[Taxirod]

Today I got up early and went to Southampton with a recovery truck.
This is what I brought home

Dave. The recovery driver, thought I was off my trolley and suggested that he should drop me to the Dr's on the way home. I didn't accept this offer since we all know that Hotrodding is a disease for which there is no cure

It really is horrible (are we still allowed to call an ugly car an abortion?).
But I have a plan. Sort of.

First problem was to get it in my garage, I drove the Ruby out and parked it on the road temporarily, hoping a warden wouldn't come, then realised that the Ugly Duckling wouldn't fit up the short end of the garage. If I rebuild it in the long end of the garage, the Ruby would be landlocked.
So I removed the bumpers and a few other bits and finally just squeezed it in.

So it's in, but to get from one side of garage to the other I have to walk through the car!
When considering whether to buy this I checked the wheelbase and saw that it was about 8" shorter than a Model B. I didn't actually bother to find out if it would fit in my garage!!!
Although I think that if you worried about potential problems too much you'd never get involved, this justifies my "jump in at the deep end" approach!
After an early start I was intending to just rest up ready for work today, but you know how it is, once I had it in the garage I couldn't resist and ripped out the disgusting interior and various other bit's, until the dustbin was overflowing.

No wonder kitcars got that reputation, here you can see bits of hardboard were used to seal the floor!

This surely belonged in an old kitchen, not a car!

Reveals the Mk3 Cortina bits this kit was based on.

So I'm guessing this is a Mk3 Cortina fuel tank.

Some muck for me to clean out.

 

[Taxirod]

It has steel floors, which are solid although lots of surface rust. Only found one small hole so far.

It came to me without an engine or box, but I just happen to have a 2 0 Zetec which I've already RWD'd.

I'm looking for a cheap 32 roadster body, in case anyone knows of one.

Planning to go down the rebody route, I know I'll need to show 2 pics of original car , 2 of bare chassis, 2 of completed car, all with number plates visible.
So do you reckon there 2 will suffice, before I rip off the old bodywork?

As always, grateful for your advice/ criticism/mockery

 

[Taxirod]

View attachment 637117

It has steel floors, which are solid although lots of surface rust. Only found one small hole so far.

It came to me without an engine or box, but I just happen to have a 2 0 Zetec which I've already RWD'd.

I'm looking for a cheap 32 roadster body, in case anyone knows of one.

Planning to go down the rebody route, I know I'll need to show 2 pics of original car , 2 of bare chassis, 2 of completed car, all with number plates visible.
So do you reckon there 2 will suffice, before I rip off the old bodywork?

View attachment 637118

View attachment 637119

As always, grateful for your advice/ criticism/mockery

 

[AustinHarley]

is it worth changing the engine now, and get that on the log book before you start the rebody. Just in case dvla have a brainfart and want to inspect the car 'to make sure it exists'.
Could just be paperwork, or you could plonk the engine in on whatever mounts hold it there?

 

[KOBI-Dave.]

It's looking a bit 'down at heel' at the moment, but we all know that you will make it into something goooood.
Advice? Yes, don't put a mazda rx8 gearbox on that Zetec, they're shite!
Good luck!

 

[budetta]

Looks like a camels arse !! Will be interesting to see what the chassis is like .

 

[kapri]

is it worth changing the engine now, and get that on the log book before you start the rebody. Just in case dvla have a brainfart and want to inspect the car 'to make sure it exists'.
Could just be paperwork, or you could plonk the engine in on whatever mounts hold it there?

100% good idea ! There is nothing in their rules to say you can't do any engine swap wec BUT I'm sure they will find some if you do it first

 

[mattblack]

Save any Mk3 Cortina bits and put them on ebay, some of that shit goes for stupid money.

AFAIK MK 3/4/5 fuel tanks are the same if you need a new one.

 

[mygasser]

Save any Mk3 Cortina bits and put them on ebay, some of that shit goes for stupid money.

agreed and that looks to be an early mk3 steering wheel which in good condition will come in that stupid money category along with the column surrounds and switchgear.
neil.

 

[Paul L]

Planning to go down the rebody route, I know I'll need to show 2 pics of original car , 2 of bare chassis, 2 of completed car, all with number ates visible.

So do you reckon there 2 will suffice, before I rip off the old bodywork?

Taxirod – Obviously Kapri is the expert on all things DVLA…

But I’d say your two ‘before’ photos are perfect.

As a rebody is effectively the 8-point rule, I would photo the rolling chassis rather than the bare chassis.
(To show the suspension and axles that allow you to keep the car’s “P” reg. identity.)

Just in case, I’d also have a photo just before the old body shell is removed.

This was the one I had with the original body shell still in place.

Then this was the rolling chassis photo for the DVLA with all my points on show.
(And enough clues to show it was the one under the donor body shell.)

