Facel Vega HK500. A childhood dream or a nightmare?
Discussion
theadman said:
A bit more research revealed a possible reason why. The RAL colour standard used across Europe today dates from 1961, so 1950s paint shades would have been defined by the less precise codes devised in the 1940s. These were not commonly used outside Germany and the chances of a French company voluntarily adopting a German system at that point in time were probably nil.
Utterly fascinating. Thank you!
So, on with the story...
It was now time to try and retrieve all the various bits of the Facel back to Brackley so the build up could commence. Given the amount of time that had elapsed since embarking on the project I couldn't help thinking the car was fighting me every step of the way!
Sure enough, this soon became evident! It was with some excitement that I went down to the workshop in early 2012 to see the finished bodywork, freshly returned from Prep N Paint. To my horror I was informed there had been some damage to the car whilst it was being transported. The 'rather silly person' who had picked it up had insisted that the doors, boot and bonnet be hung on the car prior to loading. Gary had packaged everything so each item could be loaded separately, with the idea that the opening panels would then be fitted in Brackley. Gary duly attached the panels having been given an assurance they would all be padded and tied in place.
By the time the car arrived the doors, bonnet and boot had all chattered against their openings chipping the paint in multiple places. To say I was rather annoyed is an understatement. Gary's position was that he had prepared the car for transportation the same way that he had done many times before and had fitted the panels against his better judgement. The delivery company, subcontracted through Steve simply ran a mile. It was obvious the only way to get them on the hook would be through the small claims court.
It took 18 months to reach a resolution, with Steve, Gary me all contributing to the rectification which Gary eventually carried out.
In the meantime work on the car progressed.
The body was placed on the chassis a number of times as different types and lengths of coachbuilder's webbing were tried with the aim of replicating the original material. Whilst it might act as a water trap, the webbing fulfills an important role of insulating the body from the chassis and providing a small amount of flex between the two. In an age of ever strengthening monocoque bodies it seems odd to need to build in some flex, but it is required to allow the body and chassis the smallest amount of fidget as with different forces being applied, they don't move as one piece.
At the same time the gaping hole in the roof was finally filled in. As purchased, the car had a Webasto ash frame in the roof, but no sliding mechanism or fabric cover. By 2012 the Webasto type folding roof scene was on its knees. In the 1970s there seemed to be a Britax, Webasto or Golde dealer in every reasonably sized town. In the 1980s many of these specialists moved on to fitting tilting, glass cassette sunroofs and from that point onwards the skills required to service or repair folding roofs began to decline as people moved on to other jobs or retired.
Having looked to see if Fulfords in south London were still operating (the people who fitted Webastos for Intercontinental Cars, the UK Facel importer) and then tried to contact the London Sunroof Centre (who appeared to be the Webasto UK agents at the time) I eventually came across Peter Harvey Sunroofs in Kent. It seemed that Peter was the only person actively taking on Webasto work in southern England.
Peter couldn't have been more helpful although his initial rather brusque manner hid this well! Having sent copious pictures of the car and fairly detailed dimensions he had a good idea of what was needed. However, so as not to take any chances he diverted via Brackley on his way back from a trip up north and saw the car for himself.
He then made all the parts required and travelled up to the car to fit the roof. The one piece he couldn't get hold of was the wind deflector which is really needed for open top motoring. He agreed to post it on once it arrived. About four years later a random package arrived on my doorstep, addressed to my previous house. Luckily, it is just down the road and the new occupants dropped it over. To be honest I'd given up hope of obtaining the deflector from Peter, but that was what was in the parcel!
Overall, he provided a great service and his workmanship was first rate. It is a great shame that he has now retired. Surely there is enough work for someone to step in and provide this sort of service today? The situation is complicated by the fact that Webasto have now stopped making parts for their sunroofs which isn't particularly helpful!
This is the best picture I have from the time with the sunroof newly fitted.
Work was also progressing with the chassis. Taking the engine out gave us the opportunity to replace the core plugs and remove the rather garish red paint from the block. Again, it was back to the Facel pages of Forum-Auto to try and understand what colour the block had been originally. And once again, there was no definitive answer. Nearly everyone refreshing their engine compartments paints their block black. This did not sit comfortably with me. You see, I had done the initial stripping of the block and there were no traces of black at all. In fact the original paint colour seemed to be a light metallic green, traces of which I found in numerous places. So more research was required.
