1968 P1800S Restoration Thread
 

Hi all,

Firstly, I'd like to thank the moderators for allowing me to post this thread. I own and operate a small, independent classic car dealership more accustomed to the reselling of 'modern classic' cars. Anticipating a very quiet winter, I wanted something to keep myself occupied and a couple of weeks ago, managed to secure the purchase of this stunning 1968 P1800S which should fulfil that requirement!

As you will see, an immense amount of work has already gone in to this car and is a credit to the former keeper who has invested hundreds of hours and many tens of thousands of pounds to get it to this stage. Very sadly, he has been unable to complete the work due to medical grounds, so I'm left with the 'easy' bit of bolting it back together and seeing it over the finishing line.

This is the car as it arrived last week, along with 2 van loads of parts!

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The bodywork and paint is right up there with the best I've ever seen, just need to be so careful on assembly not to damage anything!

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The engine, gearbox, front subframe and rear axle are already assembled and all new bushes, bearings, shocks, springs etc have been fitted...

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So, where do you start? Well, after a few days of cataloging parts, I decided to start working on finishing the braking system, handbrake included. I ordered a bunch of stuff from Brookhouse and the plan was to start fitting up this week.... but something has been bothering me.

UNDERSEAL!
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Now, whilst this has been very well applied, I have a bit of an issue with bitumen based underseals. Whilst I've no reason to believe there is anything to worry about under there, I don't believe it gives good protection as it can easily trap moisture and it's very difficult to spot small issues before they become big ones. Furthermore, I don't like the way it looks and think a restoration of this standard deserves proper body colour underneath.

So, I've come to the first 'big' decision on this car, which is to strip the underseal and then look to recoat with epoxy primer, stone chip (UPOL Gravitex), and finally overcoat with body colour. This will inevitably require the removal of subframe and rear axle but I know if I don't deal with this first, it's going to bug me the whole time.

So that's where I am now, I'll start removing underseal tomorrow and will try and give updates as often as is practical. Any feedback is gratefully received - I am not a marque expert so if anyone thinks I am doing something wrong, please shout!!

Thanks,
Anthony

Welcome. That looks as if it will turn out to be a very fine car. The "underseal" looks more like stone chip/body schutz. I don't know how easy that is to get off without severely damaging the underlying paint. Stone chip could have been painted red but schutz can't be overpainted. It looks to have been applied properly and should both protect and last well for many years to come. 10-15 I'd think. Will you keep it that long? You're a dealer so I would doubt it!

Hi Derek,

Thanks for the welcome. I had established that it was definitely a bitumen based product (in all probability Schutz) by testing a small inconspicuous area yesterday. I agree, it may have lasted a good long time, but I still feel that correct application of stone chip then body colour is a much more robust and easily maintained finish.

And of the avoidance of doubt, yes the car will be for sale once complete - need to keep the wolves at bay! :)

You are right to point out the danger of damaging what's beneath though... heat was definitely out as I didn't want to damage the paint on the inside and abrasive methods would probably damage whatever was underneath, including the seam-sealer.

The photo below is probably more illustrative of the bitumen, you can see the 'sheen' on the chassis rail..

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First thing was to drop the rear axle off to allow unfettered access. Never have I had such an easy time doing something like this, new fasteners, bushes etc. made it very quick. The most laborious task was compressing the springs for removal.

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So, it was on with the mask and gauntlets (pretty standard these days) and carefully using a trigger gun, the surface was sprayed in small patches with old petrol. If you are reading this and thinking of doing the same, you do so at your own risk!!! Clearly, high levels of ventilation and no potential sources of ignition are paramount. The petrol basically softens a very fine layer of bitumen based product, but the resultant sludge needs to be wiped away... and it takes a lot of time, and a lot of wipes. The pile below was one of about 10 of a similar size today.

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I am very pleased (and relieved) to say that once the bitumen is removed, the chassis is in fantastic condition. The primer and seam sealer has been applied correctly and the benefit of using petrol is that is doesn't attack either. Once the underseal is all removed, I will check the thickness of the primer using my paint thickness gauge but I suspect I may be able to move straight to the stone chip phase.

Some photos below - I've only done bulk removal so far, there will be a final going around to clear up smears etc.

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So that's it for today, another day of purgatory tomorrow. I suspect it will be the end of next week before this phase is finished...

Thanks,
Anthony

I saw the car for sale in Retro Rides... it looks very good..
I bought a cylinder head of the same chap he was good to deal with.

That looks amazing. Looking forward to seeing this come together.

Patience of a Saint is an appropriate thing to say. 😊

Thanks all,

Yes, the seller was a very nice guy. I felt very sorry for him; having invested so much emotionally and financially and not being able to complete the job through no fault of your own must be difficult. Fortunately we are based very close to him, so I'm hopeful of a 'reunion' when it's complete.

Derek - haha, you are not wrong! On more than one occasion yesterday, I thought I'd become part of The Matrix and my only purpose in life was to remove tar from the underneath of a car...

Nothing more to report other than about a 1/3 of it is done. :confused_smile:

Cheers...

Wow, 4th Sept was last update... :confused_smile: well, it certainly hasn't been over 3 months of solid work but I'd say it's 2-3 weeks of solid work during that time. Obviously removing the underseal was by far the most involved...

Once that was done and the underneath was fully clean, it was sprayed with a number of coats of UPOL Gravitex stonechip (the dark grey stuff in the photos). That was then left a week or so to fully harden and solvents to evaporate, probably not necessary but I wanted to be sure of no adverse reaction.

Finally on with the #46 Cherry Red underneath and I'm very happy with the results! Next week I need to get the ramps out of the way to finish off the outer floor pans and inner sills - half a days work hopefully.

Anyway, some photos of before/during/after.... cheers!

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