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Details of the car finish sanding and painting.

The most consuming, but important part before painting, is prep time. For the first coat I used an etching primer. After that it was a matter of adding layers of sandable primer. I have read that one of the biggest problem with novice painters is that they don't put on enough of the sandable primer. Not being a professional painter, I end up doing lots of sanding. Use a lot of water with 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper and a few drops of dishwashing soap to make sanding easier. It prevents the sandpaper from catching. After the first sanding, I spray on a guide coat of a darker color paint. As you sand, you will more easily be able to identify high and low spots in the primer. You sand this guide coat off completely. So basically it's sand, paint, sand, paint, sand, paint ...I probably did it four times. Paint jobs can run from $6,000 to $8,000, so doing it myself saves me money. My materials ran about $1,500 and I did all the priming in my backyard on a cool, calm day.

Mounting the painted pieces on the chassis.

Turns out that the hardest part of this whole restoration was coming up with the color of the car. I did discover the original paint was green/green with green upholstery. Already owning a green TC and a red TD, my wife wanted a blue car. It is difficult to research these old colors because of destroyed records. These cars came in red/red, blue/blue, green/green, black/red or blue or green. For an extra 10 pounds, you could have any custom color you wanted. The blues were called Oxford and Cambridge blue, but I could not find any records of these formulas. So ...finally after 3 tries, my wife and I came up with this color combination. The dark blue is a 1974 Rolls Royce Oxford blue, and the light blue ....we'll call Cambridge blue (ahem). The dark color was very hard to work with because different light situations showed up the thin spots. Lots of repainting and sanding! I think the dark blue will be hard to clean also, as it shows every bit of dust. Oh well. I was so excited, I put each piece on the chassis as I finished it to see how it was looking. The cross bracing was used to transport the tub on and off the frame. The chrome looks great on the blues. The girls, Katy and Chloe, are my inspectors. How do you like the Brooklands, Kerry? Now starts the long process of refitting the panels without damaging the paint. Today is May 24, 2009.

Putting pieces together...Assembling electrical harness

ASSEMBLY. The fun part is putting the pieces together. You can see the dark blue leather hide I've purchased sitting in the car. It's on it's way to Jim Silva in San Leandro for upholstery. I hope to do the panels and piping myself. I enjoy doing as much as I can, but some things require a professional. I've come to terms with myself about not having a perfect paint job. After the GOF in Squaw Valley this year, and seeing Martin Hveems gorgeous TA Tickford, I came home disatisfied with what I had done and spent several more days sanding and painting. Finally, realizing my car was not going to be a concours car and I could never achieve perfection, I put the whips away.
ELECTRICAL. Well, after having done 3 TC's and a TD, I thought the electrical would go without a hitch. Wrong! Following two similar wiring diagrams, (one from the owner's manual, one from Terry Sanders) I spent three "over 100 degree" days trying to wire up the car. Nothing would work. Finally I sent the regulator to Jerry Felper in Southern California. Perhaps the regulator was toast. That day, I got the crazy idea that maybe pre-war cars were negative ground, not positive like the T-cars. Guess what? They are! Luckily sending the regulator was not a waste of time as Jerry said it was seriously out of adjustment. He installed a small diagram in the back of it indicating how to connect the wires. It was quite different from the original schematics because he said it was a three brush generator. Perhaps someone can explain this to me over a couple of beers some day. He was right and success!!! Everything worked including the trafficator shown above.