Delving into the murky depths of the internet revealed the complicated world of Mopar 'crate' engines...the new engines sold against a part number, in a crate. This was not the only complication. It soon became apparent the Facel themselves didn't really know what engines were turning up from Chrysler. For instance, part way through the production of the Facel II, Chrysler started sending 413 cu in engines in place of the 383 cu in units that had been carry over from the last HK500s. It took a few cars before Facel noticed the change (to be fair, there were few, if any external cues).
As an early HK500 my car was fitted with the 361 cu in motor that preceded the ubiquitous 383 used in later Facels and then the Jensen CV8 and Interceptor. It this state of tune, with twin four barrel Carter carbs it was fitted to the De Soto Adventurer. Pictures of restored De Soto Adventurers from 1958 show the engine block to be a silver green, not too dissimilar to the colour used by BMC on Austin Healey 3000s.
So, whilst the internet came up with no record of crate engines being supplied in this colour, I decided to go with what I had found on the block itself and had the engine painted in Austin Healey green. Whilst this is too green, it is closer than any general application engine paint I could find.
At the same time attention turned to the fuel system. The carbs were stripped, soda blasted and rebuilt.
The fuel tank was cleaned and prepped with new fuel lines.
The front suspension was rebushed and the trunnions replaced (that was a job and a half)! Sorry the picture is on its side!
Then we started researching whether anyone else had converted their car to dual circuit brakes. It had been done before using either twin MGB servos or ones from an XJ6. We went with the latter which were duly fitted and plumbed in. It could be that we need to calibrate the system once the car is up and running, but I feel this modification provides a real safety benefit.
It was finally time to reunite the body with the chassis...
It was now time to try and retrieve all the various bits of the Facel back to Brackley so the build up could commence. Given the amount of time that had elapsed since embarking on the project I couldn't help thinking the car was fighting me every step of the way!
Sure enough, this soon became evident! It was with some excitement that I went down to the workshop in early 2012 to see the finished bodywork, freshly returned from Prep N Paint. To my horror I was informed there had been some damage to the car whilst it was being transported. The 'rather silly person' who had picked it up had insisted that the doors, boot and bonnet be hung on the car prior to loading. Gary had packaged everything so each item could be loaded separately, with the idea that the opening panels would then be fitted in Brackley. Gary duly attached the panels having been given an assurance they would all be padded and tied in place.
By the time the car arrived the doors, bonnet and boot had all chattered against their openings chipping the paint in multiple places. To say I was rather annoyed is an understatement. Gary's position was that he had prepared the car for transportation the same way that he had done many times before and had fitted the panels against his better judgement. The delivery company, subcontracted through Steve simply ran a mile. It was obvious the only way to get them on the hook would be through the small claims court.
It took 18 months to reach a resolution, with Steve, Gary me all contributing to the rectification which Gary eventually carried out.
In the meantime work on the car progressed.
The body was placed on the chassis a number of times as different types and lengths of coachbuilder's webbing were tried with the aim of replicating the original material. Whilst it might act as a water trap, the webbing fulfills an important role of insulating the body from the chassis and providing a small amount of flex between the two. In an age of ever strengthening monocoque bodies it seems odd to need to build in some flex, but it is required to allow the body and chassis the smallest amount of fidget as with different forces being applied, they don't move as one piece.
At the same time the gaping hole in the roof was finally filled in. As purchased, the car had a Webasto ash frame in the roof, but no sliding mechanism or fabric cover. By 2012 the Webasto type folding roof scene was on its knees. In the 1970s there seemed to be a Britax, Webasto or Golde dealer in every reasonably sized town. In the 1980s many of these specialists moved on to fitting tilting, glass cassette sunroofs and from that point onwards the skills required to service or repair folding roofs began to decline as people moved on to other jobs or retired.
