This Spring has been SUPER busy at the shop – we have been working on E-Types literally around the clock, and the weekends have been filled with more work and several road trips as well.
There has been some more progress on the ’63 coupe, which is coming along VERY nicely, For all of the rust it had, the body is dead straight and it seems like this car WANTS to go back together – every panel slips into place almost perfectly. Look for blogs on that progress in the next few days.
We also got very side-tracked on the construction of a Series 3 V-12 bonnet for a customer in Mexico. We spent the past few months digging up V-12 bonnets and parts to prepare for this build, and in the end, I think there was more new metal in this bonnet than original! Several blog postings on that are coming soon.
We’ve also picked up some new shells. signed up some new customers for shell restoration, and have been adding to our equipment in preparation for moving into the new shop later this year.
In the meantime, here are some photos from the most recent road trip this past Saturday, I travelled LONG and HARD to pick up the latest piece of equipment.
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- Our latest acquisition was in Hendersonville, NC – so I took a couple of days extra and visited my parents in Clemson, SC – only about an hour away. This is early Saturday morning, leaving Clemson and heading up into the mountains toward Hendersonville.
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- I pulled off here to check the load I already had in the back of the truck – over 600 lbs. of steel tables for the new shop. This is Route 276, after just truning off Route 11.
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- I had a feeling this ride would be interesting – as the line on the map was REAL wiggly, and went through a green mountain wilderness area. It was seriously steep with alot of switchbacks.
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- Pictures never capture the steepness – I learned that from all of the off-roading photos and movies…
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- Left, Right, Left, Right – over and over, up and up – but what’s at the end of this trail is worth the battle!
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- We’re really coming up into the mountains now.
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- This small restaurant was at the very top of the mountain – after this, things leveled off a little.
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- This is Hooker Falls – just a little South and West of Hendersonville.
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- Rolling hills and what seemed like a bit of horse country now.
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- NOT what I expected for the driveway of the current owner, but it sure was nice – and the weather cooperated for this pickup.
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- Jackpot! This is the new English wheel for Monocoque Metalworks. It is a Ron Fournier “Quickshaper” – so in addition to the wheel itself, there is a Lancaster shrinker and two stands for anvils or a shot bag on a pedestal.
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- Here, you can see the wheel is in and strapped down, all of the steel tables and legs are back in as well. The tables are HEAVY – the table tops are 1/8″ steel. AND – there is a disassembled engine crane in there too that we used to get the wheel into the truck. AND – the wheel came with lots of accessories – including SEVEN anvils that must weigh 40-50 lbs. a piece. Make no mistake, the riuck was LOADED DOWN!
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- We’re off! This is coming through downtown Hendersonville. Main Sreet was under construction…
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- I don’t know what this shop was, but the flags caught my eye. 🙂
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- Leaving town, here is a nice shot of mountains in the distance. It was an absolutely beautiful day.
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- Back on the highway!
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- This is Route 26 – a relatively new highway threough the mountains. This looks relatively flat in this shot – it wasn’t!
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- Here is the top – looks like they just blasted their way through up here.
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- The very peak ios just ahead!
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- And back down the other side…
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- Oh boy – I hope I don’t end up there with all of this steel!
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- I have seen runaway truck ramps before, but never on a majot highway like this – this thing was NO JOKE! It went up at about 45 degrees. The new English wheel and I managed to avoid using it…
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- Still chugging along up into Virginia now.
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- Here is someone else’s project! A different medium – wood – but we can still appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into this type of work.
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- Wow! – and you thought the rusted E-Types we rebuild look scary!
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- The shadows are getting longer now and we’re still at it – this is mid-western Virginia on I-81.
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- Still going – deep into the night. You have to pay to play – this is a good English wheel – one of the best, and something I have wanted and needed for a long time. So like the E-Types we repair – we do WHATEVER it takes to get it done.
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- This shot of the moon rising off I-66 in Virginia gives you an idea of the hours I’ve been keeping lately. I’ll get some blog posts of metalwork up soon – promise!
