FHC resto nr. 100; A jubilee post

On the 19^th of October 2013 I became the owner 03-NF-52, a fairly early Dutch TR7. The car was first registered on the 6^th of October 1976. At the time I didn’t really want to buy another TR7, but the car was fitted with my favourite alloy wheels for a TR7. And the price was right. So I bought a slightly over priced set of Wolfrace Turbo wheels with a car attached to them 😳. And as soon as the car was in the shed the wheels were removed, refurbished, and fitted to my DHC.

Initial plan was to get rid of the car and make a small profit! But my longing for an early car (with a few twists) was stronger. New plans were made, and on Wednesday the 15^th of January 2014 I started with the first stage of the restoration, dismantling the car. My initial time schedule was to have the car ready by the time it would be tax exempt in October 2016. But that schedule has since been abandoned!

And this weekend I reached the ninety-ninth blog post on the restoration of this TR7. Time to celebrate this fact with a jubilee post! So for the hundredth post I will bore you with a picture post. Looking back at the work done, using my favourite pictures and parts of the project so far.

2013-10-20: Patiently waiting for the things to come.

In the shed alongside ‘t Kreng.

2014-02-12: Dismantling completed.

2014-03-15: A photographic experiment with the bare seat frames.

Shortly before they were sent off for blasting and coating.

2014-03-15: Rear suspension parts ready,

which was fairly easy as I had already prepared them as spares!

2014-03-30: 14” Moto Lita Mark Four steering wheel with a custom design billet centre cap, using an original late TR7 steering wheel’s centre badge

2014-05-24: Rectifying the butchered boot floor

and the incorrect late-small-filler-cap-rear-deck.

2014-06-25: Creating access for various relative small repair sections

2014-07-10: Welding completed and waiting for final shot blasting,

and application of a base coat primer

2014-07-30: Collected the seats (and other interior trim parts) from a local car trimmer. The Tartan cloth was ordered (after much mail traffic) from House of Tartan, with the pattern being based on the Menzies Clan’s black & red tartan. And this pattern was  adapted slightly to my personal taste.

2014-07-30: As the original parcel shelf was beyond repair, I ordered a GRP replica.

But it’s finish was so bad that I had it recovered too. And I have to admit it looks brilliant!

2014-08-25: The car was moved for the next stage: paint preparations.

2014-11-08: Paint preparations slowly taking shape.

2015-02-05: The first visit to the painters. The interior, the engine bay and the underside painted in “Nearly-Topaz-Orange”.

2015-06-13: The body, doors, boot lid and bonnet are ready for painting.

2015-09-07: Painted in its chosen colour at last, and waiting for the satin black paint to be applied to the sills and the rear light panel.

2015-09-14: Painting completed and temporary back in the shed.

2016-01-14: One of the little projects that got out of hand time wise.

Re-manufacturing the body tags (with a twist) and the VIN plate.

2017-05-25: Inspecting the inside of the fuel tank after powder coating the exterior,

but prior to preparing and coating the inside.

2017-05-30: The back of the car slowly taking shape.

2014-12-20: Lots of smaller parts after sand blasting.

2018-01-04: And some of these parts after zinc plating and (black) passivating.

2018-03-31: A sad farewell. Clearing the shed at René’s place after he passed away.

2018-06-30: Slowly picking up work on the car again …

2018-09-14: The finished headlamp supports.

2018-11-03: Fitting the bonnet stay with my daily driver patiently waiting outside the shed.

2019-01-06: Refurbished parts for the boot lid lock mechanism.

2019-03-23: The interior slowly taking shape after fitting the reconditioned heater unit.

2019-09-23: Fitting the striping to the doors.

2019-12-08: Refurbishing the door handles finished.

2019-12-27: Fitting the door lock mechanism and VIN plate

(for the anoraks, I turned it through 180°)

2020-02-29: Fitting a few exterior trim parts.