1978 GLS

[RussGLAuto]

Cracking motor this one gents:

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1414818

[mark1gls]

Looks a lot better then mine, same early seats and colour as my car.
Should have plastic bumpers though but metal ones do suit it.

[RussGLAuto]

Well, that said, a few bits missing from the engine bay. Cam belt cover for starters, strut top covers... even so, still more presentable than Gladys!

[mr.brown]

Looks great but (and this my pet hate) a bare metal respray is NOT fully restored!

[GT_II]

Looks great but (and this my pet hate) a bare metal respray is NOT fully restored!

I'm not disagreeing with you at all, but I would be interested if you could elaborate - I had always assumed a bare metal respray was considered the ultimate foundation for a restoration project, at least for a cars that had succumbed to significant deterioration, and I think is often highlighted as a positive attribute of older show cars featured in car magazines.

Personally, I prefer cars that have had as little done as possible to the original paintwork, as I fear few if any bodyshops are able to produce paintwork as durable as the original factory finish - witness the number of tired modern classics suffering from lacquer peel, etc.

[RussGLAuto]

With you GT_II. I always think it's a bit of a cheat doing a full respray on a classic car. Means that really it's had a hard life and one is attempting to covering up that fact. Unless of course it's a Car SOS basket case... in which case fair enough.

Yes Gladys has had paint in mine and previous ownership. But only where necessary to combat localised minor corrosion and it's clear never a full one.

https://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/ ... p?t=416440

This is the type of rust (spider?) I'm seeing in several areas of Gladys and according to various websites its attributed to poor pre paint practices from factory that just weren't known about back in the day.

So they MUST be sorted out. That said c.80 of her is original paint. I think. Need to get a paint thickness gauge to verify though.

That said, if one is stripping a car back to bare metal / nut and bolt, how is that not a full restoration type gig??

[Village Idiots]

That's only paint!
All the other parts, mechanical, etc., etc., need to be fully looked at for a car to be fully restored.
To quote the old saying......'All fur coat and no knickers'.

[RussGLAuto]

Love it!!

That phrase is up there on my Tombstone wish-list! "He was a great bloke, but all fur coat and no knickers!"

[mr.brown]

I would be interested if you could elaborate

A bare metal respray implies that only the outside of the car was sanded/repaired/primed/resprayed.

To me, a full restoration is what I've had done to my own mk1 -

Car stripped down to bare shell and sent to Envirostrip. Doors, wings, tailgate, bonnet removed and placed in shell.

Full 4 stage process -

Stage 1 – Paint removal using pyrolysis
Stage 2 – De-rusting
Stage 3 – Protective Coating
Stage 4 – Bodywork Primer or E-Coat Protection

Back to restorers for full rotisserie restoration

1. Approx. 40hrs of welding - and my car would have been described as "excellent" pre-resto so imagine how many hours a basket case needs.
2. Other bodywork repairs including pressing out of dents, filler where appropriate
3. Primer inside, outside and underneath
4. Multiple coats of paint - inside, outside and underneath - I opted for no underseal as it's evil stuff.
5. Finishing

And then comes the rebuild. After all the expense above, every part HAS to be new/rebuilt.

Basically, a bare metal respray can be done in a couple of days. A full resto takes months and £££££.

[GT_II]

I would be interested if you could elaborate

A bare metal respray implies that only the outside of the car was sanded/repaired/primed/resprayed.

Ah, that helps, I guess the term "respray" has its roots in the 60s and 70s, where countless back street paint shops used this term when offering to refresh your rusting Cortina or whatever with a quick paint job, although I feel sure the "bare metal" renovation this GLS has received would be to a much higher standard than that.

[Village Idiots]

And Mr Brown didn't include restoration of the engine, fueling, gearbox, braking system, suspension system, steering!
A full restoration, done properly is £15,000 to £20,000. Not worth it unless you aim to keep the car for ever! If you watch Car SOS, think how much restoring some of their cars must be (the 6R4 for example). But it's a TV programme not a viable business.