BLOG: A tale of two lucky VDP's - part 4

by Andy Perman

So Christmas was upon us again and rather than sitting in front of the TV eating way too much and getting fatter I decided to tackle the front end of the car and bring it up to something like presentable. But first things first, I’d managed to get hold of a brand new radiator and hose set without having to sell a kidney. In fact, they cost me £20. It’s the law. So I lashed them all in, filled it with coolant and ran it up to temperature. It did seem to get rather hot and the fan was cutting in a lot which didn’t seem right, so decided it might need a flush out and I’d do that later.

I stripped the front of the car, made somewhat easier by the trophy hunters in the scrap yard who had taken the grille and most of the lights! I also removed all the engine bay parts and wiring off both inner wings and the front panel so I could get a better look. There was a lot of surface rust, dings and battle scars that would be impossible to sort out piecemeal so I decided to sand the whole lot back, rust treat everything then prep and paint it. Only tiny problems were my skills for this are somewhat lacking and it was freezing cold in the workshop. Not a great combination for painting a car.

I dug in anyhow and spent the week sanding back and rust treating the drivers’ side front to the point where it was ready for filling, priming and painting. I’d again picked my Dad's brains about this; he’d basically said prep, prep, prep, prep, paint and to keep the workshop warm whilst I was painting in this freezing weather.

So following his advice I got hold of a calor heater blower, probably a bit oversize for my workshop but certainly did the job. Only problem was the fans blew up loads of dust which then got stuck to the paintwork so I developed a method of running the blower whilst I went and made a coffee. Switched it off and went round quickly with a mister to remove the dust. Then started on the priming and filling. This all worked perfectly well until I got to the actual paint. I did the heat/mist then applied the paint, shut the door and left it overnight to harden.

Excitedly the next morning I flung the workshop door open to admire my hard work and…. well it wasn’t’ exactly very good. Flat and blobby. Something wasn’t right so I rubbed it all back again. Heat/misted the painted again. Result. The same. Couldn’t work out what was wrong so phoned my Dad and went through it. When I got to the painting bit he said ‘You are warming up the panels, aren’t you?’ It was a statement more than a question. Err, didn’t think I had to. His reply was unprintable but needless to say that’s where I was going wrong. So with it sanded back again I heated/misted, went over the panels with a heat gun then applied the paint. Closed the workshop and left it overnight.

Next morning I checked and hallelujah! Shiny smooth finish. Looked even better after a good going over with the G3. With the bit between my teeth I got stuck into the passenger side over the next few weeks. Only complication being a bit of welding the wing to front panel, but I soon had that done and the seam filled, primed and painted. Final going over with the G3 and it was done ready for re building.

Before that though I needed to tackle the inner wings, bulkhead and inner front panel. I rubbed it all back; rust treated pretty much all of it, primed, filled and painted it. It was all looking presentable. Now the fun bit, putting it all back together. Loom, relays and wiper motor first. Then all the lights, the bumper and number plate. Then finally that VDP grille! The front of the car was complete again and looking fantastic.

I’d also just seen announced that the Allegro club were having a huge show at the Gaydon motor museum to celebrate 40 years since the launch and Harris Mann was going to be there to give a speech and hand out awards. I wanted to be there with the VDP. It was now February. The show was in May. There was still a lot to do and an MOT to secure.

To be continued……..