It took 3 more days of rubbing and polishing but I got there in the end.

I got to a point where I realised that I needed much more rubbing and a little less polishing to get it to a suitable level.  When I look at the first trim that I did I realise that it would have benefitted from being rubbed down more, oh well.  I guess that in years to come I can take it off the car and spend some more time on it but for now I am very happy to move beyond this job.  I feel like I have been rubbing down for the whole year and I don't want to rub a thing down again, ever.

I did some some sums and realised that I need a fair amount of money to get the car on the road. So I started selling stuff on eBay, lots of stuff, in fact anything I could get my hands on.  Now I had some old Healey bits kicking around that I listed and during the process got talking to some very interesting people.  I feel oddly like I am the only person in the UK restoring a Healey 100 even though I know that isn't true it is quite uncommon so I have greatly enjoyed talking to the people who have been in touch.  One of them got his trims polished professionally for £10 a trim.  I found this out last weekend when I still had 2 full days worth of effort left on my trims and I was sorely tempted to send them off.  I settled on the thought that this is a hobby and so I should do it rather than throw money at it.

What I did throw money at was a cover for the car whilst in the garage, eBay £20.  I have been getting worried that the car is going to get scratched rotten whilst I am working in the garage and so decided it needed some protection.  It is a 2 layer cover but pretty thin however, it is a start.  I might get an indoor one to put underneath it as well, something to ponder.

I have been in contact with John regarding the parts I need and discovered that he has a screen glass which I can have which is great as that will save some money.  The screen surround is being re-chromed and will take 12 weeks which means I can leave that whole area for now.  This is my list of things to do and a rough order:

You can see that fitting the wing chrome trim is top but for some reason I just don't want to do it, I have a deep feeling of impending doom which is without foundation so whilst I am girding my loins I will probably do all sorts of stuff apart from which is logical.  I bought a new propane blow torch yesterday and can see me removing all the bits of old metal from the windscreen pillars even though there is no need for that to happen.  I could do the steering wheel but that requires some rubbing and, well, I've covered that already.

The other thing I am going to do is order the bits I need for the seats even though I don't think that is a priority.  I going to do this as I think it is a possibility that I could get sent home from work at some point because of the Coronavirus outbreak.  Now it is a low levels in London at the moment but if we have an escalation of the likes seen in Italy then it is a real possibility and in that case I would want to have the stuff I need to do plenty of work on the car.  Feel quite grim to think like this.

On a brighter note I've discovered a few things in the last two weeks due to my conversations with people.  The first is that as a result of my desire to fit a modern and starter motor I have removed my current one and stuck it on eBay.  In conversation with an interesting chap called Nick I discovered that my current starter isn't from the car originally but from a Jaguar 1 1/2 litre or Triumph 1800 from the late 1940's.

In a separate discussion with John he thinks that there is a possibility that my solenoid might not be knackered, that would be good news.

My list of TTD includes: paint steering wheel, fit wing trims and bolt up the wings as well as fit the cockpit trims and I chose the latter to start with.

I have one new trim, the dashboard section, and this is gleaming apart from the ends where I cut it to size and a massive scratch that it collected at some point in the last 6 months whilst hanging around in the garage.  The other 3 are in a terrible state.  The two door trims are the original trims for the car which is pleasing.  This picture shows what I am dealing with.

After a lot of sanding with an orbital sander, by hand with sand paper and wet flatting it got to this stage.  I decided to leave some of the worse marks in the trim as to remove them would have meant rubbing so much metal away that it seemed wrong.

This is the drivers door trim and I am happy with it.

This is the rear cockpit trim and I am not happy with it.  It just wouldn't buff up as well as the door trim.

I guess it needs more flatting down and when I look in close I can see that the trim is far from ideal.  The issue is that I spent a day in the garage doing this and it has left my hand very sore from all the rubbing.  I return to work tomorrow after a week's holiday and I know I am not going to be able to get in as my finger prints will have gone, rubber away, oh well.

Today is Friday and several days after the car was painted and I have done, well, nothing on it.  I took a day to celebrate our anniversary with my wife which was lovely and I delivered the windscreen surround to a metal finishers in south London for re-chroming but that is it.

Today, I decided to get rid of the old chassis so that I have a little more room for the daily driver after all these years.  I did try and get somebody to collect all the metal but I couldn't find anyone so I cut it up and took it to the local recycling centre.

The very last thing I did with the original chassis is measure where the seat mounting holes were.  It almost felt a little sad as the old chassis has been leaning up against the neighbours garage for over ten years now.

I was somewhat intrigued by the straps that were once the exhaust mounts, that would have worked well for me.

I then got the angle grinder out and the cut-off discs and got amongst it.

