RP Restoration - New Member

[Geoff101]

Hello all,

I've recently joined the forum having acquired my Grandfather's first car, a 1934 RP Saloon. I've previously owned Westfields (the most recent of which I have just sold to fund this) and other sports cars but this is my first foray into classic or pre-war.

I'm not sure quite when he stopped using the Seven (and he's no longer around to ask) but I guess at some time in the late 50s or 60s. Since then, it has sat forlornly under their car port.
It was sent for restoration sometime in the 80s but I believe the garage may have gone bust, but whatever the reason, it wasn't completed and what was done wasn't to a very good standard. It was returned in kit form, and was pushed back under the car port, where it has remained ever since. I remember sitting in it pretending to drive when I was a kid.

It passed to my grandmother when he died and then she passed away 18 months ago. 
Following an extended probate process, it is now available for me to rescue.

Their house was sadly like something off a hoarding programme on the TV, so the first task was to find it, and all the bits.

This is where it lived:

It was buried under, between and on top of an assortment of rubbish:






I managed to find almost all of the major parts in various states of repair (mostly poor!):



Engine was just sat on the frame. It (unsurprisingly) is seized.


Rear of the front bulkhead, it's not survived too badly, but unfortunately, the front was sat under a hole in the roof and has suffered as a result.

Much digging, two abandoned cars dragged off to the breakers, and one twelve yard skip filled, I was able to see it and clear a path to get it out.


After a few weeks, I was able to reach agreement with the estate executor and one of the chaps from the Westfield club kindly agreed to drive over and collect it for me with his trailer. 

This was the day when ACE 198 first emerged back into the world a couple of weeks ago:





Its (now cleared) home for the last decades:

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Back home in Oxfordshire:


Our daughter trying it for size:


So having got it home, what on earth to do with it. In the weeks I had been waiting to get it home, I had been doing some research and was very lucky to find that I'm only a few miles away from Ian at Oxfordshire Sevens. He was very helpful in terms of advice, what to expect, orders of cost etc.
I explored the various options including the more financially sensible ones of just putting a new sports body on etc. In the end though, I decided that as long as the body is salvageable, it would seem a shame not to restore it as it is: an RP saloon.
This is going to be a real challenge as I only have the money I got for the Westfield to finance it, and that's probably not really enough. As such, I will be doing as much of the work as I can myself with Ian's help and support for the bits I can't.



First step, clean what remained of the decades of crap out of it. This is me dangerously close to showing off my beer belly:


Then I have started to strip what remained fitted to the body so that we can get that off, have it blasted and find out how many holes there really are:






I've got a couple more bits to remove before I'm ready to unbolt the body. Will update after that.
In the meantime, I've contacted Tony Betts to see if he has a crank case, gearbox case, nose housing and outer door handles. The ally casings have sadly corroded over time to the point they are no longer useable, the nose housing is broken, and the door handles lost.

I would like to thank Ian at Oxfordshire Sevens and Mark at The Motor Shed (Bicester Heritage) for their help so far, as well as my friend Gary from the Westfield club for spending a day of his time picking it up for me!

Any mick taking about my naive failure to understand what I've taken on is most welcome.

[JonE]

What a great first post. Looking forward to hearing more, as you plainly have the energy and the nous to get what is a particularly gnarly project back on the road. Great plate and an RP is the perfect model to do it with and have something enjoyable and really useable at the end. Your grandfather will be quietly proud of you.

(Will be a pleasant change after those ugly kit cars - but might not corner as well without some gentle fettling:-)

[Martin Prior]

What a lovely car!  The body looks pretty good - far more sound than some that we've worked on.  Please bear us (Martin Prior and Son's Motor Works) in mind for any woodwork requirements.

Apologies for the commercial!

[Austin Carr]

Hope that you found the V5. Don't forget to SORN it.

[Tony Betts]

hi geoff,

thank you for your email for parts, im sure i can sort things for you.

im just a bit busy at the moment with an ulster kit and much more going to scotland with me at the end of the month. it will be the first time in 12 years ive gotten the supersports ready for the scottish rally. i cant even start load the van for the event until after tomorrow. as its in for repaires.

so alot to catch up with first. but i will get back to you.

and martin, with quality work like that you should squeeze in more free adverts.

tony.

[Reckless Rat]

My RP was in a similar state to this (almost) when I acquired it in the early 1980s. It took me 7 years of DIY pottering to bring it back to useable glory, but it was worth it.

It would be a shame to scrap what appears to be a reasonably sound bodyshell just to make a special.

[AustinWood]

Hope that you found the V5. Don't forget to SORN it.

If it's been off the road since before SORN was introduced It shouldn't need SORN.

[Tony Betts]

Thought I'd have another look through your lovely pictures.

And the car body looks in exceptionally good condition.

Before you have it stripped or blasted, I would fit everything back to the car  and make sure it all lines up to were it should be. As the wings look like they were primered at some time. If they are replacements they may need adjusting. Best to do it at this stag on the first fit.

As for money's available, if you can't afford to throw £20k to fully restore it. things like those seats could probably be used as is with a little work. No costs. You could even save on stripping and spraying as it looks good enough to leave the body as an oily rag, very popular now.

With limited finance, 
always Work out were your finances need to be put first, otherwise you may never get to use it.

Tony

[Geoff101]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

The pictures must be making it look better than it is. Both front panels under where the bonnet fits are shot and need replacing. I'm hoping the front bulkhead will be ok as it is as long as it's not too thin.

Rear of that it's not too bad. There are some holes in the inner wings and a couple in the floor pan that will need patching.

That woodwork looks good. I presume you make the plywood panels for the door cards, rear quarter panels, seat back etc?
My structural stuff has a bit of woodworm here and there but doesn't look too bad. All the ply sheets are totally shot. They pretty much disintegrate when you handle them.

Got the last of the old nails and air vents out tonight. Just trying to figure the mystery of steering wheel removal. I've got the control levers and tubes out, just need to know how to release the tube that has the control plate on the top??

[Nigel was in Brittany]

Its a clamp at the bottom of the steering box.