Well, I FINALLY got caught up enough to take the time to sit down and write a new blog entry – don’t fall out of your chair!
This one is to get you caught up on what has been going on around here since last September. Since then, I have only written a few blog entries that were “must-do” blogs – the annual Hershey photos, a write-up and sales pitch about our new Outer Sills, and an advertisement for a friend’s ’61 OTS project car that was available – but I’m happy to report has recently found a new home – and she is taking her sister car with her !
YES, we had TWO flat floor OTS project cars available – both very low numbers – but elected to offer them one at a time to keep it simple. However, the first person to see them in person was the RIGHT person for both cars, and he happily agreed to take them both!
We also found a few other E-Type orphans this Fall – two more are now sold and safely in their new homes where the restorations have started, and one other is a special E-Type that is staying with us to be restored here (someday…)
While I have not been blogging, Brent, Steve and I have been working HARD! The parts orders continue to grow in number AND in size – as the panels that we offer continue to expand. The new outer sills were a great addition to our line, and we are now working on the tooling for the inner sills as well.
We are also beginning to make good progress on the shell restorations in the shop, and also on the new chassis table that will ultimately allow us to build up complete NEW E-Type body shells from panels. Most of these shells will be used to support our E-Type project car program – Monocoque Metalworks owns SEVERAL E-Type project cars that have lost their complete bodies, and we will be replacing them with new, perfect shells.
So take a look through some of the more interesting photos from the past few months, and I will be blogging more often now – I promise!
Thank You all for your business and continued support! – Chuck
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- This is a 1965 E-type project that we found in September – she has been taken TOTALLY apart!
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- We re-assembled everything well enough to be transported to her new home in the Netherlands!
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- The car was “restored” sometime in the past, but the paintwork was very poor – although it looks pretty good from here!
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- All of the pieces were included, and this was a matching number project.
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- There was a light drizzle when we dropped her off at the docks for her journey, and she actually looks really good here! The dal we made with the customer included ALL of the necessary repair panels, and trust me, they are ALL in there!
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- Here is a shot of Brent eating lunch at the shop in late September, with the “company car” just outside the window.
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- I made up the 1967 2+2 shift tower or “gauntlet” in the foreground, and while it turned out great, was WAY too much work for a piece this small!
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- Here is another orphaned E-Type tnat we found slumbering for decades in a garage this past Fall. This one is a 1966 FHC – and oddly for the US, is actually right-hand drive! This car was 100% complete and numbers matching, and while VERY tired, was driven to where it was parked…
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- We quickly found here a new home at one of the top E-Type restoration facilities in the UK, where she will receive a 100% concours restoration with no expense spared!
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- Late October and early November was all about the final push to finally begin producing Outer Sills for coupes and roadsters. And let me tell you, it was a real battle! Here is the first prototype sill – which we proudly signed and dated, flanked by the first pair of production sills.
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- If you have not already, go back a few blogs and read about the outer sills – they are the simply the best that money can buy – they are perfect in every way!
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- Just before Thanksgiving, I finally headed up into Canada to pick up an E-Type project I have been chasing for over 2 years… here is the “Super Moon” rising over the mountains of upstate New York on a beautiful Sunday evening.
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- After a successful pickup – and always stressful border crossing – I was now headed back down through New York – again by the light of the Super Moon…
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- I finally stopped to rest in Pennsylvania for a much-needed good night’s sleep – this is the following morning. But what is in the trailer that is worth all this fuss?…
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- This… It is at the same time, the roughest – and the priciest – E-Type project car I have ever purchased! But…
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- …it’s also the earliest… 🙂
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- This is an original rear over-rider I am repairing for an old customer who is finally re-assembling the shell that I restored for them.
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- Aftermarket over-riders are just GARBAGE! Here, we are welding up the Amco bar holes so this one can be re-chromed.
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- And it turned out great! Let me tell you, these have a THICK layer of brass on them!
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- This is a Series 1 cooling fan mount that we carefully grafted onto a new aftermarket picture frame – complete with “fake” spot welds!
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- Brent made this flawless SEries 1 bonnet inner valance wall.
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- And I made this repair piece for the air tube portion of the same inner valance.
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- Brent built these perfect 3.8-liter FHC seats…
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- …as well as this beauftiful patch panel for a LH Series 1.5 front wing!
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- We worked together on this manual 2+2 center console and top plate – I paterned it, he built it.
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- After the new year, we got to work heavily on the new chassis table and the E-Type shell jigs – which are coming along nuicely and are going to be GREAT!
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- This SEries 2 forward bulkhead has been strupped and dissected, and is in excellent condition overall. It is going to be used to build a partial E-Type monocoque bound for New Zealand – where it will be skinned in aluminum as a low-drag lightweight replica!
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- This is a shot of the pair of 1961 flat-floor roadsters that I helped my friend sell…
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- …I met him 31 years ago when he sold me my first E-Type at age 14 – and this is a photo of the car that he found! This is EXACTLY what she looked like when I first laid eyes on her. I took one look at this car and it was like I was hit by lightning – I didn’t know how, but I KNEW this car was going to change my life…