The poor thing did look rotten in places.

Here is the whole chassis stacked on the trolley that that the new car spent so long on before I loaded it into the Mother-in-Law's car (thanks) for the journey to the dump.

Here in the chassis in the bottom of a container lorry at the dump, amongst a load of scrap metal, the shame of it.

The next day, Tuesday and yesterday.


The car looks amazing.

Whilst waiting for the transporter I kept staring at the car, it looks so fantastic I really can't get my head round it.

Back at home and being helped into the garage by the transporter guys.  How wonderful does that look in the English sunshine?

I will post the videos when I have worked out how to do so.  Now I am just starting to get my head round the next phase.  I have spent 10 years getting to here and now I need to recalibrate.

It's Wednesday night and I don't know what to say.  The Healey is Ice Blue and it looks beautiful, I am a happy and lucky man.

Monday:
I got the car out ready for collection and had bee's in my belly as I was so excited.

On the car transporter and waiting to leave.

K-Max panel beaters / automotive garage, Barnet.  The plan was that I would get the car to K-Max and then put it up on stands and prime it ready for paint the next day.  Rob, the owner, had spoken with Lloyd who is the bodywork and spraying expert about the project without my knowing and the whole situation had changed.  To Add some context, K-Max is based in Plantagenet Road, Barnet, England in a yard that my Dad once occupied, a long time ago.  My Dad was a cracking man who was a self taught panel beater and he rented the yard in Barnet to do it in.  When I was a kid I worked with him on Saturdays and then for a year before I went to university and a year after that; this is where I got my skills!!!!! During the year after university Dad was doing well and needed additional people to work there and I knew Rob and knew he was looking to get out of his job so I put him in touch with Dad and one thing led to another and he got a job there.  Sometime after my last stint at the yard some 30 years ago and now my Dad left and Rob took over and really developed the place, it is unrecognisable.  My Dad, who you can see helping me load the car onto a trailer in the very first post of this blog has long since passed but Rob and I are still friends.

Back to the story, I asked Rob why Lloyd was working on a Monday and Rob said he had told him a story and it made him want to come in and help.  Rob told me that about 35 years ago when we first knew each other I had been round to his house and saw him trying to do some bodywork on his girlfriends VW Beetle in his front drive and was unimpressed.  I asked him to bring the beetle to the yard and then did the work myself.  He was happy and his girlfriend was delighted; he'd never forgotten.  Lloyd is an interesting man and this had appealed to him so he came in to help me and help Rob settle the score.  I remember Rob's girlfriend but I don't remember the car or the incident, hey, it was a long time ago.

However, it meant the situation had changed, and for the better.


At K-Max and prepped and ready for paint.

This is Healey Ice Blue in a can, code number BU2.

Lloyd laying the first coat of Ice Blue.

The next four picture are with the car in base coat before the top coat or lacquer is applied.  It looked lovey at this stage and I was beside myself with excitement and pride.

Finished and bloody beautiful.

The last one was taken as Lloyd switched off the lights and the oven as it was about 8:30 and he was knackered.  Fair play as I would have taken photos for hours.

As I ran out of energy yesterday and quit before I'd finished rubbing down the primer I got up early to get it done.  This is a photo I took walking down the garden path on the way to the garage this morning as it gives a clear indication of how early I was at it.  I should take this moment to apologise to my lovely wife as I was grumpy as hell last night, sorry.  (of course, she is getting first hand feedback on the progress every day so she won't read this but, hey it's the thought that counts)








































It is done now, thank heavens and I feel much happier than I have done for a little while, I think the deadline of getting it prepared was playing on my mind.  Now I have time for a coffee and some breakfast before the car transporter arrives and the Healey takes an exciting journey.

Today I planned to get the car flatted so that it can be re-primed tomorrow at the paint shop.  I started nice and early, well, before 09:00 in the morning anyway and rather hoped I'd be done by 14:00 to enable me to watch the football.

I realised pretty quickly that it was going to be a long day.  I started off using 400 grit wet and dry paper but by this stage realised that I was getting nowhere fast.  At lunchtime I went to Screwfix and bought some 320 grit paper to speed it up.

By 17:00 I was knackered and called it a day.  However, I still have the front wing and the door to do on the far side of the car and as I am being collected at 10:00 tomorrow morning I will need a very early start in the morning, gulp.








































The only other thing I am thinking about is wondering if the car transporter coming tomorrow will be able to fit down the path to where my garage is.  If it can't then I will need get the car to the main road and in preparation I charged the battery.  However, as the car hasn't been started for months I am not at all sure that it could start and be driven.  Will have to wait and see.  In the meantime I can only wait excitedly for Tuesday when, hopefully, it will go Healey Blue.