Practically Classics Forum

Well it had to happen - the Jowett shell has been gathering dust for a good few months but we have a Jowett Car Club 'Technical Weekend' planned for next weekend and members attending from far & wide - so we had a good clean up today - Keith even found a few things that he never knew he had in the first place and then he found some other things that he didn't know that he had lost in the first place.

So clean up done I had an hour on the NSR wing The front leading edge was dead and the subject of various previous bodges Just about good enough to strain the carrots through The underside being no better - I made up the rear support edge with the help of the shrinker And then cut the dead section from the wing

The flange edge that meets the inner wing had also suffered in several areas Difficult to see in the image but just above the marked cut line is the stamped number 2077 - this is Jowett factory body number for each panel and all the panels for the car have this unique number stamped on them So that's the flange edge sorted I can now bolt the wing in place and work to the door gapping - due to compound curvature of the wing the repairs shall have to be under taken in several sections

So next weekend I should be able to demonstrate panel making / welding / panel fitting - the rest of the team have distributor building / ignition timing / tuning / brakes / suspension planned - several Jowetts / club members are to make use of the workshop facilities - so it should be quite some weekend.

Not abandoned nor forgotten but the day job simply got in the way of everything for the vast majority of this year - now back on my home patch work can recommence on the car - start date yesterday Main mission currently is to complete all the welding to the outer panels - last panel to complete on the nearside is the rear wing which just happens to be the most difficult panel to repair due to the complex compound curves Sections carefully let in and tacked The panel has to removed and refitted several times Fastening brackets spot welded to side rail of the wing which now allows for the wing to be held in shape whilst the the sections are fully welded Welds dressed back - just some final shaping with the hammer & dolly required

Underside of panel cleaned back New wing mounting brackets fabricated and welded to the inner rear wing Another couple of hours work and the car will be one panel closer to getting painted

The Practical Classics Restoration Show is looming and the car will be on the club stand so time to crack on - with the rear wing back off there was a poor previous repair made up in brass that required sorting on the rear shroud Cut out Fresh metal let in & cleaned up

With the wing reattached next task was the gapping between the door and wing - looks ok in the image but believe me it's dreadful in the cold light of day - correction to the door alignment includes building out with weld on the edge of the door skin then cleaning back to achieve the correct profile Panel gapping on Javelin was not particularly good when they were new - still it's not an excuse to get it looking right at this stage - after quite a few hours of fettling I was at a point where I was happy with the results

Further repairs to the wing included the closure of this non original rear lamp aperture Several areas reshaped plus a couple of splits in the metal on the edge flanges around the wheelarch and lower edges of the panel

Now starting to get somewhere with the panel fit There is a piping bead that goes between the rear wing and the shroud once the car is painted Inner wing / D Post brackets to outer wing

Good to see some healthy progress on this project again.