I'm stuck at the Baltimore airport, so I thought this would be a good time to post the second chapter of my SIV V6 project (the first chapter was published in the old Marque and is available here: http://www.sunbeamalpine.org/alpine_marque/issue_16.pdf). After close to 8 years, work has finally begun on my SIV V6! I've talked about this before, but I 'gave' it to a local body shop to work on after having the entire car sandblasted. The shop is a one-man operation, but that one man is the only guy in the St. Louis area I know with Sunbeam experience and he does terrific work. (Those of you who have seen Ranney Dohogne and Bryon Golfin's red Tigers have seen his work.) Our deal was that he would work on the car in between insurance projects and charge me a lower hourly rate, but the car would be done when it was done and I wouldn't owe him a dime until then. His estimate at the time was that it might take a year. But, he got busier right after taking on my car and something seemed to happen, like a massive hail storm that tied up every body shop within a 100 mile radius, every time he had a window. However, he had a slow period a couple of months ago and took the car from his house - where it has been for more than 7 years - to his shop. The shop is very small, meaning the car is now in the way. He's promised not to move it until it is finished, which is a strong incentive for him to get it done.
The car is almost totally rust free, as it was originally a California car that was taken off of the road after about 15 years following what I believe was a multi-car car fender bender. It then spend the next 35 years in dry storage. The biggest problems it has are not the result of the actual accident (or accidents, as I have no way of knowing), but rather previous amateur attempts at repairing the damage. For example, someone cut out part of the rear valence, "straightened" it and then welded it back in. The only problem, besides the fact that the straightening involved lots of filler, was that the trunk gap was now too narrow and the trunk lid no longer closed properly. Similar work had been done on the front valence. Lots of work for a professional!
I might not have bought the car had I known everything I learned after the sandblasting, but on the other hand, starting with a rust-free body is nothing to sneeze at. I bought a very rusty SV parts car a few years ago and the body guy and I cut it up to salvage parts we needed for the SIV. The SV had terminal rust, but for some reason, the valences and the trunk lid were solid. I had them dipped to be sure they were as rust free as the rest of the vehicle. So, here are a couple of photos showing the work so far, or at least as of a couple of weeks ago when I was last in St. Louis. The first shows the new valence tack welded into place.
Because of damage to the driver's headlight bucket he chose to keep that from the donor car and weld just behind it, as shown here.
Here are a couple of shots of the rear valence. (I know the SIV and SV are different. The car is a hot rod, so I am not worried about originality.)
Obviously, everything is very rough at the moment, but the gaps around the trunk and hood are now perfect. More in the next post.
The car is almost totally rust free, as it was originally a California car that was taken off of the road after about 15 years following what I believe was a multi-car car fender bender. It then spend the next 35 years in dry storage. The biggest problems it has are not the result of the actual accident (or accidents, as I have no way of knowing), but rather previous amateur attempts at repairing the damage. For example, someone cut out part of the rear valence, "straightened" it and then welded it back in. The only problem, besides the fact that the straightening involved lots of filler, was that the trunk gap was now too narrow and the trunk lid no longer closed properly. Similar work had been done on the front valence. Lots of work for a professional!
I might not have bought the car had I known everything I learned after the sandblasting, but on the other hand, starting with a rust-free body is nothing to sneeze at. I bought a very rusty SV parts car a few years ago and the body guy and I cut it up to salvage parts we needed for the SIV. The SV had terminal rust, but for some reason, the valences and the trunk lid were solid. I had them dipped to be sure they were as rust free as the rest of the vehicle. So, here are a couple of photos showing the work so far, or at least as of a couple of weeks ago when I was last in St. Louis. The first shows the new valence tack welded into place.
Because of damage to the driver's headlight bucket he chose to keep that from the donor car and weld just behind it, as shown here.
Here are a couple of shots of the rear valence. (I know the SIV and SV are different. The car is a hot rod, so I am not worried about originality.)
Obviously, everything is very rough at the moment, but the gaps around the trunk and hood are now perfect. More in the next post.