Having looked to see if Fulfords in south London were still operating (the people who fitted Webastos for Intercontinental Cars, the UK Facel importer) and then tried to contact the London Sunroof Centre (who appeared to be the Webasto UK agents at the time) I eventually came across Peter Harvey Sunroofs in Kent. It seemed that Peter was the only person actively taking on Webasto work in southern England.
Peter couldn't have been more helpful although his initial rather brusque manner hid this well! Having sent copious pictures of the car and fairly detailed dimensions he had a good idea of what was needed. However, so as not to take any chances he diverted via Brackley on his way back from a trip up north and saw the car for himself.
He then made all the parts required and travelled up to the car to fit the roof. The one piece he couldn't get hold of was the wind deflector which is really needed for open top motoring. He agreed to post it on once it arrived. About four years later a random package arrived on my doorstep, addressed to my previous house. Luckily, it is just down the road and the new occupants dropped it over. To be honest I'd given up hope of obtaining the deflector from Peter, but that was what was in the parcel!
Overall, he provided a great service and his workmanship was first rate. It is a great shame that he has now retired. Surely there is enough work for someone to step in and provide this sort of service today? The situation is complicated by the fact that Webasto have now stopped making parts for their sunroofs which isn't particularly helpful!
This is the best picture I have from the time with the sunroof newly fitted.
Work was also progressing with the chassis. Taking the engine out gave us the opportunity to replace the core plugs and remove the rather garish red paint from the block. Again, it was back to the Facel pages of Forum-Auto to try and understand what colour the block had been originally. And once again, there was no definitive answer. Nearly everyone refreshing their engine compartments paints their block black. This did not sit comfortably with me. You see, I had done the initial stripping of the block and there were no traces of black at all. In fact the original paint colour seemed to be a light metallic green, traces of which I found in numerous places. So more research was required.
Delving into the murky depths of the internet revealed the complicated world of Mopar 'crate' engines...the new engines sold against a part number, in a crate. This was not the only complication. It soon became apparent the Facel themselves didn't really know what engines were turning up from Chrysler. For instance, part way through the production of the Facel II, Chrysler started sending 413 cu in engines in place of the 383 cu in units that had been carry over from the last HK500s. It took a few cars before Facel noticed the change (to be fair, there were few, if any external cues).
As an early HK500 my car was fitted with the 361 cu in motor that preceded the ubiquitous 383 used in later Facels and then the Jensen CV8 and Interceptor. It this state of tune, with twin four barrel Carter carbs it was fitted to the De Soto Adventurer. Pictures of restored De Soto Adventurers from 1958 show the engine block to be a silver green, not too dissimilar to the colour used by BMC on Austin Healey 3000s.
So, whilst the internet came up with no record of crate engines being supplied in this colour, I decided to go with what I had found on the block itself and had the engine painted in Austin Healey green. Whilst this is too green, it is closer than any general application engine paint I could find.
At the same time attention turned to the fuel system. The carbs were stripped, soda blasted and rebuilt.
The fuel tank was cleaned and prepped with new fuel lines.
The front suspension was rebushed and the trunnions replaced (that was a job and a half)! Sorry the picture is on its side!
Then we started researching whether anyone else had converted their car to dual circuit brakes. It had been done before using either twin MGB servos or ones from an XJ6. We went with the latter which were duly fitted and plumbed in. It could be that we need to calibrate the system once the car is up and running, but I feel this modification provides a real safety benefit.
It was finally time to reunite the body with the chassis...
Appalling to read that a car transport company thought it was a good idea to fit the doors to the car without seals or proper packing to prevent damage before bringing it home. Hope you are pleased with the rectification of the paintwork.
Beginning to look good, I can see the big smile on your face from here!
Please keep posting progress, most interesting.
Beginning to look good, I can see the big smile on your face from here!
Please keep posting progress, most interesting.
Mercdriver and RDMcG, thanks for the comments.
Perhaps I should point out again that I'm compressing 23 years into these posts. To my mind it was more like 'glacial progress' rather than 'great progress', but thanks for all the positivity being shown!!
To give you an idea of the chronology, the body went back onto the chassis in November 2012, so 13 years after I bought the car.
As you will deduce, it hasn't been plain sailing over the last 10 years as the car still isn't finished!
