Simon had recently aquired this car from its original owner with 53k miles on the clock.
It had been garaged most of its life and in fair condition when it arrived at Restore-A-Ford, but like most had suffered from poor previous
repairs to the front wings and poor quality paint work, but in all was in very good condition for its age. Some minor corrosion was starting
to show on the rear wheel arches and few other places.
As can be seen in the pictures below, after the wings were removed from the car, they were shot blasted which unvailed the corrosion and
previous repairs. The wings could now be properly repaired before being refitted to the vehicle.
The pictures below show the lower section of the wing. The shot blasting removed the filler from the previous repair to show the corrosion that had been covered. Again, this section was cut out and replaced with a fabricated piece.
Once the wings had been removed, the inner wings showed no sign of corrosion along with the wing mounting rails (rather suprising for a Cortina!). After the repairs to the front wings had been completed, they were etch primed and sealed before being coated with rubberised anti-chip protectant. They were then refitted to the car and some minor damage taken care of.
The engine was not removed from the vehicle but all components removed from the inner wings including braking system and radiator in preperation. Once the preparation was completed it was treated to a fresh coat of paint. The road wheels were shot blasted and refinished to the original specification using two-pack materials.
Once the body was primed and prepared, all glass was removed. As can been seen in the picture below, the underneath of the car was skirted off to prevent overspray to underside of the car. The car was refinished in its original colour of Copper Brown, along with the doors, boot and bonnet.
Once the car had been refitted, it was out in to the evening sun for a photo-shoot, now looking as good as she did in 1974 when she was first registered.
Simon's comments: My father had one new when I was a child, when my mum sees it, it will bring a tear to her eye.
