Changing Gears!

The blue 2+2 has been around for a while now… She spent most of last year in the back of the new shop – still in light blue paint – some peeling, with the bonnet and the subframes on, and still mounted in the wooden cart that she came in on. In that form, she seemed HUGE compared to the other short-wheelbase coupe and roadster bare tubs mounted in the carts!

This customer and I spoke last Fall, and he said that he wasn’t really in any rush, and that I could push him back down the schedule if I wanted to. Hey – NO PROBLEM! So finally, in January, we took the bonnet off and tore it down, and started stripping off ALOT of paint and filler. It wasn’t too long after that when the customer called again…

“Hello Chuck – I’m wondering just how far you have gotten on my shell?”

“Oh, Great…” I thought, this doesn’t sound good… I told him we were still stripping the bonnet, and had not touched the shell yet. What he said next was the last thing I expected to hear.

“OK, good – because here is why I’m calling. I am putting alot of money into my engine and the pieces here, and I have been thinking that with all this money and effort, I’d rather have a coupe. Can you build me a 2-seat coupe body instead?”

“Yup – NO Problem!”

So I made a few phone calls and located a straight coupe shell for us to build up from. One thing I pointed out on the phone was that the only way to get this done is for us to purchase a complete coupe. There are ALOT of pieces of a coupe that are different than a 2+2, and as I told him, I’m not the kind of guy that is going to build you a coupe shell, take your money, and then say, “OK, Thanks – good luck finding all of the parts you need to complete this project!”

The coupe we found was destined to be a donor car for a roadster shell. The previous owner had purchased what has to be the world’s nicest original Series 2 roadster shell – it literally came out of someone’s living room, where a bachelor had big plans for it and used it as a coffee table for approx. 25 years. That story sounds unbelievable, until you see the shell – almost factory perfect – stripped bare, and coated in zinc-chromate primer. They then purchased this ’69 coupe as a donor car for that shell, so this coupe shell would have eventually been tossed. I traveled up to Connecticut about a month ago to see this coupe and the roadster shell, and of course, purchased both – because more E-Type bodies is JUST what we need around here…

Here are some shots of the coupe in it’s current, tired state, coming home from Connecticut. We will completely rebuild this shell, and convert it to Series 1.5 specs in the process. The tail will be Series 1, but many of the mounting points of the shell will be Series 2 style, so all of his late Series 1.5 mechanicals will bolt up.  We will also still install the Webasto sunroof – although a smaller one designed for a coupe.  That is also a good choice for the shell because although it’s not terminal, there are a few light buckles in the roof of this shell, but in areas where we will be cutting the roof out.  This shell is truly the PERFECT solution for our project – Series 1 tail, Series 2 firewall, and roof damage that is irrelevant – excellent!

P.S. Don’t worry about the blue 2+2 shell – she is still safe and sound – and VERY solid – and we will find her a good home.