Two things left to do: bolt the bonnet on and get it to release correctly and finish and install the screen.

The bonnet first, Vic and I spent a happy half hour bolting the bonnet on, it fits in the aperture quiet well although one side is a little higher than I would like but that will be another task for the winter.  I mounted the bonnet catch and aligned it using the masking tape and paint technique learnt on the AH Experience website.

Then this happened:

Very happy and onto the final task, the screen.

The screen glass was nicer to fit than the second hand glass I used last week, it was thinner and so was the rubber that came from Moss.  I had to bend the channels a tad to get them to line up and it was surprisingly easy to do that by putting them over my knee and pushing.  It went together well.

With Vic's help it went into the pillars, not effortlessly but it was forced either.  I am conscious that I will not be inclined to try and lay the screen flat though and this is crazy as it is one of the features that made me fall in love with the car in the first place. So having stalled the screen and given the car a wash there was nothing stopping me driving it.  

After eleven years I am now going to do something that felt very far away for the majority of that time.

I was beyond nervous and completely over excited.  I took it out and went round the block twice before venturing a little further afield and eventually stopped at my mother in-law's house for a photo and a break.  It was as I could have expected with the benefit of hindsight; an old car in need of some setting up.  The brakes were good, as was the engine and the drive train.  The steering was shocking though.  It also got a little too hot but it was a very hot day for London and I guess the timing needs refining.

Even as I type now I can't quite comprehend that the journey has come to an end.  Eleven years, just like that.  For sure I have many more hours to spend on the car sorting the engine and steering for starters then the tonneau, roof, side screens, carpet, trim etc, etc. but it is different now, it is a car.

A friend called round as I was recovering and we went for another lap of the local area and he pointed out that people were shouting at us.  I realised that people were actually doing that, crazy.  I'm going to enjoy this car.

Boy, does it look good.