John Bonnett

Some bodywork pictures. Apologies to you Smithy I know this is not your favourite colour so please avert your eyes  ;) John

Thanks Jim. Do you have any pictures of your rebuild? It was quite a landmark when I was able to remove the axle stands and have the chassis sitting on its wheels and able to roll. You can't be far away from that stage. Quite exciting isn't it? I'm hoping to put the engine and gearbox in over the weekend which I hoping will compress the suspension a bit. The front springs are phenomenally stiff; I certainly cannot compress them by standing on the chassis. I've heard that the engine weighs 400lbs and I'm starting to believe it! regards John

Thank you, each and everyone, for your very kind remarks. If it had not been for your encouragement right at the outset, I might well have thrown in the towel before I'd even begun. I'm very pleased that I didn't and am really enjoying putting life back into the car. Along the way, I have found some very knowledgeable and helpful suppliers who have made the whole job so much easier. All being well, the bare engine and gearbox will be back in the chassis by early next week and then the body can be fitted. So, exciting times! regards John

I'm pretty much there with the chassis so it's just the engine and box to put in now before it can be married up with the body. Costwise I'm still on budget which is between £5000 and £6000 for the finished job; my estimate of the price the car might fetch if I found that I didn't like it and had to sell it. Updated pictures on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/67580543@N08/sets/72157627545757403/ John

429 wrote:Just seen your body resto pics, bloomin heck, your working at 200mph. Super, will be lovely when all finished.   Roy Relax Roy, I'm only doing the chassis. The hard bit, the bodywork, is in the able hands of the boys in Makmesbury and their work is not only of the highest standard but also very quick. In fact if I'm not careful, I'll be holding them up. They've just sent me a couple of pics of the headlining that they have just fitted. It looks really nice. I'm absolutely delighted with how it is coming on. regards John

Thank you everyone for your replies. I'm keeping a rolling record of the work that I'm doing on the chassis and the body restoration by the lads at Malmesbury. Links as follows; Car as bought: http://www.flickr.com/photos/67580543@N08/sets/72157627690784662/ Body restoration http://www.flickr.com/photos/67580543@N08/sets/72157627544568933/ Chassis reassembly http://www.flickr.com/photos/67580543@N08/sets/72157627545757403/ I'm hoping to get the rolling chassis up to Malmesbury in the next couple of weeks for the body to be refitted. Fingers crossed. John

I'd just like to thank everyone for their encouragement right at the outset and real progress has been made. Thank you John

I'd like to thank everyone for their encouragement on this project. I've managed to glean loads of useful information from this and the TSSC forum on restoration and rebuilds and I now have a plan  :P With the shell fully stripped, I'm going to have the repair panels fitted by a Triumph specialist. I've seen too many pictures of cars with ill fitting doors and poor panel gaps and realise what a minefield this can be. At least with this work done, I'll hopefully have a sound shell as a basis. I don't know how bad the chassis is but once the body is off I'll then know. It will also give easy access for the engine and gearbox removal. So, all is progressing well. John

3769 wrote:i am nearly 60 too and have got a mk3 spitfire all in bits and enjoy going in the garage doing a bit at a time,incidently have a 67 mgbgt that i did 2 years ago, 12 months mot and tax and hardly use it It's great isn't it to have the time to do the things you enjoy and things that you don't enjoy you just don't do them. I really feel for the youngsters who, particularly nowadays, are under so much pressure at work and perhaps with a family to consider, have little time for their hobbies and to enjoy themselves as we did in our youth. The fun seems to have gone out of work. Anyway enough of that, for me, the week has gone very well. All the body to chassis bolts are now looseened and all that remains to be done before the body comes off is to remove the dashboard and heater and of course release the handbrake cable. I'm going to lift the body using two block and tackles (or is it blocks and tackle?) and then take it over to the shot blasters to get it stripped down to bare metal. They will spray it with a coat of primer as a measure against our damp Dartmoor air.  So quite an exciting stage. John

I'd like to thank everyone who has replied for their help and encouragement and it is also good to see others who, like me, are refusing to accept old age. They say you can't take it with you so, I'm not going  :P In the knowledge that there was no latching clip on the wiper motor plug a bit of brute force and what goes with it won the day. I continiued on a roll and with a bit of heat applied I managed to undo the front inboard body to chassis screws without shearing them off so the day has got off to a very good start. John

firebobby wrote:Good on you, what year is the car Thank you for that. The car is a very late MK3 registered in March 1974. I bought it to use as a pattern to build an aluminium body along the lines of a Spitfire Le Mans but with the GT6 MK3 styling which I like very much. I bought the car unseen from a Pistonheads advert and wasn't expecting much but sufficient for the purpose I had in mind. However it was miles better than I had anticipated and if the seller had put a bit more effort into it he could have sold it for twice the price I paid for it. He has done quite a bit of restoration work having replaced all the nearside panels. It's true that the driver's floor, sill and offside rear wing need replacing but these panels together with others were included in the sale; nearly £600 worth all told. The car is pretty sound, original and the engine and chassis numbers match the V5 so, this car has to go back on the road. My Spitfire project is now on the back burner and I am putting all my efforts into the dismantling and the sooner that is done and the body stripped I can get on with the creative work of rebuilding. I'm probably at the stage many on this forum will recognise; the feelings when all you can see are rust, corrosion and grime. It can only get better, can't it?  ;)

I'm 70 next year and here I am stripping a bodyshell with goodness knows how many hours of toil ahead of me. What on earth was I thinking about taking this on. Have I got enough hours left I ask myself  :P I suppose the answer is that I like a challenge and need to have at least one project on the go. I could have bought a nice GT6 probably for less than this will cost me to finish but for me the enjoyment is in the building as well as the driving. My target is to get the car to next year's Le Mans Classic. From time to time I'll post some pictures as and when progress is made.