Restoring a Top Hat

[Chris Garner]

Superb. Well done.

[Ivor Hawkins]

Absolutely delightful, brilliant work!

[Hugh Barnes]

If anyone wants to mimic Parazine's excellent efforts, I tripped over this yesterday (apologies if it has already been discussed..)

https://www.prewarcar.com/235628-1926-au...n-bodywork


  top hat body.jpg (Size: 63.43 KB / Downloads: 606)

[Mike Costigan]

That body is well-worth saving, but 1926 it ain't! It's an RK body dating from 1930.

[Parazine]

Finished glazing!

Altogether quite a difficult job fitting together the sliding windows. If you refer to the early pictures of the car, you may be able to spot that the rear windows had been glazed with a single sheet of glass, so I've had to restore the body in that area, which had been extensively damaged by the "cosmetic" restorers in the eighties and put back the sliding rear windows.

   

It's certainly a fiddly job. there's wooden infills the each window frame, then the upper sliding track has to be nailed in, then the fixed pane has to be "glooped" into position with non-setting screen sealer. Finally, the sliding pane, with bottom track is added and the track nailed in. The hardest part is nailing the upper tracks in, upside down, folded into the back of the car!

Still, all done now, although the back window is temporary; I went to fit the toughened replacement and found it was 1/8" too large to fit in the hole! This meant remaking the pattern and taking it back to the glaziers for replacement. It'll be about three weeks....

Next job is to fit the front bonnet rest rubber round the rad shell, which means removing the radiator and shell. That will see the car externally complete, although the inside is just an empty shell. I'll be making progress for the next week or so on the dashboard, which is needed to fit the petrol tank. Once this is done, I have a vague plan to get the engine started over Christmas and maybe get the first 100 miles done, depending on the weather and state of the roads.

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Such a pretty car, love it!

[Nick Turley]

You really have come a long way. I hope you are proud of your pretty car.

[Parazine]

Another bridge crossed!

Finally today, the reassembly of the scuttle components, dashboard and fuel tank after ongoing repairs and painting.

   

The cars speedometer was completely trashed, the MAZAK casting fell apart when I tried to strip it. I purchased another and transplanted bits over so the speedo in the car is an amalgamation. The clock always was a non-flush fitting one, I could have changed it but they've been together a long time. I hope the "Linkula" gauge, replacing the oil button works as the oil button is missing.
The dashboard panel itself is a replacement as the original was badly bent and cracked. 

   

Fuel tank had to be soldered up, lets hope it no longer leaks. I've tested it with water and it was OK but petrol is far more searching.....

Rest of this week is going to be getting things added so that I can have a go at starting the engine over Christmas but I have to go back to work next week 

[Mike Costigan]

The Linkula oil gauge is beautiful; I've owned two cars with them fitted, and I love them.

[Nick Turley]

You are at a very exciting stage, keep going, it is a super job.