Finally, here was my DVLA rebody photo, again trying to keep all the original parts on show.
(I was able to get my V5C updated before I’d finished sorting out the bodywork or fitted the bonnet.)

Also have ‘before’ and ‘after’ chassis photos if you are planning to paint it.

Someone on here (sorry I forget who, but will try to look it up tonight) restored the original chassis.

But the DVLA saw the shiny paint in the photo and said it must be a new chassis.
(Actually, I think Kapri might have been involved in sorting that one out.)

Hope that helps and good luck, Paul.

PS
For a ’32 body, try Tribute Automotive.

Tribute Automotive - Hot Rods

MX250 / MX250C Mazda MX5 based 1960's style hardtop / softtop, A352 Triumph Spitfire 1950's sports car, Jaguar D Type race replica, MRS200 Toyota MR2 based Group B Rally Car, Mistral and Kobra 1950s replica, Z300S BMW Z3 1950s GT, AMZ Mazda MX5 1960s hardtop

www.tributeautomotive.co.uk

Whilst they sell ‘new’ bodies, they might have something in their ‘left overs’ pile you could use.
(As I know you can work with fibreglass.)

This is an old photo and I don’t know if they have anything now.

 

[splitty66]

Come on taxirod, don’t you ever rest or do you get bored easily, can’t wait to see the build on this.

 

[budetta]

You cant slow a hot rodder down , as the T shirt says "so many cars ,so little time"

 

[Taxirod]

Well I'm overwhelmed with so many replies, thank you all!

Austin Harley - Good idea, thats what I did with all my previous rebodies, then all the numbers match first.

Kobi Dave - Ive already got an RX8 gearbox on the Zetec, and I ve heard lots of good reports and very few bad ones, so I'm gonna stick with it and find out my own opinion. You can always say "I told you so" if I end up hating it....

Budetta - Thank you, the chassis is like a ladder chassis but connected with sheet steel, this almost frightened me off, I too will be interested to see what its like.

Kapri - Thanks for that, its already a 2.0 Ford on the V5, so just an engine number change I think.
I'm about to send off V5 to get it in my name, I could put engine number change and request for Historic all at the same time, unless anyone has other advice.

MyGasser and Matt Black - I was thinking along the same lines, the totally out of place bumpers are already on ebay!

Paul L - some helpful info there, I will need to de-rust and paint chassis, so I will follow through on that. Your rebody looks great by the way.
I have a price list for Tribute right here:
32 Roadster £1700
32 RPU £700

Have to think about that, I reckon I'm gonna be hacking the body to fit my Ugly chassis, so leaning towards the cheaper option, also RPU makes it easier to get around the shorter wheelbase than the 32.

Splitty - yes I do get bored without a project to work on!

Once again, thank you all.

ps why on my second post do the pictures come up as "attachment" rather than showing up as pictures?

 

[kapri]

Don't chnage the engine number UNTIL you have it in Historic. DVLA seem to be making it up as they go along ( yet again) at the mo so don't give them too many thngs to think about at once

 

[Taxirod]

Thanks Kev, I was wondering whether that might be the case, thank you.

 

[KOBI-Dave.]

Kobi Dave - Ive already got an RX8 gearbox on the Zetec, and I ve heard lots of good reports and very few bad ones, so I'm gonna stick with it and find out my own opinion. You can always say "I told you so" if I end up hating it....

I hope that you don't end up hating your rx8 box, you might have the good one!
I might say told you so

I'd be interested to see how you do (or did)your clutch and starter motor.
I did mine cable clutch. Shaped a block to replicate the Ford clutch arm pivot and got it welded to the bell housing. Then I mowed a big hole opposite where the arm popped out and it worked just like the Ford one. Can't remember if I had to extend the arm or not.
Starter was a pain too, needed a bit of cut and shut.

Both of mine did the same. Quite noisy in neutral with gear 'chatter'. Put it in gear and it went quiet. Both jumped out of 5th on the overrun. Stock mazda gear lever.

Anyway, good luck with yours, and keep us posted how it goes

 

[Taxirod]

I pulled off the running boards, which were just thin bits of ally, screwed to "outriggers" made of wood

I've never stripped a car and topped up my wood store before!

 

[Taxirod]

I thought I'd give the wooden dashboard a very gentle tug to see how it's been attached....

!!!!!!
I'm constantly shocked by the poor quality, makes it a fairly easy strip down though

 

[Taxirod]

Recently I had a big tidy up in our tiny garden, all ready to enjoy sitting outside in the nice weather.

Oh dear......

 

[Taxirod]

As it all unravels I now see how it was constructed (thrown together).
Steel chassis/monocoque with a skin of ally, and fibreglass wings.

Normally a strip down results in a pile of parts. This just resulted in a pile of junk!