Skeletal Remains

Finally found time to sneak out of the office and take a look at progress on the car.  Or should I say the body shell, as that is now all we are looking at - engine and gearbox are out, all the trim and glass is off, suspension removed, fuel tank out, all wiring, dashboard and interior gone.  And what we're left with looks encouraging - sure, there is going to be some metalwork needed:  At the very least, new sill ends at the fronts, a rear panel, one of the front chassis members, a battery tray and fuel filler bowl.  More will be apparent I'm sure when the blasters have finished removing every trace of rust, paint, old filler and such.  The car goes off to be media-blasted on Monday.  When I next see it, I will have fingers crossed that I'm not the proud owner of a colander.  

I've also been able to see with the naked eye the original colour, and I'm surprised by how "creamy" it is compared with the obviously later white re-spray the car has had at some time in it's life.  I'm now pretty well decided on going back to the original hue, which we believe to be this: 

I had a good look around another recently painted car which is now in build-up stage, and walked away feeling extremely confident about the standard of workmanship Keith and Simon are putting into these cars.  Oh, and had my arm gently twisted into purchasing what must be the last remaining New Old Stock Jensen front grille on the planet.  My car needs one, so hey, what better than an original unused Jensen spare from '61.  

Meanwhile, the winter nights are to be spent researching more on the history of the car.  The original California black plates (below) seem to indicate it was last registered in March '66.  Can that be true?  If so, the 60,000 miles on the odometer might be believable, but can it really have been sitting under that dust sheet for 47 years?  Well, I have a few leads to I hope to find out soon.

CA Black Plate with '66 Tag

Original C-pillar script