Maybe 2023 will be the year it finally happens? As it was taken off the road in December1973 (although it was briefly taxed in 1976), December this year will be 50 years since it was last on the road. I've missed a number of deadlines with the car, particularly the school proms of both my children. I don't want to miss this one!
Perhaps I should point out again that I'm compressing 23 years into these posts. To my mind it was more like 'glacial progress' rather than 'great progress', but thanks for all the positivity being shown!!
To give you an idea of the chronology, the body went back onto the chassis in November 2012, so 13 years after I bought the car.
As you will deduce, it hasn't been plain sailing over the last 10 years as the car still isn't finished!
Maybe 2023 will be the year it finally happens? As it was taken off the road in December1973 (although it was briefly taxed in 1976), December this year will be 50 years since it was last on the road. I've missed a number of deadlines with the car, particularly the school proms of both my children. I don't want to miss this one!
Time for the next chapter!
Before progressing further it might be worth a bit more detail about work to the engine. When I purchased the car in 1999, Geoff, the previous owner said that he had had the engine rebuilt, but had mislaid the invoice. Given the rather chaotic nature of his business, this was no surprise!
The first time the engine actually ran in my ownership was in August 2007, eight years after purchasing the car. At that point it ran without smoking and had good oil pressure. This was the only time I have driven the car...for about 30 yards! So, when we took the car apart in 2008 we assumed the engine internals were in good shape.
Apart from stripping back all the paint on the engine we took the opportunity to carry out some preventative maintenance. New core plugs were fitted along with a replacement water pump. All the galleries were inspected and were found to be pretty clean, even though there was some evidence of the car being run at some stage without antifreeze. New hoses were also purchased. As mentioned previously, the carbs were soda blasted, stripped and fitted with new seals and gaskets.
At the same time, the throttle linkage was re-engineered. At some stage in the past there had obviously been a problem and the linkage had been cobbled together. After a lot of searching I managed to find the correct parts on ebay in the US. Given that Carter carbs are as common in America as SUs are over here, the amount of time this took was somewhat surprising. However, persistence paid off...
There was an additional issue with the choke...there wasn't one! Clearly there were mounting points for an auto choke, but it had long gone! Again, searching the internet pulled up some interesting information and some really worthwhile contacts. I contacted a chap called Steve at carbs.net in the US (where else!). His website was a treasure trove of carb information. By checking the numbers on my carbs (2652S for the front and 2653S for the rear) against Steve's data, it confirmed my engine would have been fitted to a De Soto Adventurer. This fitted in with the paint colour on the block and also with the information in the Palawan Press Facel book.
In the end carbs.net couldn't come up with the correct choke parts but Steve put us in touch with another supplier and we took it from there.
The starter motor was also checked over and spruced up, as it would have been foolish to miss the opportunity with the engine out.
In the early 2000s I was given the contact details of someone in the Cotswolds who had owned an HK500 for many years. It shared garage space with a lovely Ferrari 330GTC...what a magnificent pair! A friend and I went to visit to take reference pictures for various aspects of my restoration. Having access to complete cars is so valuable and can save costly mistakes. Over the years, several Facel owners have given me access to their cars which has been very helpful.
Sadly, in this instance the owner's health was failing and he knew he would be selling the Facel before too long. On that basis he generously gave me a number of HK500 bits and pieces that were lying around in the garage, in case they might be of use. One of those was an old pedal box which yielded parts that enabled the renovation of mine.
Sadly, Charlie is long gone, but it is people like him that make the classic car scene such a wonderful thing. It is amazing how this common interest can quickly form a bond between people who hardly know each other.
Once the body was permanently attached to the chassis it began to feel as if I owned a car again, rather than a collection of bits that seemed to be spread across a number of counties. Slowly parts were were attached to the car.
The front grilles can be a real headache. The bodywork was hand built at the factory, so each car is unique in a way that mass production cars are not. My understanding is that all the trim parts were individually fitted to each car and originally bore the body number of that car. It was clear that my car no longer had all of its original trim, so when the body went off to be repaired and painted I sent the bright work (grille, bumpers and side trim) down to Gary. That way, he had a reference point when making the final adjustments to all the apertures. It might have been the opposite way round to the way in which the car was built, but it worked. I was relieved to find that the trim fitted really well!
