all I can say is wow!.....beautiful results on that first car you restored...very well done...love that silver...looks a bit DB7 is a weird sort of way....
Thanks! The Lagonda Rapide is basically a stretched DB4 with an unusual front end added and two extra doors plus a DB5 engine. Mine was a rare manual with only 35K miles on the clock - I would have restored it if it had been worth nothing - I just really liked it. I'd love to tell you what I paid for it and what I sold it for! Below are a few more photos of it before and after (sorry they're a bit random!)...
This is the same seat as the first photo but after using a leather restoration kit - same leather!
Back o the Quattroporte... I've been sending off various parts which are beyond my skills to be refurbished . The radiator is specific to this car and super rare, I bought it from a car which was being broken up as well as a spare engine - unfortunately while being transported it got bent and punctured... I sent it to Aaron Radiators who did a really great job of rebuilding it and even drove 3 hours to deliver it to me in person! Also been rebuilding the front sub-frame and suspension, one of the nice things about this car is you can build the engine on the sub-frame and wheel it under the car - much better than taking it through the bonnet opening.
Yes, 5 speed ZF - next on my list to inspect, clean and paint... Just in the process of rebuilding the engine, got the crank reground, new rings, big and small end bearings - £500 a set! You can get into really deep water with an engine like this, so far so good...
I had a Ghibli owners manual, one of those books they put in the glovebox.. and it had instructions on how to rebuild the engine...... Very owner friendly company in those days I think.
Been working on the OS sill, so much of the original was missing that it was difficult to work out the correct construction at first... Fortunately most of the strength of the car is up the centre and in the floor pans so despite the severe sill corrosion the car remained quite rigid. I want the new work to look exactly like the original so spent quite a bit of time copying details like the unique jacking point and types of weld...
Fitted the outer sill, had to make it in two parts - 1.2mm sheet, my spare gas bottle had just the right radius - getting the middle section to bend was more difficult than I expected! The rusty bit of metal on the ground is all that was left of the original sill.
Been welding a few hours every day when I can, so making quite quick progress.
First Photo - Got the front and rear brake callipers back from being refurbished by Ward Engineers - they look great. I had hoped to do them myself but unless the pistons are perfect it's one for the professionals - with a car that's been off the road for 35 years rust tends to get in.
The second photo is one of the two Lucas 2FP fuel pumps which are located under each fuel tank. I have some paperwork which suggests these were replaced shortly before the car was taken off the road, I plugged them in and they worked fine. Not sure if I should use them? - petrol, electric, Maserati, Lucas - all the ingredients needed for a fire. There are new electronic alternatives available cheap - Facet etc... The same Lucas pumps are used submerged on some E-Types - so I guess they must be fairly safe.
Third photo is the front drivers door - the worst one rust wise but actually not that bad compared to many 60's car restorations. I've repaired quiet a bit of it now and plan to redo the bottom section of door skin tomorrow. I plan to try and avoid warping by doing one weld stitch at a time a few inches apart, and reduce grinding by welding from the inside.
Absolutely fantastic , I really admire you guys who can take a scrappy old classic and turn it into a beauty . The skill ,time and money needed must be immense.
Well done Randall977 ,I'll be following this thread with great interest .
I absolutely agree with Rickt, the amount of work needed would put me off completely. My wife's late brother had a brand spanking new Quattro in the late 70's and it would go like stink. He wouldn't let me drive it when we visited him, I had to make do with a modified XR2 which got left behind on the straights but caught up on the twisty bits. (He also owned the XR2). Happy days.