The original body while looking ok was pretty rotted, these bodies were coachbuilt which means a Aluminum skin over a wood (Ash) frame. While it looked ok, nearly every piece of wood was either rotted or broken. I tried gluing up some pieces and using some splices but I didn’t have enough for patterns, so I bought some Ash and re-sawed them 1/8″ thick and laminated rear fender wells but my old ones were so poor that the new ones didn’t fit and I had to make a new form and re-laminate new ones, those looked like they would work. Then started making new body parts and my door pillars, had to make those 3 times before I got one that I was happy with. Well later…read on for details…I found out that one I made was too short when I got the new body, because my pillar was missing too much on the bottom half and I guessed wrong.

So I had the chance to buy a brand new body, new Ash frame and aluminum body and it was WOW expensive and so worth it. I shipped him my door hinges and body brackets and he built everything and its a absolute work of art. The only concern was I started the process a few months prior to Covid and shipping prices went through the roof a few months later and shipping by boat became a mess. The original shipping quote before the build was less than $1,000 and during the Covid time, it went over $5,000 and from 6-8 weeks to 6-8 months, so for $300 more I had it FedEX’d in 3 days. So more stupid expensive but the body arrived and I could let it sit in the garage instead of on a boat. Ok, that is a joke, I did put it on the chassis same day it arrived but really did very little work for about 9 months due to other projects, but the price difference made me feel good since it was in my garage instead of some dock or boat getting damaged. The body was made by Tim Barker in the UK and he does many of these bodies and he is a absolute artist, the quality likely is superior to the factory. Now I have the hassle of fitting the fenders (wings) that I purchased close to 20 years ago since my car had no front fenders and cut/butchered rear fenders, they don’t fit as well as I hoped and my front hood (bonnet) really does not fit at all, will require welding and fab work, but hey its major progress in almost no time at all to get that body fitted. I now know i could never have made my own body, i might be able to now that i have good patterns but my wood was far too far gone to use as patterns.