Attention then turned to the interior. The rear seat cushions fit into their own individual wells either side of the transmission tunnel just ahead of the rear axle. Poking around in one of these I found some pretty agricultural welding that was part of the original body restoration that had taken place before I bought the car. Somehow, we had all missed it, but now the car interior metalwork had been tidied up and painted, it stuck out like a sore thumb! Luckily, it was in a hidden area which could be easily masked from the rest of the car, so Steve was able to tidy it up without much trouble. However, everything like this extends the time line and adds cost!
Having overcome that setback, it was time to concentrate on the interior.
Whilst picking up a Chinese take away in Brackley a friend of mine had idly looked at the notice board where local trades people could put their cards to advertise their businesses. He saw one for a classic car trimmer and immediately thought of the Facel.
As it happened, I had had the leather seats and interior panels renovated very early on by Leather Restorations, as the owner was due to retire. The rest of the interior trim (some trim panels, the centre console and carpets) still needed completing. The car trimmer turned out to be a Polish chap living locally, called Rafel. What a find he was! He provided excellent quality at a very reasonable price, provided you were in no rush. During the day he trimmed coach seats for a local company. In the evenings, he did what he really loved...bespoke trimming to a much higher level for classic cars and hot rods.
Over the course of a few months Rafel created a new carpet set (the old carpets I'd retrieved from Geoff's mezzanine floor turned out to be from a Maserati 3500 GT, so were useless as a pattern!) along with all the other leather items that were required. He even managed to source another matching hide, which was no mean feat.
As everything was going pretty well, it was obviously time for the next set back!
The transmission cover and centre console had been trial fitted several times, with minor adjustments to make it fit better. All the while, the central part of the dashboard had been out of the car to allow fitting up all the parts that sit behind the rest of the dash...things like the heater, fan motor and wiper mechanism. When it came to fitting it back in place, it simply wouldn't go; it seemed to have grown half an inch longer whilst out of the car! So, I could have either the centre console leather trim panel or the centre of the dashboard, but not both at the same time! To say Steve was perplexed was an understatement!
You can see in this picture that the bottom of the dashboard is hard up against the top of the transmission cover...there's a trim panel that surrounds the gear lever and carries a central ash tray that should slide in between the two. The second issue was that there wasn't enough depth for the bottom of the ash tray to clear the transmission cover, so it was sitting proud.
The ash tray is quite a large, swanky affair, so you couldn't exactly do without it! Here it is before it was retrimmed.
Setbacks like this do damage in two ways. Firstly, it saps your energy and this seems to be exponential the more times you have another go at it! Secondly, it has a financial impact. Going round in circles costs money!
Whilst mulling over the mystery of the growing dashboard, Steve started to trial fit the myriad of stainless trim pieces that surround the windows. All this was now very shiny, having been polished by Castle Chrome. It was also very sharp and stiff, so extreme care was needed to avoid damaging the paintwork. Just to add to the jeopardy, it was like playing 'Tetris'...trying to make all the various bits fit together was a nightmare.
At about this time a deal was struck to fix the paintwork damaged whilst the car body was being transported back from the paintshop. So, the whole car was dispatched back to Hayling Island for the remedial work to take place.
This gave Steve a break and a bit of thinking time to ponder the dashboard problem.
I'm going to have a break too...it's dinner time and a glass of Chianti beckons!
Before progressing further it might be worth a bit more detail about work to the engine. When I purchased the car in 1999, Geoff, the previous owner said that he had had the engine rebuilt, but had mislaid the invoice. Given the rather chaotic nature of his business, this was no surprise!
The first time the engine actually ran in my ownership was in August 2007, eight years after purchasing the car. At that point it ran without smoking and had good oil pressure. This was the only time I have driven the car...for about 30 yards! So, when we took the car apart in 2008 we assumed the engine internals were in good shape.
Apart from stripping back all the paint on the engine we took the opportunity to carry out some preventative maintenance. New core plugs were fitted along with a replacement water pump. All the galleries were inspected and were found to be pretty clean, even though there was some evidence of the car being run at some stage without antifreeze. New hoses were also purchased. As mentioned previously, the carbs were soda blasted, stripped and fitted with new seals and gaskets.
