Well, after two of the hottest and longest (but also very fun!) days of my life at Lime Rock, you’d think I’d just head back home – or maybe to an air-conditioned hotel! Instead, I headed over to Poughkeepsie, NY on a little rescue mission I arranged last week…
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- Here she is – and what a beauty! That’s not a joke – I’m serious! This is a late ’66 Series 1 coupe – or what is left of it, rather.
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- I found this old girl (or rather, her owner found me…) in Poughkeepsie, NY, where she has been stashed in the outbuilding in the back of this shot since 1978!
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- The car has been parted out, and we are here to retrieve what is left – which is actually enough to warrant adding some parts and turning this back into a complete E-Type project – since she also came with clear numbers and paperwork.
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- This small home in Poughkeepsie, NY had a very well maintained yard and gardens, and in my eyes, this rusty E-Type shell just added to the beauty of the scene!
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- The roof is excellent, and the car is solid where it counts. She’ll need floors and sills and the associated panels – although on this one we MIGHT get away with keeping the original RH floor and inner sill – we’ll see!
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- At this point, we have used the previous owner’s Jeep to drag the shell out to the street on a piece of plywood. This scene reminded me of the movie “The Time Machine” – when the Morlocks dragged his time machine into their cave and all that was left were two tracks. If you’ve seen it, you’ll know what I’m talking about, and if not – watch it – it’s a good, old flick!
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- I brought one of our carts to load her up, but ran into a bit of a snag when the Metalastik cage mounts were still in place. Uh-oh…
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- I said, “we might be in toruble here – these can seize in the sleeves and be a real problem.” – and of course, one did…
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- …but with a little brute force, WD-40, heat, and a big hammer, we prevailed! Here, you can see me getting down and dirty in the BRAND NEW shorts Janie bought for me so I could look halfway decent at Lime Rock. I think they’re work shorts now – woops – sorry, dear… Hey – it was a LONG day!
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- Another shot of me restoring E-Types while simultaneously DE-stroying clothes!
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- There – she’s all saddled up! I loved this little house! The inside was filled with antiques and well kept – it was GREAT!
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- Up on the trailer!
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- Here is the previous owner – Campion. “Camp” purchased this E-Type in 1978 when he was 21. He drove it for a few weeks, and then put it away to be repaired and restored at a later date. Unfortunately, that date never seemed to arrive, and he eventually decided to part the car out as it was too far gone to restore in his opinion. Camp felt bad about the car and never getting too it – he mentioned that he felt like he had “failed his stewardship of the car.” Don’t worry, Camp – getting her into my hands is a SLAM-DUNK in that department! I will find her a good home – AFTER I repair her shell to better than new condition!
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- Back at the house this morning – it was a lopng ride back from Poughkeepsie and I got home at around 1:30 AM. Yes – I know you can’t believe your eyes, but it’s true – that is the bonnet from the Donovan 61 car – it’s BAAACCCKKK – AAAAGGGHHHHHHH!!! I brough the bonnet back to weld up a couple of split seams, beef up the inner flanges, enlarge the rivets, and also make a new wing for the LEFT side now! Just when I though I was out, they pull me back in!!!!
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- The cowl and firewall are excellent. And as you can see, there are a few tidbits here and there to start putting her backl together already! Hey – every little part helps!
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- Everything looks great from here as well.
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- Rear of the LH side – nothing we haven’t seen – and fixed – before.
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- Here is where this shell really shines – the usual areas are rusted, but the rest is ROCK SOLID! It’s a real drag when this is all rusted out too – like the shell in the rotisserie currently…
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- Chassis legs are excellent, and so is all of this. I don’t take this area for granted anymore after having to replace chassis legs and all of this too on the current car in the shop.
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- Minimal rust here, and we MIGHT even get away with no patch in this rear wing!
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- Another great feature of this shell is that it is virgin – no-one else has gotten in here and butchered her up in the past 47 years.
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- Here’s where this starts turning into a complete car – these frame rails look good – I think they are OK. and we have most of the front suspension here and what is missing – like the steering rack, I have in the warehouse – along with just about everything else to complete this car.
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- And another big plus is that we got most of the bonnet and the panels are in good shape. I will add all new flanges to this and the 5 medium-sized diaphragm panels, plus a good restored lower valance, and voila – we have the bonnet too!
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- Here is the rest of the bonnet and the original hatch. Keep an eye on the blog in the future – we’ll be doing this car eventually, for sure! And if you think that maybe YOU are the new, good home for this old girl, give me a ring! – Chuck
