A Peek Into The Body Shop

Tillie's  tub and body panels went straight from the media blaster to the body shop.  John, my body / paint guy, didn't waste any time getting epoxy primer sprayed on the bare metal.  The next order of business was looking at the new floors and rockers and coming up with a plan of attack.  That plan started with cutting the car in half.  Others have used this method, and Roger Williams also mentions doing this in his book ,How to restore Triumph TR5/250 & TR6, so I wasn't surprised at John's decision.  Here are some pixs I snapped.

The inner and outer rockers need to be welded together.

 End caps have to be welded in place...

A lot of fitting and adjusting

 John's speciality is restoring Chevrolet Camaros, so he hasn't had much experience with Triumphs, but he was very pleased with the quality / fit of the British Heritage replacement panels.

This is not the job for a impatient person.....a bunch of putting together, taking apart and adjusting, then putting it back together! 

The front half of the car has some serious issues, so the decision was made to order replacement wheel arches for both sides.

 Passenger side

 Driver side

Once the rear half of the car had the floors rough fitted, the process was repeated for the front half.

I have to laugh....at one time I thought I could replace the floors and rockers ! HA !  A good body man is a combination craftsman and artist, and as I watch this process, my admiration for John's skill keeps growing !