of the main panels with measurements in order to have a reference for fellow restorers.  I do know at the time of manufacture, the various panels were made by different companies based on a sample rather than drawings so the fit was not great and some fettling was needed even with the factory parts…

Most of the items are covered in a thick layer of greasy dust which will need respectful cleaning and anything with moving parts will be gently teased back into life as I would like to retain as many of the original parts as possible. I am expecting most of the cast parts, like window winders, badges etc to be badly corroded, they were made from a low quality zinc alloy mixture that was compressed into moulds under high pressure. That reliably produced a good finish, but over time the zinc erodes and separates from the alloy creating pits so the chrome has nothing to hold onto and the items look awful. To be fair to the manufacturers, they were probably not expecting their cars to still be in use 80 years later.

I have found a company who makes replicas of some of the items should they be beyond recovery, and I believe there are a few companies who say they can restore mazak but I rather suspect that is not cheap.

Finally for this week, I have hired a van to collect the front wings, doors, seats and other large items primarily because the front wings are 3metres long. In the meantime, I am making space in the garage in readiness for the old girl to come home. That will be the real start of the blog…