After the race at Lime Rock on the first weekend of June, I INSANELY agreed to take the aluminum bonnet from the 61 car back with me and make it even better – basically make a new fender for the LH side as well, and make the bonnet as good as it could be before paint. I didn’t have the time, but it just felt like something that I needed to do, because that original LH side of the bonnet was a real mess – STILL, and so I agreed.
So I brought it back with me, and jumped right on it – NOT! I was SO backed up at that point and just cast it aside, even though it needed to be back up there and re-mounted by the end of July.
Right after July 4th, I started forming up the new LH wing, and things started moving along OK, but then Janie’s party hit and even thought I worked like a dog (AGAIN!) to get it done in time, I missed the July 31st deadline I had agreed to with Brian…
But I was close – I delivered the bonnet at noon on August 1st.
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- Interior shot of the original LH wing and forward area of the center section.
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- We had stripped massive amounts of filler from this wing, and put alot of time into smoothing it, but in the end, it just needed to be replaced. That was too much to bite off in time for the race, so this tired original wing had one last go-round at Lime Rock in June…
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- This flange was a mess, and the wing was welded to the center section – ALOT. So we had to cut it off and replace a section of the center section as well.
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- One last shot of the outer surface of the old wing.
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- Like I said, the Summer was crazy – so it looks like I did not take ANY photos of this wing being formed up. But here it is, being fitted to the bonnet.
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- It’s always cool to grab a shot of the Donovan bonnet with the poster in the background…
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- Next, we’ll use this piece of aluminum sheet to form a patch for the forward edge of the center section. In the process, we are going to try and add some additional metal in order to deepen the valley that runs the length of the bonnet – it was much too shallow on this side.
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- Here is that piece, formed and being fitted so that the center section can be cut. Brent is under there doing something – probably holding the parts together for the picture…
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- By now, the repairs to the edge of the center section have been completed, and the new wing is in place.
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- At this point in the project, I was essentially working for free. I had given Brian a fixed bid for finishing things up, and it was pretty reasonable – the earlier work had just chewed up hours and so I wanted to make the bonnet right without breaking the bank. The deal was that I would take care of it for “X” – so it was up to me really as far as deciding what to fix and what to just let go. I stared at this lower corner of the center section for a LONG time – it was areal mess, but I knew that fixing it would eat up a whole day – just like the other side did…
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- But it simply had to be replaced, so I dove in.
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- The patch is roughed out and welded in, but the metal finishing will still eat up several more hours.
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- We also went over the whole center section and welded up all of the extra holes – of which it had accumulated plenty over the years…
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- This is the edge of a crack that looked like big trouble, starting from the louver hole. The weld looks lumpy because I left alot of extra weld on to prevent the crack from coming back.
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- And so the hours just tick away – remove the louver, weld the crack, replace the louver – it’s not a 5 minute task…
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- There was a small crack here too that had formed where the valley ends by the nose on the RH side – so that got welded up as well – I did not want ANY issues returning on this bonnet after it was painted!
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- Here is the flange from the old LH fender side – we have improved the depth of the valley greatly. It is still not quite as deep as the RH side, but it looks the same now too the eye, whereas before it was obviously not right…
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- Just a shot during final assembly – we enlarged all of the rivets from 1/8″ to 3/16″, and greatly increased the number of them. In addition, we added backing washers wherever it was possible.
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- This is a “selfie” from my phone during the assembly…
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- Victory – again! I had been working on this in pieces and upside down for over a week, and didn’t even know it was going to look this good! NOW it looks like something!
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- The new LH wing turned out even better than the first one! The cleco’s in the back of the wing are holding things in place temporarily – the lower and rear edges will be fitted to the car at the shop.
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- See how the valley on the LH side is now much more proounced?
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- This really looks good now compared to where we stared last December!
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- It would have been nice to get rid of that thin aluminum patch across the nose, but you have to draw the line SOMEWHERE, and I figure we’ll take care of that after the next crash (Just kidding, PLEASE don’t wreck this now!)
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- Loaded up and ready to head North!
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- GET SOME OF THAT! The fit of the old wing to the car was a disaster before – it was bulging out, up, all over the place. The lower edge was over an inch above the sill in the front. Now it fits GREAT!
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- And it’s not midnight this time either – just a little after 5!
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- It’s not as perfect as we get the original steel bonnets, but that has to do with the racing mounts versus the original catches more than anything else. For a race car, this is a perfect fit.
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- Pete and I spent alot of time on this to get it this close, and were both proud of the finished result. When it was done, he said, “Oh man, now I have to re-do the other side – that’s just going to bother me!” Pete heads up most of the restoration work at Donovan – his work is excellent!
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- Here’s a shot of the garage.
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- Goodbye 61 – it was a fun adventure, but I REALLY need a break from you!
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- A Series 1 E-Type undergoing restoration.
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- Looking for a heated rear window glass – I have one, so we might get together on that, but I’d really hate to ship that.
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- This XK was a great driver.
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- Pretty sure this is a 120 roadster – right?
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- Actually, I think this is a 140 – it had the LeMans winner badge with 51 and 53 on it, so it must be a 140, right?
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- I was never a big XK fan, but they’re really starting to grow on me – this looks like a blast!
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- Pretty good looking E-Type – why is this here?
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- Here’s the answer – it was restored with a cheap clutch, and this is the result.
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- This clutch self-destructed inside the bellhousing while the owner’s wife was trying to drive the car – pretty sure it was the sub-standard clutch and not her driving skills. It’s not going to work like this!
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- Something let loose inside – this shouldn’t be possible no matter WHAT you do to it – God knows I beat on clutches as a kid, and this NEVER happened!
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- And so in the process of the clucth breaking and locking, the car lurched forward in the driveway and we now have this dent…
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- …and the usual damage to the cowl from the rear edge of the bonnet. Use good parts.
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- A sem-restored 4.2 E-Type engine on the showroom floor.
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- I always take a peek in the showroom to see what’s new.
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- This is a DeTomasso Pantera. It is a mid-engine 351 Cleveland – usually with dual quads, and a 5-speed transaxle. Early 70’s. We had a customer at the shop when I was a kid with one of these – it was maroon, and MINT! He was a Chippendale dancer – 6 foot 6, long wavy black hair, RIPPED, and always wore a tank top. He didn’t do much for me, but I loved the car! I was about 19 when it was around, but John said, “Don’t even look at it – there’s no way you’re getting in that thing.” Damn…
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- A nice XK-150 Fixed-head.
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- This is a 1984 380SL Mercedes. My parents had one of these when I was in high school. They let me take it to the Homecoming dance because it was POURING rain and the Jag leaked like a sieve. Otherwise, I wasn’t allowed to drive it…
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- I finally deciced “the hell with that” when I was a Sophomore in college, and drove it all over the place one beautiful Fall weekend. I had a ball in that car, and it was built like a tank, but that turned out to be no match for the 6-point buck I hit at about 70 mph at around 1:30 AM on Saturday night. My Dad still hasn’t gotten over that one…
