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My Progress

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RyanBez

Jedi Hopeful
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I'm not sure how you all convinced you significant others to allow the purchase of your LBC(s). For me it was simple, talk about it for months then convince her you can restore one for your wedding in 6 months (yeah, she bought it).

The following is my attempt to 'complete' the car for the wedding. Before anyone says anything. The point was to have it look good and drive. I didn't want the final color to be red so the plan all along was to start over after the wedding.

Well, by 3 AM the morning of the wedding (6 AM for the groomsmen) we called it a night.

Unfortunately we didn't have luck on our side. After getting the engine, transmission, diff, brakes, and 'paint' (rattle can) done...we just needed to fit the seats and and run electrical, 12 hours was plenty of time! Well, after trying to bleed the clutch line, the spring in the master cylinder broke...easy fix, now 10 hours to run electrical. 1 final test of the clutch and boom...the clutch no longer worked...so time to pull the engine. As I finished the core electrical (brake lights, turn signals, ignition, the groomsmen worked on the clutch. As we found out, release bearing was not thick enough to properly push the clutch in. We don't know how it worked for 3 days (no driving thankfully).

Long story short, I decided that I would like to live beyond my wedding day and the Honda Civic had to do ( I refused to have a good backup to give me more motivation). My groomsmen couldn't remember walking into the house to crash on the couch, I didn't want to trust that they correctly fixed the transmission and mounted it properly.

Here is the set of pictures that chronicle the endeavor. After 'complete' picture, I started the disassembly and the true restoration begins.

Progress

This is the picture set of what I started with:

Starting Point

Hope you enjoy!
 
aeronca65t

aeronca65t

Great Pumpkin
Offline
Still a fun journey......but probably a wise choice to forgo the Sprite.
Now you can do it properly (and with more sleep!)

I have a red Spridget in approximately the same shape.
I bought it as a parts car, but it's very solid and I couldn't stand to cut it up, so it's joing my little "collection".

Was your car originally a race car....or just a street car with a really big roll bar?
 
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RyanBez

Jedi Hopeful
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The previous owner was restoring it for scca racing. Finished the engine, tranny, and 90 of body work (not good enough to my standards but fine for racing). Then it sat in his garage for 5 years. Sold it to me for cheap! I would rather cruise in this car and get a late 80 m3 for racing.
 
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lbcfan

Jedi Trainee
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Some people go to Vegas...

Thanks for the photos- brings back memories from a couple of weeks ago. BTW, what's wrong with red?! :^)

Michael
 
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RyanBez

Jedi Hopeful
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Don't get me wrong, I love the look of red on these cars. However, the more I look at cars online, the more I realize how popular it is. I want something a little more unique. That said, the wife has final say on the color so it may verywell end up red.

I've been leaning toward the new Ford mustang blue or just a good old black.
 
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lbcfan

Jedi Trainee
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I don't know if your car was originally cherry red. My BE was resprayed years ago with a chevy red color. I liked it at the time, but I recently sprayed my original color engine compartment with the original cherry red, and it's a really rich color. After staring at it for during months of the rebuild I've decided to go that way when I respray the exterior.

All of the original colors seem to suit the cars, but of course tastes vary. You can't go wrong if your wife likes it... :^)

Michael
 
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RyanBez

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I'm not totally sure what the original is. I think it was old English white judging by what I've been removing (6 layers in most places). It is a good color but I don't think my wife likes it that much. If I go red it will be the origanel Colorado red or signal red, I haven't found a good list for 1962, everything before and everything after 63 but those 2 years seem to be lost everywhere...
 
bugedd

bugedd

Jedi Knight
Country flag
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A good, bright red is "Blue Blood" from House Of Colors. Not original, but its REAL bright. That's the way I'll be going when the time comes to paint mine. Gotta make sure the little cars are seen :smile:
 
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RyanBez

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lbcfan said:
TCP has color charts for the 59-60 BE (under Austin and Aronde Simca), and I found the following on Ebay, but it may not help...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1962-1963-1964-A...#ht_1223wt_1031

If I recall, there are also a number of previous threads on the forum that can provide information- below is one. The "book" lists Signal Red for the 1962.

https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcforum/ubbthreads.php/topics/624584/Paint_color
Click to expand...

From that thread it said 'Speedwell Blue' was an option but I can't find a sample anywhere on the internet. Anyone know what kind of blue this is?
 
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lbcfan

Jedi Trainee
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bugedd said:
A good, bright red is "Blue Blood" from House Of Colors. Not original, but its REAL bright. That's the way I'll be going when the time comes to paint mine. Gotta make sure the little cars are seen :smile:
Click to expand...

It only improves their aim...
 
JPSmit

JPSmit

Moderator
Staff member
Silver
Country flag
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RyanBez said:
lbcfan said:
TCP has color charts for the 59-60 BE (under Austin and Aronde Simca), and I found the following on Ebay, but it may not help...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1962-1963-1964-A...#ht_1223wt_1031

If I recall, there are also a number of previous threads on the forum that can provide information- below is one. The "book" lists Signal Red for the 1962.

https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcforum/ubbthreads.php/topics/624584/Paint_color
Click to expand...

From that thread it said 'Speedwell Blue' was an option but I can't find a sample anywhere on the internet. Anyone know what kind of blue this is?
Click to expand...

Speedwell Blue was never a factory option, rather it was the colour of the Speedwell Sprites. here is one.
 
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nomad

Yoda
Offline
Since Graham Hill worked with John Sprinzel (Speedwell) that only makes sense. Several years ago I passed on the opportunity to buy a A35 because I did'nt know if I could get parts. Kicking myself since but but not as hard as the time I passed on a 904 Porche for 9K.
 
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RyanBez

Jedi Hopeful
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Good to know about the blue...so the only original color I would actually want is black. Now I need to make the big decision of original or awesome blue

2Gggu.jpg
 
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