Alvis update...

Today was a day off, so having washed up, dried up, put away, tidied, folded and put away the dry washing, cleaned the kitchen, bathroom, and swept the boat from stem to stern, I felt I had earned enough points to sneak up to Wisbech to check on the progress made with the Alvis restoration.

(With the amount of money this is costing, it is very important to keep Jackie on-side.......)

Car is looking even more stripped-down than previously.

 The woodworm-ridden and rotten sill timbers have been removed.

 The scuttle is floating over the chassis supported by an axle stand.

The rear body tub is still in place, but only just: the removal of three or four more bolts will see it off the car for the first time since it was built in 1948.

 This will facilitate repairs to the rear wheel arches. This will involve the removal of previous repairs (okay, bodges.....) and the correction of a dent in the bodywork just aft of the off-side door pillar which had previously been made good by about 6lb of filler.

New wood (ash) has been obtained to replace the sill timbers and work has begun on shaping the wooden sections that loop around the back of the body tub to allow for the hood to be tacked on.

Here they are laying across the scuttle.

And here's one laid in place on the body tub. More sections will be made for the corners and back.

(All that grey filler has got to go: that's where the old dent is....)

Despite the fact that Car now looks to the uninitiated eye to have passed the point of no return, I am very pleased with progress.
 

The immense chassis is as sound as a bell. After sixty-five years all that was needed was a localised repair to the top sides of two of the chassis outriggers.

(I'm pretty sure that I will be needing a bit more than that in sixteen year's time!)

 The craftsman working on Car is called Terry. The quality of both the joinery and metalwork he has done so far is of a very reassuringly high standard.

 Terry has a quick chin-scratch while surveying (currently) The World's Worst TA14.

"Things can only get better!"

(nb note the large and expensive pieces of seasoned ash to the right. We're going to need it. All.)

I stopped off in the village on my way back to have a chat with fellow Alvis owner, Roger.

"Well, my lad," he said, on viewing the photos I'd taken, "looks like you might very well get a motor car out of this!"

More in a couple of weeks.........

:-)