Messy interior

Things are going great and they're only getting better...



I will need to dismantle the dashboard. I should have done this before the car came in the work shop but these are some of the things you’re only become aware when it’s too late.

The rusty spots underneath the windscreen are gone and new metal has been weld in.

I hoped the rear panel would be in place but due to the accident it isn’t but both doors are finished so that’s something.

Front wings almost done

The dusting machine has a handy collar.



One wing had the indicator hole, this is gone now and the side indicators will be of the American type.



The front wings are on the car but they need to be adjusted a little bit to line up with the front panel.



The front panel has been paint stripped and has received a ground layer.

Little progress

Finally I’m back in the country. Went to the body shop but I was a bit disappointed I thought more work would’ve been done during my absence.
Seemed that someone crashed into the guy’s three weeks old car and ran off.
So he had to repair his car first OK I can live with that, luckily he didn’t get injured.



Going round the car the next thing to take care of was the left hand rear wheel arch. (Say these last words ten times fast)



Al the rust has been cut out and it's almost ready to put the repair panel into place.

Difficult and nasty spots.

Last row

Almost finished.



Finished the job on 30 December. My Christmas holyday has been good spent.


Making a concrete top ring wall will be the finishing touch but this will have to wait for a while as the wife wants me to make two new bedrooms and I’m leaving the country for work next week.

When I'll be back I hope the front wings will be finished and work on the rear panel has started (or finished).

Laying bricks

Finished the concrete.


The inside dimensions of the pit are 3x1m but to have enough space to put the concrete blocks in I made it 3.30x1.50 and 1.90 deep this gives almost 9 cubic meter of soil I think that’s approximately 8 to 9 ton I had to dig out no wonder my arms are feeling heavy.



Two days later starting to build the walls.
The first row.



I made almost 2 ton of concrete for the floor and the concrete bricks aren’t light either.
I don’t need much to fall asleep at nights.



Making progress

staircase preparations

I’m making a wooden frame for the staircase.




Putting some special oil on the wooden frame to make sure it comes out easy when the concrete has dried.



The wooden frame is fixed to the cellar wall.



29 mills of concrete to do the 4 hours job but everything went alright.

Safety first

Putting the plastic in sounds easier than it is it was a bit of a struggle.



Some safety precautions.

The iron net is in place.

This will be strong enough.

More materials

More concrete blocks



At one side of the pit there is the cellar. When the pit is completed an entrance will be made between cellar and pit. A smale hole has already been made where once was a carbon coal entrance hole.



As the cellar is deeper than the pit a staircase has to be made.



On the other side of the pit I will make a ladder so there will be two entrances/ escapes.

A whole lot of soil that is.

The necessary materials to make the concrete.

Inspection of the inspection pit

After a thoroughly inspection he found the pit not deep enough.



Luckily the walls are OK.



OK this should be deep enough. I’m keeping in mind that the Triumph is lower to the ground than the other car so to avoid bumping my head I make it a bit deeper than normal.



I’m 1.80m tall minus 10cm (from top of head to eyes) gives me 1.70m. So if I make it 1.70m deep when it's finished I can just see the floor level. This could be OK but just to make sure I make it 5cm deeper.
Later on when the car is back I can adjust the height by putting the tiles in the pit a bit higher if I need to.

I’m putting 15cm concrete on the soil floor this means I have to dig the soil out to give me a total of 1.90m from soil floor to tiles floor.



The walls will be made with concrete blocks 40x20x20 these will be thick enough as there is no ground water and the soil is very hard argyle so very little chance it will slide, move or collapse.

Side project

I haven’t been sitting still while the car is in the body shop.
Although it isn’t a car it is part of the restoration project.
When I started building our house I’ve also planned to make an inspection pit for the car.
Now so many years later the house is almost finished and the wife agrees I spend some time on other things.
So this is the moment to start with the pit as the car is out of the way.



I left a space open for the pit when I poured the concrete as we started building the house.



The pit will be 3m long and 1m wide.



Just have to get the soil out now.



It’s always nice when you have a helping hand.

Front windscreen out

With the help of a cutter knife and a piano wire we are cutting the windscreen out.



This went quite well we saved the windscreen.

Two front wings ready

The two front wings with the new repair panels are ready to put back on the car.



The restoration of the left hand door. The underside has been cut out and replaced with a new metal sheet.



You can see the marks of an accident on the right hand inner wheel arch.



The car will be wax oiled to prevent rust. We won’t forget to spray the spots they forgot at Speke.