Hello Cobra lovers, a little update on the progress of my build. On Friday the 2nd May my car was collected by the body shop and was off to get the prep work started ready for the paint. Very exciting stage of the build but frightening also as my garage would be empty for a good few weeks. I got recommended a local fella called Keith Flint (No not Keith Flint from the Prodigy) but a fella who runs a body shop in the next but one village. He has lots of experience with painting fibreglass and he was fairly knowledgeable on the car when he came to initially view it. The weekend the car was collected was also the weekend of the Stoneleigh show, this was a great show again and so much to look at and take ideas from. One tick off my list was to measure the stripe style i wanted for my paint job and get the exact dimensions. These were provided by an AK on the AK stand in the main hall. I was taking some really close up shots with my finger against for scale and the owner of the car (i forget his name) cam up and said "just measure them" then we swiftly ripped the front page of the Europa catalogue he lay that across the stripes and made marks on the edge of the paper. So that gave me the exact dimensions that i wanted for my stripes, and i was very very grateful. His car did look absolutely stunning and if mine looks half as good i will be over the moon.
So back to reality and a week of work. All my goodies from Stoneleigh stashed in the empty garage awaiting the return of my car. I did call past the body shop on my way back from work to check on progress and rest my mind that all was safe and sound. Keith took time to show me what had been done and i could see the effort he'd gone to. You can see in the image the whole car is taped down to the floor and every void has been sealed. This is to stop the dust from blocking down going all over the engine bay and under the car. Granted it wont stop it all and a fare amount of cleaning will still need to be done but its attention to detail and effort like this that rests my mind that hes going to do a good job. This image shows a basic prime and black guide coat ready to be blocked again for yet another primer coat.
Then after a second coat of primer and another guide coat its getting ready for a final prime before the colour is added, stripes marked out and then painted, then a final clear coat and rub down and polish. I have called in a few times over the past few weeks to just check out how things were going and get some pictures. Keith is also photographing each stage and said he will send me copies of them all, now that is a nice touch also and I'm sure not many places would do that without asking. My last update from Keith was that i should be getting the car back in the next couple of weeks, he has booked a slot in his diary for finishing all the big jobs and not to take on any little jobs until the big ones are done...... i somehow think the little series 1 drop head behind my car will be one of the massive jobs that may still be there in a few months.
With my garage empty and the light evenings well and truly here it was time to start making a proper home for my Cobra when she returns. This for me consisted of a few things, firstly the dust issue in the garage. This i hope to control slightly with the freshly painted walls, and the sealed painted floor. This has transformed the look of my garage and has had many a comment from every passer by, it has also made the area much brighter as the walls now reflect allot of the light and it all looks much neater and dare i say it professional.... but remember its still bloody small and tight getting a car in, but its all i have.
Another issue i had previously before the car left me was the tools hanging on one of the walls, they occasionally used to turn into lemmings and launch themselves off the wall to the floor bouncing off the car as they did so..... This will just not be acceptable after the return of a painted car, so the only option was to spend a daft amount of money (on top of a paint job) on a frigging great roller cab tool box. This was actually really good value for money, and has certainly sorted any tool storing issues i had, the only thing i overlooked was how bloody big it was!!! It came from the supplier just finished in dark gray but after a few evenings with some matt black vinyl and a few Shelby Cobra snakes ordered from China it now is a fully custom Shelby Cobra tool chest..... i wounder if i intended to do this cosmetic finish all the time? and i wounder if my car will get painted in similar colours and thus match the tool chest?? you will have to wait and see...... Yes i am a little obsessed or some may say sad!!
So the garage is all tidy now, i might get a white tarpaulin to fix to the roof in the next week or so, as my budget for fancy sheet plywood has been well and truly blown on bloody great tool chests.
Next update might be some finished paint pictures for you all to look at...... exciting!!!
Tommy
