Restorationwork
After about
100 hours of bodywork the car got a coat of primer and then a thin coat of silicone filler.
The body shop gave the car 5 weeks for drying before fillersanding for the perfect body lines began.
A lot of parts were still missing which would be needed for reassembly. I needed some of the bumper parts, climate compressor, gaskets, weather-stripping and much more. Shipping all these parts would have cost more than flying to California and bring them over myself. So I made a 3 week trip to the USA and bought all the parts I needed directly there. When we flew home we had 210 pounds of luggage. I had the climate compressor in my backpack which drew a lot of attention at the security checks at the airport...
Meanwhile I took
the complete interior home for detailing it. I cleaned everything - took the doorpanels apart and my sister sewed new carpets and windlaces on them. The front bench was taken apart and brought to an upholstering shop where they took care of it. It got complete new cushioning material under the leather and one small piece was welded together. Everything was sanded down to bare metal, primered and painted, as the metal was not coated at all at the factory. They also sewed the new carpet material to the back of the front bench. I got rid of all the dirt and grime that covered the leather interior and it looked like new afterwards.
After the car was fillersanded by the bodymen it was brought
to the paintshop for its new coat of paint. It was wetsanded between each coat of paint for that perfect finish. It looked spectacular when it came back from the paintshop. When we pushed the car back into the garage at the restoration shop a board which was leaning against the wall fell on the front fender and made a big scratch, so we had to bring the car back to the paintshop....
Within a day it was repaired and we started to reassemble the car . We took great care not to damage anything on the fresh painted car.
And within 3 weeks with 12-16 hours of work a day the car was completely reassembled. It was great to put all the new or refurbished parts back into the car.
Then it was time for the first test-drive after the restoration, and suddenly the transmission didn't shift up! After days of searching the mechanic found out that there was a vacuum leak in a tube that caused the problem.
A
fter the car was finished the biggest shock was still to come: The bill! Suddenly it was twice as high as the maximum amount we agreed on, although he promised multiple times that we would still be within the financial frame we had set. I really felt ripped off and he held my car hostage... I had to borrow the additional money from my family and friends to get my car back...
Leather seat detailing in 2008
I found a shop which does detailing work on leather interiors. They can remove all tears and cracks and re-dye the original leather. I had them go over my front and rear seats.
Now the seats looks like new. Click on the link to view the images!