It’s the smallest of frustrations to have to put up with not being able to drive the car because of the lockdown. So many others have it so much worse and my thoughts are with them.
I have been trying to keep busy whilst not visiting the car much. It is kept at a garage about a mile away from where I live. About every three weeks I’m calling in to turn the engine over as I take my exercise. I can’t shift anything big between my house and the garage because I don’t want to drive. Here’s what I’ve been up to.
I’ve turned some old pallets into shelving for my garage:
I’m making a grill ornament out of aluminium sheet which will look something like this when I’m done:
Progress on this job is paused at the moment whilst I wait for thinner aluminium sheet. The 2mm sheet I bought is perfect for making the brackets for the bottom of the radiator (to be extra sure I don’t get any rubbing on the chassis) but I’m chewing through Dremmel bits at an alarming rate!! I have some 1mm on the way.
I’ve also started to tackle the gear lever boot which was in a very sorry state. However, when I pulled it off I was impressed with the dedication of the original builder. The car has a black and which theme which suites me well! I’m not really that flashy (honest!). Whoever built the car sourced a black and white boot (which is actually RS branded). It was a mess though and certainly showing it’s age:
Most of the boot is actually folded down because the gear lever is a short shift. I did pull it off and try and recondition it but it ended up looking like Frankenstein!
It was full of holes and generally looking tatty so I unpicked all of the stitching and will use the old pieces as a template to make a replica.
Who’d have thought that sewing was going to be an essential kit car skill! I have the material on order and will probable start a job page for when it arrives.
Stay safe!
Tim’s Tiger blog 