My Spyder project

[angelom]

After many months I finally got my spyder back from the paintshop ready to put back together. What task that was. Lucky I have a big garage and lots of tools and most importantly patience,

New Belts, new trafficator, newly restored wheels , New ZAGATO badges, new door cards, New radio and speakers, new dash binnacle, new door rubbers, new gear gaiter and stick, new dash switches, new door lights, new grill, new light surrounds, new Spyder taillights and  the list goes on.

Then came the items I had to restore myself. They say that “Necessity is the mother of all invention” Well that certainly rang true as I self-taught myself how to be a motor trimmer, electrician and mechanic at the same time.  . I restored the soft top, restored the parcel shelf, restored and laid the carpet, retrimmed and restored front and rear seats,  made the door cards from scratch, restored the external mirrors, relined and restored the boot carpet and trimmings, repainted all the console and so many other small items that my garage resembled the Lancia Works Factory in Turin.  Actually what I though was OK or easy to install soon turned into a nightmare as what you don’t realise when you take on a restoration project, is how many hacks before you have bastardised everything that was original.

None the less perseverance is a wonderful thing and the result is fantastic.  Well that's what I think anyways.

Hope you enjoy the pic's 

[peteracs]

And very nice too......

Well done and I hope you enjoy many miles in it.

Peter

[simplydelboy]

Fantastic job. Mine's the same colour but I bought it fully restored as I don't have the patience or skills to do what you have done. I use mine as much as possible and I definitely have had more fun in this car than any other classic I have owned, so knowing that you have done it all yourself, I'm sure you'll have a smile a mile wide every time you drive it.

Regards
Derek Moore

[HFStuart]

Looks great. Needs the side rubbers above the sills to finish it off.

[anotherdeadhero]

That is absolutely gorgeous!

[WestonE]

Nice to see a well sorted car. Good luck and enjoy driving it

[Hawk]

That looks fantastic - well done

[crislanbe]

Superb !

[lbcoupe76]

That looks good enough to eat, seriously nice.

[angelom]

Thanks guys for all your welcome accolades . Yes was a hell of a lot of work and still not finished. I was watching a UK resto show called "Car SOS" I think, where a guy claimed he had been restoring a MG TA for the last 30+ years and couldn't finish it cause he was at deaths door. Well he was actually the poor chap,  but the reference point I got out of it was to enjoy your toys and bloody finish them.  No point otherwise ..

The good news was that the MG TA was finished in a week!! 30 years done in 7 days ! imagine, They guy could of enjoyed his MG for .. lets see 365 x 30 - (7days) = 10943 days. 

my rant over.

[Hawk]

well said. 

Personally I don't understand concours - I want my car to look nice but I get far more pleasure out of driving it than I do polishing it

[peteracs]

well said. 

Personally I don't understand concours - I want my car to look nice but I get far more pleasure out of driving it than I do polishing it

I have a slightly different view at present, do not get me wrong I am looking forward to the driving, but given it is 5 years since I bought the Spyder and it currently has more parts off it than at any time, you would imagine I would be pretty down in the dumps. Actually no, mainly because most of the jobs I am doing I have never done before and finding it quite rewarding. The main problem is finding time to actually do it, which I guess is the eternal problem, that is the main frustration.

I remember one of the Stratos kit builders who spent the necessary 1000-2000 hours building his car only to realise at the end he actually was not too interested in driving it, so sold it and moved onto another build project. So guess it takes all sorts.

On to concours, I could not drive a rat, but concours is of no great interest, just a tidy car in which everything works as it should and some selective improvements to enhance the driving will do for me.

Peter

[HFStuart]

I remember one of the Stratos kit builders who spent the necessary 1000-2000 hours building his car only to realise at the end he actually was not too interested in driving it, so sold it and moved onto another build project. So guess it takes all sorts.

Peter

Wasnt that more or less what Matt did?

[peteracs]

I remember one of the Stratos kit builders who spent the necessary 1000-2000 hours building his car only to realise at the end he actually was not too interested in driving it, so sold it and moved onto another build project. So guess it takes all sorts.

Peter

Wasnt that more or less what Matt did?

Not sure, before my time with the Stratos Club. The one I was thinking of was only sold about 2 years ago.

Peter

[Ashley frater]

Your Spyder looks fantastic and how rewarding to have done so much yourself. 

I doff my hat to you

Ashley

[angelom]

Thanks Ashley, much appreciated.  Just getting started under the hood.  Still lots to do, Post more pic's later.