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Hi everyone, I thought I'd share some pictures of my project.
I posted some pictures on the mini forum so some of you may have seen the car before. As I always come here now for information and ideas of what to do next I thought I would try to contribute to this excellent site instead.

I've been working on this rust bucket in my (very limited) spare time for over a year now, most of the major welding is complete, I'll try to add more pics over the next few days.

Here it is before I started, I thought it didn't look to bad to begin with....

I started welding at the back of the car

In hindsight I should have used the heritage full hinge panel but I'm tight and didn't want to spend the money.
It took a while to get what I considered an acceptable fit with the magnum pattern parts, the hinge section fitted well but the corners were useless and it might have been quicker to make some from scratch.

Thats neat looking work, keep it up!

Thanks MiniMinor, its been a learning curve.


To begin with I planned on saving as much original metal as possible but I got really sick of trying to repair the original boot floor so I cut it out completely.
I got lucky with the rear bulkhead/seat area as it was rust free.

The rear arches were also rusted so they were replaced. I tried magnum panels first but the fit was dreadful so had to cough up for heritage.
I made this quick weld in jig to try to get the new ones in at the same height and place as the old.
I went a bit overboard on the rear sub frame mount area, I think something like 14 gauge.
I made a bit of a balls up on the battery box as well, another ill fitting magnum panel, that combined with me not looking at the pictures of the original. I'll probably put it right before paint. I also slightly regret not adapting the rear seat area to the original shape but old panel was so rusted/pitted so I couldn't use it to piece in.

Fine skills sir.
You are multi talented indeed. Keep pics of the resto coming.

Looks great work so far Ollie, keep it up.

Will look even better with the correct colour interior

Thanks guys, and thanks so much for the offer of the interior Andrew, I've been searching for ages for one and had no joy. Here's some more pics.

Rear arches were a bit scabby, I chose to attempt to repair the rear quarter panels rather than replace completely.

I found a section of the front wing was a very similar radius to the rear arch so I used it to let in a couple of repairs.
I welded it slowly in pulses to avoid panel distortion, the welds are sat a bit high but they did penetrate well enough.

I had a go at making some rear quarter repairs using hard wood formers and a shaped stainless dolly for the finishing.

I hope it shouldn't take to much filler to sort it out ready for paint.

Try not to laugh but I got a bit carried away with the bracing, I was worried the shell would move around and didn't fancy a bent car. I got the metal for free, some came from an old metal bed frame I found in a skip.
I later regretted this as working around it was horrible. I spent days climbing through all that to repair the toe board area.

Great work.

Thanks Pete, to be honest though welding is just a hobby for me, I probably bit off more than I could chew. I'm enjoying it immensely but finding time is an issue.
One of the reasons I'm so slow is because I have to do each job twice, normally I make a complete dogs dinner of it first time around. If I wasn't so stubborn I would have scrapped it when I realised how rotten the car was. The roof is ok though
Anyway, here's the new doorsteps, excellent panels from M-Machine.

I had to save up for this delivery from M-Machine but it was worth it.
I cut out the out crispy floors
Seam welded closing panels

Some Fantastic metal finishing there, very impressive indeed.

The toe board area was a disaster as well, mostly due to previous bodged repairs. I was planning on using the M-Machine repair panels but they weren't really big enough so I made some sections and let them in.

I added oversize and extra thick locating plates for the front subframe rear legs. I think the welds are good but as I butt welded everything my thinking was the spreader plates would help hold it all together in the event of a crash as they cross over from old metal to new repairs. I had to do it for my own peace of mind.

Thanks Tupers, that is praise coming from you, I have really enjoyed watching the work progress on the Crayford Convertible.

Awesome work there! The floors are pretty much the same state as my '63'. Im going to go the same route and put the complete floor pan in.

Keep the pictures coming, it will be a superb car finished!

Tim