FNC - The Restoration

[Neil-yaj396]

I dropped off my 1300 Coupe at Classic Car Lab in Otley this morning. I’ve had the car for over 10 years now, and although it passes the ‘Concours from 10 yards’ test, close up it has quite a few bodywork issues. The corrosion all around the rear window is the particular biggie.

The work is way beyond me and I’ve had a couple of false starts finding a trusted restorer but here we go. Resisting buying a very nice Fulvia last year certainly helped with the finances.

[Nigel]

Hi Neil,
Looking forward to seeing the progress.
FNC deserves this.

Nigel

[peteracs]

Hi Neil

I have sent you a message.

Peter

[Neil-yaj396]

Well, this thread has been much quieter than I planned.

The one job that I did was to strip down and rebuild the rear light clusters. The rubber seals on those on the car were perished and letting in water. A pair of black framed units came with the car for reasons unknown so the seals were swapped over (it involved punching some extra holes in the newer seals for the different screw alignments) and the broken silver frame was replaced courtesy of Guy M.

Classic Car Lab initially (and literally) tore into the car; cutting out the rust I knew about and inevitably finding lots that I didn't as per the pictures below. A particularly good job has been done of rebuilding the badly rusted strip below the rear window.

Unfortunately things ground to a halt after that when for reasons unknown to me the workshop manager and painter were sacked. The new manager promised that the Coupe was next in the paint booth 2 weeks ago but we will see.....

[Neil-yaj396]

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[Neil-yaj396]

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[Neil-yaj396]

I'm told that the major leak at the top of the rear screen wasn't because of rust as I suspected, but because the mastic on the top half of the screen had completely failed. Add the the rust on the bottom half and the screen came out in less than a minute....

[Nigel]

Hi Neil,
That looks like a lovely job on the B pillar.
It appears he's even replicated the factory join line.
Superb.

Looking forward to seeing it later in the year.
Cheers
Nigel