As with any body shop work, you know it's going to cost as it's a highly specialised process if done properly, so to help manage costs, it was a good idea to remove as much of the trim ourselves as practical, still leaving enough of the cars functionality to physically drive it to the body shop.
So began the big strip
The muck and grime of twenty years was evident underneath, as was this tiny sliver of Police Car Battenburg
Oh and those black trim clips cost a fortune now on ebay, its a pity they are single use only.
Daryl Parker who runs Prestige Paint Hampshire, is a master craftsman and embraced OVP with open arms, we explained its heritage and the fact that we wanted it for show at the NEC Classic Motor Show, and away he went.
I must apologise at this point if my description of the restoration process isn't as accurate or detailed as it should be, Daryl did explain as he went, but it's hard to remember every detail. I'm sure there are some body shop professionals in the club who would know exactly what he was up to, but I'll give it my best shot....
Firstly, every panel had to be marked up showing the locations of damage and defects to be rectified.
At this stage all the doors, bonnet and bumper are removed
Next, rust patches needed rubbing down to bare metal, and any holes welded to fill them in
Then filler material is applied to build up the profile of each panel once more
As you can see, it wasn't just the exterior panels that had rusted, the inside of the boot lid where the hinge was attached had been badly affected too
Then after a good rub down and masking up, the panels are sprayed in primer as a base for the fresh paint to adhere to
Before a base coat of Arran White (AKA Old English) paint is applied
The rear wheel arch had been badly dented and creased, so would need additional work
Here, Daryl had to use a stud welder to attach loads of small pins to the crease line, which he could then gently pull on, one by one, using the tool pictured until the panel popped back out.
Then, again it was a process of filing down and applying filler
You can see why it takes the man hours it does, and the end result looked something like this when we went to collect the old girl.