My buggy finished!

[El Capitano]

after 10 months of hard work to turn a shoddy old shell into a nice looking buggy, its finally finished!
worked absolutely flat out over last few days to get it finished.. finally done!
So happy with how it turned out!

Carpeting took about 9 hours to get right! drove me insane! and the leather side panels took a lot of work to fabricate...

anywho here are some pics!!

let me know what you think!

Ollie

[MURZI]

Ollie...absolutely beautiful!!! I love the color and the stance.


Now.....I think you put the steering wheel on the wrong side
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62 vert
2276
Tim’s welded heads
45 Dells
A1 sidewinder
Fk44 cam

[nomis]

very nice!

did you have sunshine this weekend to enjoy it?

I picked up my rat body saturday, and the blazing sun has really inspired me to get my finger out!

[El Capitano]

Thanks guys!

Yea had really really nice weather on saturday, lucky as i finished it saturday mornign and drove until the early hours of sunday morn!

Had to go to Canda on Sunday so i will back in the U.K on wednesday, hope to have some sun then!... god i hate the weather in the UK!

[63ratster]

That is one killer ride!! The stance is perfect! And the interior is beautiful! Great job!

[sturgeongeneral]

Nice job! But I think you may be mistaken. I do not think that they are ever totally finished, just finished for now. At some time in the future we all see some new gizmo or contraption that we want to add to our babies. I also think that is one of the reasons that we who build them like them so much. There is always some way we think that we can make them better in the future, no matter how fantastic they are today! The options are endless!
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Street legal fiberglass rocket ship
2005 Lotus Elise supercharged
1974 Chevy Corvette
My fiberglass car collection!

In honor of bowtie56jw:Another victim of the nasty "C" Praying for ya Jeff!

My exwife said if I towed home one more bug she would leave me. You know, every once in a while I miss her

[El Capitano]

ha ha exactly... i mean 'finished' as in finally on the road in a complete state ready to be driven!
Yea still got belts to come and rear view mirror.. and who knows in the future!

[Genom]

Very clean and smooth looking buggy...the right stance, attention to detail, just outstanding.

I have to add that you have a very nice looking home as well.

[caseydenise]

Perfect job-

[manxfwin]

I agree with Murzi,someone put your sterring wheel in the wrong place.Other than that a super job on the bug!!!!

[aquamanx]

Sweet lookin lil buggy.
Ya got any before pics & build up pics, love to see em.

[El Capitano]

thanks guys!

The weather was good enough for me to spend all day driving it yesterday! it may need to be raised slightly at the front.. on full lock it rubs the arch and sometimes hits on potholes etc.. other than that, it drives very nicely!

I had to take the anti-roll bar off, thought it would be a good additon but i think as the buggy is so light it just screwed up the handling, it was kind of unpredictable and weaved down the road! now its off its so much better!

Will take some more pics later and post them tonight (or this afternoon for you guys! )

hmmm that steering wheel is something i must have overlooked! how silly of me!

[El Capitano]

ok here are some pre bulid and during the build pics for you.....

when i first bought the buggy...

filling holes.. (there were so many.. big and small.. and i filled them all with fibreglass matting and fibreglass filler just to be sure that it would not crack out over time

stripping chassis

shell off

peeled the carpet off the sides! mess!

fixed the rear engine cover/number plate holder thing on as in the past it had been cut off for some reason?!

old pans were not great up close so welded new ones in..

painted chassis

swapped my old engine (porsche 914 type 4) for a type 1 1641cc and also got an extra £100 ($200) to put towards some twin carbs.. i needed tidying but was mechanically sound with only 3000 miles on it.

all new chrome and my twin 40mm kadrons fitted

stripping shell.. took ages!!!

priming

new adjustable beam and shocks fitted

engine done.. almost!

chassis almost ready for body

body on

cage welded up and fitted

mocked up

i had to widen the bonnet (hood!) by about 1 inch either side if i wanted to fit a manx screen, so i filled it with fibreglass filler, shaped it, took ages sanding it back! then i fibreglass matted the back for extra strenth and finally got it right so the manx screen fits perfectly

painted

a long and careful rebuild and finally

i have missed final details and bits out that i will take a few pics of later today and post them up...!

[El Capitano]

oh and its worth noting that this is an origianl GP MK 1 (uk manufacture one of the earliest, they made the most popular body shells and are quite sought after on the market now) My shell is approx 40 years old now.. it was probably more expensive to use the old shell, i could have got a new repro manx shell or similar for a lot less than it cost to restore and paint the old one, but i wanted to have an original late 60's buggy!