My bodywork and painting skills wouldn’t have done the car justice so these tasks were to be farmed out. After some consideration of various specialists, I ended up choosing Hutsons based in Bradford. Hutsons is run by Andy, an affable chap, who warned me when I first contacted him that their backlog of work was such that it would take almost a year to complete.
To a certain extent this suited me fine. By my reckoning, I should therefore get the painted bodyshell back around May 2011 and have the warmer summer months to make good progress with the rebuild. So, in August 2010, the bodyshell and various panels were packed up into their lorry and transported off to Bradford.
While Hutsons were taking care of the bodyshell, I turned to sorting out the renovation of the engine, gearbox, differential and rebuilding of the IRS. The aim was that these would be complete for the May ’11 return of the bodyshell.
Fast forward, past the anticipated delivery date, to July 2011. The engine, gearbox and IRS had been rebuild and returned. However the bodyshell still more or less in the same state as it has been delivered to Hutsons. Disappointed would be putting it mildly!!
With hindsight and to be fair to Andy, I think there were many owners who were wanting work done in time for the E-Type’s 50th anniversary celebrations and so he may have taken on more work then they had capacity. Still the quality of their work is top notch.
Jul 232011