Practically Classics Forum

For anyone interested here is a link to my post on the owners club forum following the progress of my mini project;

http://www.sunbeamrapier.co.uk/forum/to ... PIC_ID=170

Not far off finishing this now guys, may be able to make my 2nd debut at the Footman James show in April

For those in a hurry here is one of the latest photo's showing my gleaming rocker box cover! You can't beat a bit of bling!!

jpsh120 wrote:For those in a hurry here is one of the latest photo's showing my gleaming rocker box cover!

Eeeewww, there's drool in my keyboard now!

That's chuffing lovely that is - metal porn!

How about posting up some more pictures directly on here?

Great stuff and well done - quality resto.

Cheers

Luxobarge wrote:

jpsh120 wrote:For those in a hurry here is one of the latest photo's showing my gleaming rocker box cover!

Eeeewww, there's drool in my keyboard now!

That's chuffing lovely that is - metal porn!

How about posting up some more pictures directly on here?

Great stuff and well done - quality resto.

Cheers

OK will do, back soon......

OK, brief history lesson. This car was bought in 1979 by my Dad and used regularly until in 1988 some ********* hit it up the rear. 3 years later we got the car back and it had very little use after that. Once I was of driving age I nagged the old man to take it to a few shows but he was never that keen so as soon as I could I pinched it off him and went myself

The car was very good (see below) but in 2006 failed the MOT due to excessive corrosion in the rear strut top mounts (also see below);





A good friend of mine did the welding (after much persuading, cider and cash) and made the strut tops good as new;




Whilst it was off the road I decided to really go to town and create a show car (or as close as I could get) which meant getting the engine bay as clean as possible - this was the only area not touched during the 3 year resto.

So, in short, I have gone from this;




To this;




The engine has also had some TLC;




I have replaced pretty much everything it was possible to replace, anything else has been cleaned and painted/plated/polished. I have new rear suspension so decided to whip the axle out and give it a fresh coat of paint. Looks like this currently, but will be much nicer soon;



More detail & photo's are on the owners club - link below. Hope you like the progress made so far!

thats lovely, ive got to go for a lie down now...

Got the final coat of paint on the axle over the weekend, another job ticked off!! Here's a few shots of the overall process - lots of hours needed to clean it prior to paint

Luxo and I have similar taste sometimes - I love these cars!

I was miffed when my grandmother stopped buying Rootes cars after her last Minx (a Series VI) and bought an Austin 1100! She had two Rapiers before the last Minx and I had hoped she'd get the "Fastback" Rapier. Yes, I'm jealous of this car too (along with one or two other "Members' cars") and reckon the color is perfect for the car.

Mind you, Father bought a Rapier (same/similar colour) after being banned from his bike (by the doctor - for medical reaons) that I was going to sort out for him. We soon discovered the worst part of £50 Rapiers (rust and more rust - the car was about 12yo at the time) and I was having to do it between chemo sessions. The GP was not impressed with my "suntan" from the welder!

Well I can understand why your doctor was a little cross with you!

As for the car, thanks for your comments, it is always nice to hear other people saying they like it. In the days before the internet I had always assumed there wasn't much love for them outside of the owners club due to the fact that there weren't many survivors. An H120 sold on eBay yesterday and I'm really hoping it went to someone planning on getting it back on the road.