At the same time, the throttle linkage was re-engineered. At some stage in the past there had obviously been a problem and the linkage had been cobbled together. After a lot of searching I managed to find the correct parts on ebay in the US. Given that Carter carbs are as common in America as SUs are over here, the amount of time this took was somewhat surprising. However, persistence paid off...
There was an additional issue with the choke...there wasn't one! Clearly there were mounting points for an auto choke, but it had long gone! Again, searching the internet pulled up some interesting information and some really worthwhile contacts. I contacted a chap called Steve at carbs.net in the US (where else!). His website was a treasure trove of carb information. By checking the numbers on my carbs (2652S for the front and 2653S for the rear) against Steve's data, it confirmed my engine would have been fitted to a De Soto Adventurer. This fitted in with the paint colour on the block and also with the information in the Palawan Press Facel book.
In the end carbs.net couldn't come up with the correct choke parts but Steve put us in touch with another supplier and we took it from there.
The starter motor was also checked over and spruced up, as it would have been foolish to miss the opportunity with the engine out.
In the early 2000s I was given the contact details of someone in the Cotswolds who had owned an HK500 for many years. It shared garage space with a lovely Ferrari 330GTC...what a magnificent pair! A friend and I went to visit to take reference pictures for various aspects of my restoration. Having access to complete cars is so valuable and can save costly mistakes. Over the years, several Facel owners have given me access to their cars which has been very helpful.
Sadly, in this instance the owner's health was failing and he knew he would be selling the Facel before too long. On that basis he generously gave me a number of HK500 bits and pieces that were lying around in the garage, in case they might be of use. One of those was an old pedal box which yielded parts that enabled the renovation of mine.
Sadly, Charlie is long gone, but it is people like him that make the classic car scene such a wonderful thing. It is amazing how this common interest can quickly form a bond between people who hardly know each other.
Once the body was permanently attached to the chassis it began to feel as if I owned a car again, rather than a collection of bits that seemed to be spread across a number of counties. Slowly parts were were attached to the car.
The front grilles can be a real headache. The bodywork was hand built at the factory, so each car is unique in a way that mass production cars are not. My understanding is that all the trim parts were individually fitted to each car and originally bore the body number of that car. It was clear that my car no longer had all of its original trim, so when the body went off to be repaired and painted I sent the bright work (grille, bumpers and side trim) down to Gary. That way, he had a reference point when making the final adjustments to all the apertures. It might have been the opposite way round to the way in which the car was built, but it worked. I was relieved to find that the trim fitted really well!
Attention then turned to the interior. The rear seat cushions fit into their own individual wells either side of the transmission tunnel just ahead of the rear axle. Poking around in one of these I found some pretty agricultural welding that was part of the original body restoration that had taken place before I bought the car. Somehow, we had all missed it, but now the car interior metalwork had been tidied up and painted, it stuck out like a sore thumb! Luckily, it was in a hidden area which could be easily masked from the rest of the car, so Steve was able to tidy it up without much trouble. However, everything like this extends the time line and adds cost!
Having overcome that setback, it was time to concentrate on the interior.
Whilst picking up a Chinese take away in Brackley a friend of mine had idly looked at the notice board where local trades people could put their cards to advertise their businesses. He saw one for a classic car trimmer and immediately thought of the Facel.
As it happened, I had had the leather seats and interior panels renovated very early on by Leather Restorations, as the owner was due to retire. The rest of the interior trim (some trim panels, the centre console and carpets) still needed completing. The car trimmer turned out to be a Polish chap living locally, called Rafel. What a find he was! He provided excellent quality at a very reasonable price, provided you were in no rush. During the day he trimmed coach seats for a local company. In the evenings, he did what he really loved...bespoke trimming to a much higher level for classic cars and hot rods.
Over the course of a few months Rafel created a new carpet set (the old carpets I'd retrieved from Geoff's mezzanine floor turned out to be from a Maserati 3500 GT, so were useless as a pattern!) along with all the other leather items that were required. He even managed to source another matching hide, which was no mean feat.
As everything was going pretty well, it was obviously time for the next set back!
