Body kit off and found more rust. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login There was a lot going on under the paint here where the rocker flare had a crack in the filler so it's been holding water. Rocker shaped like a banana down at the bottom doesn't surprise me either, most have been squished here from off road adventures and hoist arms. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Such a shame they cut the center out of the rear apron. Im looking for one if anyone knows where I can find one. I can get a new apron but I was hoping a smacked donor car could give up what I need. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Mr Newman, Great thread and loving your work. Might be a Stupid question but why would someone want a RHD car in a LHD country, apart from novelty value? Just Curious? Regards Grim
thanks for the photos of the body kit. I no longer believe what I was told about possible regulations. It's always good to have confirmation.
Not to speak for Paul, just my own observations... In Canada, RHD imports from Japan have become quite popular over the past 10-15 years - our import requirements are that vehicles older than 15 years do not have to meet the Canadian emissions and safety regulations for the relevant year of manufacture. In the US, the import requirement with no compliance restriction is 25 years old vehicles. Much of that desire for the RHD vehicles available at older than 15 years is novelty value, as there are enough Nissan Figaros and such around to support that argument. However, much of the interest is also for performance vehicles or versions of vehicles that were never offered in LHD form in North America, such as Skyline GTR R32, R33, and soon R34 variations, or newer Mazda RX-7s. This isn't much different to the UK, where there are a significant number of LHD performance vehicles on the road simply because a specific model might not have been available in RHD, or it is much less expensive to get the LHD version on the continent and bring it back to the UK rather than buy the more expensive RHD version. In the case of this particular RHD 308 GTB QV, I know the owner who imported it to Canada - and it was as simple as that it was one of his favourite personal cars when he lived in Hong Kong, and when he moved to Canada he brought it with him. It was only when he was planning to retire and was no longer going to live in Canada that he began downsizing and decided to sell this car here. Cheers, Gordon
Learned a new detail today. Called Brian Crall about the hood and fender louvers because I thought they were supposed to be anodized black regardless of body colour. Turns out Euro cars are painted body colour and US spec is anodized black. Image Unavailable, Please Login You can see the line where the paint ends and the original anodizing starts inside the door. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Most of the paint is off this piece of window door frame. The anodizing under it is really very nice which raises the question why did they paint over all of the trim? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Lots of filler used in the past and for no reason that we can see. The front end has the original black then two additional black paint jobs over it with filler galore. The roof has only 2 paint jobs but also plenty of filler. It looks like a gobstopper with all the layers we're finding. What's important is there's no need for the filler and we're getting rid of it. Image Unavailable, Please Login Why do you need filler on the A pillar? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login If you look at the bottom of the fender below the marker light hole you'll see metal then the original black paint then moving upwards you see primer and a layer of filler then primer and black again. Then more primer and black paint again. We also see red primer which is usually a lacquer primer, you would never use that today. Image Unavailable, Please Login
What a brilliant project. thank you for all the details. I used to own this car, which is a black RHD 308GTB, but an early fibreglass one, which is the perfect compliment to your very late QV. This car is now in the US, still RHD, and dearly loved by its owner too. Good luck in the project and thank you again for a fascinating thread. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Interesting that many of the Swiss 308s have black fender louvers and the quad exhaust in exchange of the single outlet. Must be a Swiss market non factory conversion back in the day.
Prepping some engine hardware for plating. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Cam drive seals are leaking so I'll replace them and the 4 bearings followed by some detailing. Image Unavailable, Please Login Even the wheel openings couldn't escape the bad man with the bondo and we found rust under it. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Swaybars, springs, shocks etc are ready and waiting. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
This is awesome! I've been following another guy on Youtube, he found the same amount of filler etc. on his car. Apparently the sheet metal press wasn't that great at Ferrari so it was typical for the actual metal to be wavy, which was why the filler was used.
They didn't coat the cars in filler from the factory, even the hand beat panels on the boxers dont have body filler on them. This car had the original primer and black paint under the filler that was applied in the past for no reason whatsoever.
Rear panel fixed! Working on some other details then finish sanding it down and sealing it. It's a nice clean car that didn't need 20lbs of bondo under the paint. It'll remain a mystery why they chose to do that during the last repaint. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I stripped the paint off all of the trim then had it re-anodized. Just a few examples of the 20 or 30 pieces. It turned out great! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Any further pictures and progress reports on this one, Paul? Just discovered your various restoration threads - absolutely loving them! Just finished the 45 pages of "3.4 QV Crowndog's Adventure" - wow!
I would suggest the last guy that painted it read some article about "skim coating", in order to get a real straight car. Unfortunately, he didn't fully understand the concept of 'skim", as in really thin. And you don't use staright bondo for that either. Doug
I need to replace the cam drive seals and bearings, belts and full service etc. I'll detail the engine while Im doing that. I have pics of the car ready for paint but the site doesn't like the file extension so I'll have to sort that out and post them up in the next day or so. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
There certainly aren't many cars that can look as attractive as that while in that kind of a state - even stripped down as it is, the lines still move me!
Cut and polish soon after a sits a bit to fully cure. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Ready for assembly. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Some long over-due updates. Suspension rebuilt and back in. I rebuild the callipers as well. Working on the doors now, replaced some cracked sheathing on the wiring that passes through the door jambs from the doors to the cabin. You see it when the door is open. Anodized trim going back on as well. Rims have been refinished to get the definition back in the Ferrari lettering. Looking forward to the test drive! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Arms refinished, new bushings, ball joints etc. Image Unavailable, Please Login New material from Re-originals is a perfect match. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
