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Literally picked this up a couple of months ago.

The previous owner is an old friend who bought the car back in 1998. He stripped it down keeping the doors, bonnet, bootlid etc indoors. The shell was left outdoors with a view to getting round to restoring it..

Fast forward to 2022 and it is still sat in the same place, the wooden pallet it was sitting on has now gone through what was left of the floor.

It was lifted out and put on a trailer, as there was no access road access to where it sat.

Photos from when I got it.

Back home, wondering wtf to do with it..

Looked round the shell and there was not much worthwhile saving. I ended up cutting up the shell and keeping what was good.

Doors, bonnet and boot lid all seem to be ok.

I think it was worthwhile saving. Not sure what way to go with it.

I'm considering building a shell up from panels and hopefully borrowing or making up a jig to keep everything in place where it should be. I'd prefer not to go down the new heritage shell route as they are so expensive and would like to keep as much of the original car as possible. (If that's even possible!)

Oh my!

Holy! Good luck

You have bigger bollocks than me taking that on, but I hope you make something great out of it!

Well done for that, it can be done of course, ask Mr Sparrow

68Deluxe wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 8:07 am You have bigger bollocks than me taking that on, but I hope you make something great out of it!

Well said that man

I think we've seen worse than that restored on these pages. The Crayford Hornet is one that springs to mind.

Seems to be the way with shells like this that people start with a jig, and build from the floor upwards, eventually dropping what remains of the repaired upper section onto the new floor section.

I suggest that for a couple of evenings this week, put the kids to bed, get a nice glass of the finest Scotch......, a large glass I should add......, and slowly start to read and digest Andy Sparrow's thread on restoring his 1965 S, HOY. You might also look for further inspiration from fellow Scot, Dearg with his 1275GT and a couple of Mini Van restorers who have worked wonders with the body shells.

Please keep us up to date and you;ll find that the encouragement is priceless..........

As has been said it can be done with a lot of thought, planning and body panels…

It could be said the easiest way is a new shell, but people who say that are missing the point … it’s the challenge of saving a seemingly hopeless shell and seeing it rise from the ashes. That’s what get me going …

By all means check out my thread , Dearg1275’s, Mini_surfari and Liam-ds . There’s many others who I can’t think of offhand.

Good luck with it and we are all here to help with any questions or hints and tips on the project.

Let's not forget DAZ with his beautiful 998 Cooper too. He came up with a few good time-saving ideas too.

Another idea for building the shell is to use a heavy duty table ( I made one from old adjustable DEXION racking), all marked out accurately with the drop or datum marks (shown in the workshop manual). Set up square, level and even. Bolt the slave sub frames to it, assemble the floor accurately from there and work your way upwards.

Great project. Like all of us who've been there, don't get despondent when the going gets tough. Pack up for the day and start again tomorrow. Everyone here is willing you on.