Or even just cleaned up as good as possible, and leave it at that. Silver lacquer over big bits of rust might help.RockyUSA wrote:Thank gawd I read your post, Duncan -
My door chromes have some surface rust and I was wondering what to do about it. Now I know that it must be chromed.
Rocky
This is one of the first 50 FFs, but not one of the first bakers dozen or so Vignale finished cars. So Jensen learning about the build of the new shape, and getting ready for the post crossply Girling braked FFs, which used a different front hub casting,kenny38 wrote:I don't know much about FF'
possibly tweaked maxaret, different disc and caliper, and an extra driveshaft spacer, etc. So it is very interesting, and nice that it hasn't been fully restored. Because of that, I would say it is more attractive than a mid chassis number FF, and more important that it hasn't had work. So this is a car I might pay a little bit more for, and certainly accept a lower condition, rather than fresher restored, that I might want on a mid chassis range car like 122.
So I hope none of that is attended to on this car in the strict sense, but I was really interested in the details Martin went into. Also we have to guide and police our "restorers" otherwise we end up with misled owners and vandalised classics like the SP Cannonball went to see. People need to think about localised repairing of tears from behind or localised replacing of leather with similar quality and colour, rather than retrims. Hopefully not a knee jerk redye of the interior to all the same shade, or worse a retrim. I think the industry is moving towards gluing leather back together on splits and doing more stuff like these magic tear repairs on youtube. It was amazingly interesting and reassuring to read the depth of Martin's comments, and it drills it in that people can't get away with poor work any more. As prices are falling, poor work is really going to bite. It is one thing getting work done and having just 30% of the value added to the car, quite another to have the expensive work remove value, especially in a falling market.
I bought a basket case recently to avoid exactly the problem Cannonball mentions with the six packless Jensen SP. A car not having had resto work done can add value, especially when the car has not been stripped by someone other than the person that will repair it. I think it is absolutely vital that we develop this critical mentality, any serious work that is done needs to be spot on, or don't bother. I had a look through Martin's posts of the work on his FF at Rejen. The photos were amazingly useful, as parts/details of that car that were being restored, joints/seams are simply unclear/no longer visible on the car I am working on. Things like spot welds where there should be spot welds, seam welds where there should be seams, etc. Not just new metal let in to fill holes. Also the process of bracing and aligning panels is visible.
I will also say that busy specialists like Rejen are not expensive, they are also great for DIY types, as Jason will talk you through options, sell materials, parts new or used etc. If you have a trim problem, several torn bits on say a Mk3, you could go in and get them fixed, have new bits let in or panels retrimmed, or buy a used panel. If they are the last person on the planet with a rare FF part like a servo it won't be cheap, but Jason explained he had a resto coming up, would need that part, and has XXX months to source one if he sells his stock, etc. I have not bought anything off Rejen yet because I know that supplies are good, that I can make a trip there with a complete list, take old parts for comparison, and between them, Roby and Jegs/Summit, it is all there. Rejen are also down south, so closer to the Ferry for Europe. We are really lucky and there is no excuse for bad work or wrong parts today.
Kenny I look at cars like you describe, working OK but with faults, and am relieved. I think we agree a working car doesn't need to be put through the mill. It is interesting that it is now easier than ever to set up a car with a six pack, you can fit a Lambda sensor to monitor real world, use rolling roads. The same goes for wheel and prop shaft balancing which would once have been a problem on FFs, although new factory old stock prop shafts have worked well for me. Perhaps problems/complaints in the day were exacerbated by poor wheel balancing and uneven tyre manufacture back in the day.