[brightonpad]

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!





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!






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





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!


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