59 RHD South African Queen

[Drew.s]

Hi Roy
Thanks once again for you continued support it's people like you with your original 356 and your willingness to help that make this forum such a great place.
The 'Carrera' engine tray that I am talking about was welded just underneath the bolt in (larger) engine tray.
Here are some pictures from someone else's car, hope they make sense.
I seem to remember there was a discussion on the registry that it was phased out in 1959 but I'm not sure.

Thanks for your help.
Drew

[roy mawbey]

Okay Drew, I will check mine out and see !

Roy

[JTR70]

Hey Drew, Those where phased out sometime in early '58. No Carrera chassis components in pushrod cars by 1959.

[Drew.s]

Hi Justin
That's the confirmation I was after, just got a bit confused when I saw this tray in my LHD early 58.
Now I can cut it out with confidence.
Cheers
Drew

[roy mawbey]

I looked late yesterday and was about to post it was not on my 59. You confirmed it. I never knew when they stopped doing that same as Drew.

Roy

[Drew.s]

Hi Roy
Thank you for your input ,as always.
Talk soon.
Drew

[Drew.s]

Hi Guys
OK I'm going to go with no lower tray on the 59 'African Queen' coupe. BUT I was taking a look at some of the amazing work being done by Deluxe Customs and two of their 58/59 Convertible D's had lower trays.
Justin is there a tray in the 'D' you're working on?
The pictures below are from Convertible D 86257 a 1959 car.

[JTR70]

Hi Drew,
yes, it does have the 4-cam perimeter strips.

however 1959 coupe 108625 did not. the welded in pushrod tray has been cut out due to rust in this shot. Also my donor '59 coupster chassis was also like this one. Drauz was still installing them after Reutter discontinued them it seems. Always learning....

Justin

[Drew.s]

Hi Guys
I have been kidding myself for years that I can clean (by hand) all the panels on the cars I am working on without blasting them, last week I bit the bullet and started looking for a blasting company that could speed up the process.
WOW should have gone down this route years ago, the garage is now filled with beautifully clean and primed panels.

This would give me a fixed point to work back to and hopefully keep the front lid opening as original.

[JTR70]

I learned that lesson the hard way myself Drew. I was really into cleaning things by hand until a friend rented a huge sandblasting outfit and cleaned his entire project car and related components in one afternoon with a far superior result. That was it for me. Such a brighter outlook you instantly get with clean metal staring back at you.
Looks like you're off and running now.
Justin

[Drew.s]

Hi Guys
The nose restoration moves on, I always knew that I would need to cut lower into this area as it was very thin and rusted out.

The nose restoration moves on, I always knew that I would need to cut lower into this area as it was very thin and rusted out.


But I was a little nervous about fabricating a double curved panel to match the original, then I had a brain wave, why not harvest a section from an old panel.

I have some old ‘B’ rear panel work hanging around and after some measuring, found a section with an exact match to the nose section.


The moral of this story is don’t throw any old 356 panels away.

So this new panel got welded in and I have to say the contours are spot on.

Next up is ‘shrinking’ and ‘stretching’ the new gutter panel to fit.


Then I need to match up all the interior panels and also test fit the front hood which needs some surgery before I can use it as a template.

That’s coming up next.

Thanks for stopping by.

[Phil Planck]

Nice work on those gutter parts Drew. How long to make them

[Drew.s]

Hi Phil
Sorry I can't take the credit for the gutter piece, it was purchased from 'Part Classics' in Germany.
They do some great panels at reasonable prices.
Cheers
Drew

[roy mawbey]

Well done Drew on the nose work so far. Like Phil never seen those sections available before!

Roy

[Drew.s]

Hi Guys and thanks Roy

It’s starting to get a bit cold in the workshop so I will be moving onto ‘In Kitchen’ projects soon including re-building the seats, more of that later.

But here is an update on the front bodywork, getting the inner nose section to fit and re attaching the original jack brackets.

Next up was to get the front hood sorted so that I could use it as a template.

At some point in it’s life it had been badly kinked so I cut out a section of the frame to give me access and allow me to straighten out the bent section.

All was looking good and after welding the hood it was strong and straight again but after fitting it was clear that the front section was way out.
Thanks for stopping by
Drew

[Drew.s]

Hi Guys
Without a good hood for a template I was stuck so plan B required another trip to the blasters with a spare one, as you can see this hood will also need some work but I am now in a good place and ready to start fitting the rain gutter section.

Once the nose is built to the original line of this hood I will then rebuild the hood itself to match the new nose.
Thanks for stopping by
Drew