Restoration of FRP 477

Small update peeps, as work with a Ford is never done!

So an opportunity came along for getting my spare Alchemy standard wheel re-trimmed for a good price, so obviously the sensible thing to do would be to close the wallet and save the money for another day. Of course this didn't happen so I bought it anyway! Sinisa, I'm still planning to get my other ones done soon!!!



So, mid doing the wheel I did a quick guide for splitting the glass from the speedo cluster as you may have seen, and also changed over the scratched silver surround so now the interior was looking lovely. Excuse the poor pictures, it was in the garage and the light is terrible!



Fate then kindly stepped in and the family weekend we had planned that clashed with the RS Combe day suddenly changed, and Kate still had a stand pass going.... time to hatch a plan despite it being technically being the last Saturday of our honeymoon. RS Combe it was! The day before the event, Barry came round for a bit of a natter, helped me gap the bonnet and wing properly and then it was cleaning time as the sun came out so Barry left. Maybe the thought of machine polishing scared him off as I'd threatened to do his!

Anyway, cleaned the car top and bottom, and even got the first wedding ring damage to the bootlid machine polished out. I'm getting a little less scared of using the polisher now and you can see why I'm so happy with the quality of the paint.



Next morning I set off to meet a couple of other FRP's enroute, and then it started to bounce down with rain. Not happy! What's with everytime I use my finished car it rains?! No matter, bucket and polish in hand on arrival and it was clean once more!



The show was brilliant, with 24 FRP's turning up, and Vas' lovely FRP doing the Concours. Mine was with all the other FRP's, a great sight and great event thanks to Lisa, Kate and Simon



Best of all, I was really humbled to win award for my little FRP as 'Best Standard FRP'. I immediately had to show the wife to prove spending all the savings was worthwhile after all. There were so many nice FRP's there I was honestly made up to win. I also know I have lots of work to still do on the front end, so this project isn't over yet. Project Bankrupt - the revenge!!!



Next up is a brief return to the bodyshop to have a look at the front bumper as its not fitting quite right, and it's cracked by the mounting point. More on that soon!

Great attention to detail as always. Award has been totally deserved k:

Looking very nice.. wish I could have been there...needed an easy day :lol:

Very nice, very nice indeed! And I am ready whenever you are

Well done James. What you need now is to install some "bucket holders" in your car.
Barry

Very well deserved James :thumbs:

Well done James :evil: I should have docked you extra points for following the judges round the car :lol: And not given up my stand pass Car was looking awesome though dude

10/10 for this car and the effort in it! Looks amazing

Wow, its been a while! So what has been happening in the world of 0477 since the last update? As 2016 was drawing to a close he was tucked up for winter ready for 2017, but as ever, parts hoarding continued ready for when he came out of hibernation!

In February 2017, it was time for 0477’s first photo-shoot, starring in a six page article for Classic’s Monthly, however, the weather was not kind! Taking the car out on dirty, salty roads I was not happy about but the end pictures were good, even if the clouds were grey! Shame I’d gone to the trouble of a really good clean before the heavens opened.

UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_9c3b by James Suckling, o

Classics-Monthly-Spring-2017 by James Suckling,

UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_9a34 by James Suckling,

Untitled by James Suckling,

And even the stereotypical ‘owners’ shot!

Untitled by James Suckling,

I’d been on the lookout for a brand new steering wheel for an age, and as a strange quirk of fate I managed to find not one, but two! The first arrived and it sadly wasn’t quite brand new, but pretty damn close. I’d paid VERY strong money for it so was a little gutted but it was still a million times better than anything else out there. Then a friend said he had a brand new grey steering wheel for my black Puma so I bought that. When it arrived though, it was the correct alchemy blue one so some dealings and negotiations ensued to get the first wheel sold on, and the new wheel re-trimmed.

Sadly, the saga of getting the wheel re-trimmed got a bit messy when it needn’t have, so getting it done again in the future, properly, is still on the list, but at least from a distance it looks good.

FRP by James Suckling, on Flickr

As the rest of the year went on, 0477 had a trip out to RS Combe and Ford Fair and with our new son arriving in September, work and fun on either car came to an end. Even the black one threw a strop by passing it’s MoT only the seize it’s fuel pump a few days later, so in the garages they’ve stayed….

