A trip over to Reef Paintshop this morning to give Gavin the boot and bonnet catches he had requested, and a chance to review progress. My main observation was that there was a lot of work going on to prepare the car. As much as the engine bay and interior are basically finished, the panels were marked up with the many minor imperfections which Gavin is going to rectify. He has filled the bonnet which was looking really smooth and is working systematically around the shell.

Gavin pointed out the first significant hurdle he has identified which is the panel gap on the o/s wing. The pictures below show the difference in gaps on either side.

There are a number of ways of tackling this, but only one proper way which is to unpick the panel and re-fix it to the correct alignment, which is going to cost a couple of day’s labour. Other rectification would be a bodge and leaving it as is is going to spoil the job, so we decided to have it done properly. Fortunately Helen was with me, so not only was she able to see the car, but also to join the discussion on the repair and see the problem for herself.

On a positive note, Gavin explained that he has a supplier who can refinish bare metal for around £40 per bucket. This is for items such as the door catches and other sundry non-chrome items that could do with a freshen up. This seems too good an opportunity not to take up and is an economical way of getting these visible items into a presentable condition. I’ll be routing through my box of carts for suitable material.

I collected the air filter housings while at Reef, which Gavin had kindly resprayed for me as a little extra. They look great and will join the other parts he has refinished which will go towards an excellent under-bonnet look.

As an aside, over the last couple of days, Southern England has been hit with snow fall and on the drive over to Reef, we took the opportunity to stop by the canal and take some pictures.