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Tue Jul 08, 2025 10:46 pm

Hebster52 wrote: First panel fitted and tacked in place. Looks like it will be good enough for me.

Looks great! I think you dun good!

Wed Jul 09, 2025 2:46 am

Now I'm out of welding gas but got the other side tacked before it was empty.

Wed Jul 16, 2025 9:50 am

Last weekend I got the diy panels fully welded and turned out really nice imo.

Now that the front is basically empty I noticed that the outer bottom corners in the firewall might need some repair too. So better do it before I weld in the tankframes and inner panels again.

Today I drilled out the old tankframes so I can straighten and restore the innerpanel before joining it with the new Virtanen tanksupport frames.

The old ones definitely needed to be replaced... :P

Mon Jul 21, 2025 5:26 am

Yesterday I patched the other side of the VIN tray.

This morning I got the bodymount brackets welded!
Quite a pusselbitar to fit all the small part for the bolthole strengthening ..

Next time I'll weld the sidesupport frames.

Wed Jul 23, 2025 8:52 am

Now this is all restored and ready to be welded back into the body!

Got to fix some on the front bulkhead before I weld it though.

Mon Jul 28, 2025 12:59 am

Yesterday I modified the inner firewall to 1947-50 specs so it get more correct look for early Hebmullers. As mine is built from a -52 it had a indentation for lightswitch on the RHD setup too...

This is how it looks from 50 to 59 on both LHD and RHD.. (borrowed pic from the gallery)

Wed Jul 30, 2025 3:34 am

Soon I have to drop the body on the chassis to help fitting and aligning the front inner structure back into the body.

So I started preparing the chassis for new floor halves too. Will be welding those into the pan at the same time.

Wed Jul 30, 2025 8:37 am

NICE!

Is that the front apron back there?

Wed Jul 30, 2025 9:23 am

Yes. It's the front apron. Need to weld up some holes on it to make it a pre-49 apron too.

Wed Jul 30, 2025 12:07 pm

Hebster52 wrote: Yes. It's the front apron. Need to weld up some holes on it to make it a pre-49 apron too.

Thought you were going to go crazy quick. Get the pans done. Bolt the body down. Tweak it into shape. Set the hood and set the apron into place! My jaw dropped open from the thought of it! I work way slower than that!

Glad to see those pans looking so pretty. The line up is pretty dang close!

Keep on making progress! I love your story!

Fri Aug 01, 2025 7:10 am

So, today the body met the chassis again after 8 months separation... <3
Now the rest of welding can be done until I separate them one last time for sandblasting and paint!
Feels almost unreal to be at that point that I can start thinking of paintjobs soon!

Sun Aug 03, 2025 9:28 am

CONGRATULATIONS!

That is a huge milestone in any build! You are almost on the down slope!

It looks fantastic!

Mon Aug 04, 2025 4:25 am

Great work as always. Looks nice sitting back on the pan.
Timbo

Mon Aug 11, 2025 9:50 am

Started making a pre-49 style coverplate for the sparewheel well from scratch too. Car is a -52 by ID so the original must be there for MOT but nothing say it can be covered with pre-49 style removable panel.... :wink:

Wed Aug 13, 2025 8:57 pm

Now the pre-49 panel is finished! Will give the trunk area a more genuine look.
The overall look of the car is supposed to look like a late -48, even though it's built from a early -52.

Wed Aug 20, 2025 1:25 am

Soon going to weld the sparewheel locking bracket and the inspection covers to this panel. Yes, weld. This whole panel will be removable. But it's there to backdate the -52 into a -48... :wink:

Wed Aug 20, 2025 9:48 am

Now this pre-49 backdate panel is ready for paint. Yes, I can paint it already if I want as it is a removable panel just for the correct look. Behind it is still the original -52 id.