Project Status & Gallery

The Doretti has arrived and is awaiting inspection to see exactly what is going to be involved. At some time in its past it was involved in a front end crash and the whole front inner structure was removed and lots of other stuff changed to fit a different front nosecone. We’ve sourced another inner structure and will piece it all together to make everything right. It’s been fairly well butchered and the replacement panels aren’t in great condition either so it’s going to be a very involved job. I can’t wait to get started!

It’s been stripped down and there sure is a lot of work ahead. Lots of rust, lost of old repairs to correct and lots of missing things to be remade. Plus the chassis needs to be straightened.

The rear inner structure has been repaired and is ready to be fitted to the chassis to finalise the body mount heights.

Construction of the new inner front structure has begun. Combining some bits from the original car, some bits from a replacement section and a lot of fabricated panels. Obviously no repro panels available for this car!

The chassis has been straightened, repaired, acid dipped and primed. Then I was able to fit the rear section and finalise the body mount locations. Now for the front!

After a truly herculean effort the front body section has been made and the body has been trial fitted together with the bumpers and grille as well. All new floors have also been made.

Lots of small parts have been painted black and panels in epoxy primer. Doors and bonnet were de skinned to clean up all the corrosion in the seams. Doors were test fitted without skins to check gaps before the original skins were refitted.

A colour has been chosen and so lots of interior panels have been painted.

Very exciting to get the rear body structure in colour so the shroud can be permanently fitted. Plus more of the endless painting parts black. Also redid all the wired edges of the guards as they were very rusty. Theyve been cleaned up and properly etch primed so they wont rust again.

The rear shroud has been prepped and painted in colour on the underside. Then the remade front body structure was media blasted, primed, bodyworked, seam sealed, stoneguarded and painted in colour.

Final few repairs made to the chassis before that was primed, a little bit of bodywork and that was painted satin black before assembly was started.

Work continues with cleaning, painting and fitting parts, the fully reconditioned radiator with new, handmade, brass top tank painted, assembly on front body structure with new brake and clutch lines and reconditioned parts being fitted.

Moving along. Fitting parts to the assembled bodyshell. All new brake lines made up and fitted, new wiring loom going in and more parts cleaned and painted. This car had had the windscreen stanchions cut short so I built them back up with weld and filed them to shape ready for the chrome plater.

Starting to get more exciting as the outer panels get lined up and gapped. Also trial fitted the body moulds before the aluminium panels were very carefully prepped and sealed with an aluminium specific epoxy primer.

Outer panels were prepped, seam sealed, stoneguarded and painted in colour before being refitted. Then it was a whole lot of sanding filler and then priming the car.

Starting to get really exciting now as the outer panels get painted. Finally!

The sanding and polishing process is underway. First they get a bake outside in the sun, then sanded through various grits before polishing.

Pretty exciting getting to paint the body. It’s been a long road to get to this point! I used base coat, clear coat on this car. After it had cured it went through the sanding and polishing steps the same as the hanging panels.

It’s always exciting to start assembly. Putting all the reconditioned, painted or plated parts back on the car. The grille required a lot of work. I had the plater give it extra coats of copper, this was then blocked down just like paint before the chrome was applied.

The engine is being fully rebuilt. New liners, pistons, crankshaft, bearings ect. The head has been sent away to a specialist. There is a lot of corrosion in the block to be cleaned up before assembly can begin.