Fatherhood didn’t stop me hoarding more and more parts though!

So, 2018…

Well, myself and a few others from the FRP fraternity had been planning what we could do in 2018, so during 2017 we totally refreshed the website ready for the next years show season. Go have a look on racing-puma.co.uk, it’s pretty good even if I do say so myself!

So, show you say? Yes! Racing-puma.co.uk will be at this years Practical Classics Classic Car Restoration Show (with Discovery Channel) at the NEC in Birmingham with four cars between 23rd and 25th March. Alex’s mint concours restoration FRP 0401 which has had more saga’s than Coronation Street, Simon’s (Blue3) freshly restored FRP 0376 will be there showing all the parts that make an FRP and how they are built. Aaron’s (BentleyA) FRP0190 will be there after a few years hibernating, and 0477 will be having a front end refresh as I never got time to do that a couple of years ago.

Do come along and see us in Hall 5, stand 025. Discounted tickets are available still, just send me a PM!

In preparation, I’ve been catlouging all my parts and working out what else I need, sourcing rare bits from all over the place. It’s getting a bit daft now, I’ve more parts than Daventry! Over 600 at last count, I’ve even got a spreadsheet with it all on and the locations so I can find them!

Untitled by James Suckling,

I even managed to track down a brand new front seat, ohhh, it’s my post prized part and looks amazing!!

The first parts I’ve just managed to start putting together after powdercoating, and it’s looking great. Can’t wait to get them all on the car, but it’s a long journey and planning for the show seems to have taken over our lives!

Untitled by James Suckling, on Flickr

So, the NEC Practical Classics Classic Car Restoration Show came and went, the first time we've done a big show, or as part of Racing-Puma.co.uk. It was fantastic, meeting Mike Brewer and Ant Anstead who loved a bit of FRP, as well as Fuzz and Tim Shaw. We also got to have some really good chats with people who turned up at the stand, three of who were really senior people from the FRP programme so we got to hear the stories first hand about their birth and build. Really interesting!

Preparing for the show I managed to find a genuine Racing Puma banner from circa 2000 that had been hanging in the workshop next to the local hand car wash for a long time - for the price of a drink it was mine, and two hot washes later whilst the wife was out and it scrubbed up ok.... from a distance.... The daughter thought it was ace!

NEC by Car loaded up to the gills with every part I could think of and I set of for Birmingham, all the way thinking of the bits I'd forgotten despite two years of collecting parts. This is just a few of what I took with me!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/24nL8en] NEC by On the Thursday we got set up, bumper, suspension and wheels off and up in the air for fun time to start on the Friday when the show opened. Should we have been concerned that the other car clubs didn't seem to have been doing anywhere near as much as us? Maybe!!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/24DUtuQ] NEC by [url=https://flic.kr/p/24nHFrK] NEC by https://www.flickr.com/photos/149958920@N05/

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but it was touch and go for the duration of the show, especially when one of the knuckles fractured when splitting the shock, and it had to be the side that you can't get new for love nor money! Thankfully Simon had an old spare at home so fetched it, then persuaded the Jaguar stand to let us use their press to put it all back together. Progress was good though...

NEC by James Suckling, on Flickr

NEC by James Suckling, on Flickr

NEC by James Suckling, on Flickr

We cleaned and painted up all the inner arches, made a new arch liner just like Tickfords did too...

This is a great demonstration of what we replaced at the show, much to the amusement of the other stands. They had bets on that I'd not be driving home!!

NEC by James Suckling, on Flickr

The show was fantastic though, maybe next year we'll not bite off quite so much. And yes I did drive home, and it only broke down the once

NEC by James Suckling, on Flickr

NEC by James Suckling, on Flickr

That is just incredible! Pardon me for asking, but you have parts for show and parts for use? Or did I miss something?

What happened on way home?

Wild E. Coyote said:

[post]368352[/post] That is just incredible! Pardon me for asking, but you have parts for show and parts for use? Or did I miss something?

What happened on way home?

Click to expand...

Ha, ha, no, I don’t have ‘show’ parts. I took all the new things with me for me to put on the car at the show. And on the car they will stay for at least the next 17 years!!

After having so many parts off, I was paranoid on the way home something would fall off, and fall off it it - but thankfully only the coil pack connector plug. I was soon on my way again...

Great effort :grin: