… is how Roger at RS Auto Repairs, Chesterfield, described the stripped steel panels of Betsy’s naked form. This is starting to sound a little bit sexy! And you’d be right – stripped naked, Betsy is looking good! Yes there are some incredibly rust-rotten areas which will need addressing either by chopping out and replacing sections, or by fully replacing panels, but overall I was pretty impressed with her condition.
Once she had been stripped of all her paint, her imperfections were revealed… Along with waaaaay too much filler! Someone had done a number on her previously and Roger was less than impressed – I quote: ‘It’d take less effort to do the job properly than fanny around with filler!’
Last spring/summer, Betsy had looked amazing and turned many a head on a Sunday afternoon pootle around Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. As September brought cooler weather and rain, her age spots started appearing thick and fast – a blemish here, cracked paint there, a rust stained tear down her cute little face… It was deeply saddening to watch as week by week we could identify further areas showing through and she had started to look a little tired sitting on the drive next to a shiny little (old!) sports car. Roger and Tony, in stripping her right back, have revealed the root causes and it is really quite interesting – the side sill looked really badly bubbled so I expected it to be horrific underneath but in fact that was mainly superficial! Needless to say, it is still getting chopped out!! In contrast, the driver’s side floor I always felt was pretty sturdy as I hoiked myself in and out of the driver’s seat and, well, let’s just say there was a likeness to a certain vehicle in the Flintstones’ and I don’t mean the rag top…
Roger and Tony have kindly invited us to drop in any time to get updates and see progress, and have encouraged us to be as involved as possible at every stage of her restoration. So, without further ado, here are the latest photos of Betsy and the progress made so far.
Betsy’s cute little face has been removed and has revealed rather a lot of rust along the front ledge.
Here’s Betsy’s new face – Tony will fill the front grill with a steel panel, as before but minus the rust. The grill will only let the draught in around our knees so we can do without that! She will look exactly as she did before but BETTER.
Driver’s side step/wheel arch/footwell area. Rust has been completely chopped out from a lesion in the floor, also the wheel arch has been removed ready for her replacement.Keep checking back for progress reports and updates! The estimated finish time for this restoration is (incredibly) mid – late February 2016, ready to hit the weddings again in March! If you would love Betsy at your wedding, please get in touch – she is going to look amazing and you will certainly be arriving in style – fresh off the forecourt 🙂