The transmission cover and centre console had been trial fitted several times, with minor adjustments to make it fit better. All the while, the central part of the dashboard had been out of the car to allow fitting up all the parts that sit behind the rest of the dash...things like the heater, fan motor and wiper mechanism. When it came to fitting it back in place, it simply wouldn't go; it seemed to have grown half an inch longer whilst out of the car! So, I could have either the centre console leather trim panel or the centre of the dashboard, but not both at the same time! To say Steve was perplexed was an understatement!
You can see in this picture that the bottom of the dashboard is hard up against the top of the transmission cover...there's a trim panel that surrounds the gear lever and carries a central ash tray that should slide in between the two. The second issue was that there wasn't enough depth for the bottom of the ash tray to clear the transmission cover, so it was sitting proud.
The ash tray is quite a large, swanky affair, so you couldn't exactly do without it! Here it is before it was retrimmed.
Setbacks like this do damage in two ways. Firstly, it saps your energy and this seems to be exponential the more times you have another go at it! Secondly, it has a financial impact. Going round in circles costs money!
Whilst mulling over the mystery of the growing dashboard, Steve started to trial fit the myriad of stainless trim pieces that surround the windows. All this was now very shiny, having been polished by Castle Chrome. It was also very sharp and stiff, so extreme care was needed to avoid damaging the paintwork. Just to add to the jeopardy, it was like playing 'Tetris'...trying to make all the various bits fit together was a nightmare.
At about this time a deal was struck to fix the paintwork damaged whilst the car body was being transported back from the paintshop. So, the whole car was dispatched back to Hayling Island for the remedial work to take place.
This gave Steve a break and a bit of thinking time to ponder the dashboard problem.
I'm going to have a break too...it's dinner time and a glass of Chianti beckons!
When I was a youngster in Dublin in the fifties the house next door was rented by a young Persian medical student. He had a new Facel. I was fascinated by that car so he took me for a drive. I recall it well as I had never been in anything so remotely luxurious. It was simply stunning.
It had a record player installed!. this thing would play one 45rmp record at a time.
Not exactly iTunes.
It had a record player installed!. this thing would play one 45rmp record at a time.
Not exactly iTunes.
Krikkit said:
Mercdriver said:
Out of curiosity do carburettor’s need a choke in warm climates ie Italy?
Not in the warmer months, but definitely if you head into the mountains in winter!
Used it pretty much all year round in the UK and never connected up the choke system - three pumps of the throttle before you fired it up was normally all the choke needed although you had to be careful during the warm up phase
Up a mountain in Italy I'd have wanted a choke system
RDMcG said:
It had a record player installed!. this thing would play one 45rmp record at a time.
Not exactly iTunes.
The first time I came across an in car record player was at the Volkswagen museum in Wolfsburg. They had a '59 Cadillac Eldorado convertible with one that slid out from under the dash.Not exactly iTunes.
Presumably you could only use it when parked, unless you were on a very straight, bump free road?!
Rumdoodle said:
Look, you're clearly not serious about this project. You should sell it to me before it escalates.
I fear that 23 years and still not finished says I'm not as serious about it as I could have been! However, there is only so much you can do whilst earning enough money to pay the cheques that have accompanied this project!Believe me, there are some days when I would snap your hand off
Spinakerr said:
Rumdoodle said:
Look, you're clearly not serious about this project. You should sell it to me before it escalates.
This really made me chuckle having caught up on some of the recent pages!Truly iconic car, wonderful to see all the careful work restoring it.
Thanks also for the positive comment...it really is a labour of love.
Who'd have thought we would be on the verge of 10 pages with something as old and left field as a Facel Vega!
You've got to love the depth of interest that lurks on this site...Alvis Stalwart, Rolls 20/25, Citroen SM and loads of other mad things like the McLaren Caddy and V8 2CV.
Thank you everyone for your interest in this long term saga; I'm genuinely surprised
You've got to love the depth of interest that lurks on this site...Alvis Stalwart, Rolls 20/25, Citroen SM and loads of other mad things like the McLaren Caddy and V8 2CV.
Thank you everyone for your interest in this long term saga; I'm genuinely surprised
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