FHC resto nr. 48; Work slowly resumes

At the closing of the year I am able to report some (though very slight) progress on the restoration. I used the Christmas period holidays as an excuse to resume work on the FHC. And I started where I left it earlier in the year; searching through my spare parts to pick out the best ones and sort them for coating. Almost finished the first batch, the parts that will be powder coated. Hopefully I'll be able to drop these of early next year ...

Next to be sorted are the parts that will be galvanised. I have made a start there with searching and registering the easier parts, but there are a lot, mostly smaller, parts that still need to be sorted. I decided to have a few spare coated too ...

Current schedule is to have all the parts coated in the first quarter of 2017. This should enable me to start fitting parts to the car in a short holiday scheduled at the end of May, early June. Hopefully I will be able to fit the stripping in that period too. But that means doors, bonnet and boot have to be fitted ... 

Calendar Girl 2017

With 2016 almost over it is time to look back at the work done to my TR7's in the past year. Actually not much to look back on to be honest. So for some extra motivation I used one of my traditional end-of-years activities (the new calendar to grace the study) to boost morale! As a result of which every time I enter the study I will be reminded of the work that still needs to be done on my current restoration project, the 1976 TR7 fixed head coupé ...

January: The 1976 FHC in the shed waiting for dismantling to start.

Picture taken a few months after I bought her, with the main reason for buying her

(the Wolfrace Turbo wheels) replaced with one of the standard alloy sets I have lying around.

(11 January 2014)

February: Patiently waiting in the shed for the restoration work to commence.

(20 October 2013)

March: Removal of the engine during dismantling.

(29 January 2014)

April: Dismantling complete.

(12 February 2014)

May: The two chosen seat frames after dismantling 3 pairs.

Found some interesting and rather lethal botch repairs on some frames.

(15 March 2014)

June: The first (suspension) parts ready to fit.

This was easy as they were part of my spare parts collection.

(15 March 2014)

July: Various jobs that have been carried out, from top left clockwise;

Part of the file for the striping set, based on the Jubilee striping;

The refurbished trim panel for the rear bulkhead;

The springs back from powder coating;

The first paint sample compared to a 1974 BL Colour and Trim leaflet;

August: The welding finished and waiting for final shot blasting and first layer of primer.

(10 July 2014)

September: The body after painting outside the spray cabin,

awaiting the (black) finishing touches on the sills and the rear light panel.

(8 September 2015)

October: The painted body back in the shed.

(14 September 2015)

November: Slowly regaining its identity.

(20 January 2016)

December: Rear lights and period licence plate fitted.

(11 January 2016)

Seasonal greetings ...

Cue the music! Looks like another green Christmas on its way for the Low Countries. So time for an older and more fitting seasonal picture.

And it is still rather quiet with my TR7's at the moment as they are tucked away for their mandatory annual three month rest. But maybe I'll have something to report on the progress of the FHC by the end of the year ...

FHC resto; why I haven't done much this year

Those of you who follow my ramblings on here may have asked themselves what's happening with the restoration of the 1976 FHC. Well to be honest not much. Actually nothing has happened since my last report in May. And there is a rather simple reason for that, other priorities!

As mentioned earlier I bought a Defender 110 SW last year to replace my Defender pick up. And as this new car did lack some parts I thought it really needed, I have been rather busy upgrading it. With the biggest upgrade being caused by a promise I made myself when I bought my first Land Rover in the summer of 2000. What that promise was? If I would get stuck and would have been able to rescue myself with a winch, I'd fit one. Well earlier in the year this happened ...

All rather embarrassing especially as I forgot that this car is equipped with an electronic traction control, which probably would have saved me. But this traction control doesn't switch on automatically, it needs activating by flooring the throttle!

At least it gave me a good excuse to throw some money at the Defender. But as money can only be spent once, the work on the FHC was put on hold. As for the upgrades, the most important ones being LED lights all round, long range fuel tank, some dent removal (or hiding) to rear door and bonnet, some repairs to the roof rack, and off course the winch plus a new bumper to fit it properly ...

Still a few jobs left to do on the Defender, but they'll have to wait till next year. As for the FHC restoration, hopefully I will be able to do some work on it during the coming festive period.

28th LTV Nachtrit

Last Saturday, the 29th of October, saw another edition of our traditional night time touring assembly. This year's route again headed south east towards Adenau. It was actually the same route as last year but driven in the opposite direction, and with a few different road sections added here and there! As mentioned last year we had a good reason to return to the same area, because at the time some rather nice roads were closed due to road works. Added bonus was that, because we didn't have to get the long way 'round all the diversions, we were able to get the total mileage of the route below 300 kilometres. The best of these being ...

Near the Obersee

Detour through Simonskall

The long way 'round through Pomster, avoiding the B258

As has become customary over the years we did a last check of the route in the morning and early afternoon, to check for any last minute road closures or village fairs. There were none. I had anticipated on this and had one of the cameras with me to capture some of the stunning scenery in brilliant autumn colours. Sadly it was not to be. All day long it was foggy and wet or just grey and cloudy. So no need to get out the car for some pictures. At least the weather provided me with entertainment in the guise of some rather slippery and treacherous road sections! But despite that we were back in Rolduc well before the briefing and start of the event.

This year we were asked by the staff of Rolduc if we could start from the front of the main building, as it would be a much better back drop for pictures from the start. At least this gave me an opportunity to capture most of the Triumphs (of the 42 teams that took part) against this beautiful historic backdrop.

So for those who want to try it for themselves, next year's (and 29th) edition will be held on Saturday October the 28th. But this time we'll be staying closer to home with a road book that will have something to complement the tulip diagrams ...

40 years of age last week ...

I have been rather busy with lots of things over the past 6 months or so. Sadly my TR7's haven't been much part of that. But time moves on, and last Thursday it was exactly 40 years ago that my current restoration project was first registered (and in the Netherlands). So time for a little bit of history, or how the car used to be in her previous life, and as I bought her ...

Looking back at some of the work already done, dismantling finished ...

Shotblasting finished ...

Metalwork in progress ...

Metalwork finished:

Paint preparations and painting:

Various ...

The initial plan had been to finish the restoration by the time she turned 40, and thus being tax exempt. But I abandoned that schedule well over a year ago. Initially caused by the paint preparations taking longer than planned. But also by work that had to be carried out (or actually is still in progress) on the Defender I bought well over a year ago as my daily driver. And there's my work of course which takes a lot of my spare time, together with my other hobbies, the trumpet(s) and my camera's :-). To be continued!