Practically Classics Forum

Test fitting the new sill. Everything seems to fit pretty nicely





Before and after! It is very exciting to look back at these and see the difference

I thought I had some photos of the inner wheel arch clamped in place but can't find them yet. This is the almost finished article.





I started off by hand beating this into a tree stump that had fallen in the woods nearby (it was brought home and hollowed out first ), it then went through a series of cuts and welds and additional shaping with the english wheel and finally the shrinker

Raw, natural talent is what I'm seeing in all of these pictures. What you have is a gift of which I'm thoroughly envious.

thats some lovely work there.. well done mate.

Mash - Always nice to see someone take the time and patience to see a restoration like this through - and as you are finding it's very rewarding to stand back and appreciate what you have achieved to date - good luck with the remaining repairs

Cheers - Chris

Thanks guys, it's encouraging to hear your responses and makes me wanna get back out in the garage for some more It's been kept pretty much under wraps so far so no one who really knows anything about panel beating or welding has seen it so hopefully it won't all fall apart when complete

I doubt you have much to worry about regarding the quality of your work, it all looks beautifully and carefully done and I can see nothing that jumps out at me as being bad workmanship or poor welding. It's actually really heartening to see someone tackle an Alvis that's so far gone and stick with it with such determination.

I have invested too much time to stop now and am very determined to see it through! The majority of the restoration so far has been paid for with money I inherited from my grandfather who was very much into classic cars and motorbikes and would tell me all about the ones he'd had growing up. Owning and restoring one with the money from him seemed a fitting thing to remember him by, so if anything, that alone has spurred me on this far.

I have tried to do 'destruction' tests on my welds occasionally and spent a while bouncing on the angle irons for the boot frame so feel reasonably confident, once or twice when I have been butt welding the 1mm sheet steel and have then continued to shape the metal it has cracked the join which wasn't so good I think this was to do with not enough weld penetration and perhaps not enough heat?

Anyway, enough talking, here's a few more images as i've found more on the camera.







These of the wheel arch are a bit old now and show it earlier on with a few gaps and rough patches.





I've picked up a spare set of doors as two of mine were too far gone to be reasonably repaired really and at £25 each they were worth a shot. A couple are in a better state so i'll be using those, amazingly they fit perfectly. Although they look great with they're paint on, they still have a fair amount of filler and holes in when stripped back.

This is the english wheel I have been using so far, I was told it was used by mobile panels beaters and is at least 40 years old! It's got a little play in the hinge but came with around 15 different shaped anvils making it very useful for all sorts of shapes.



I'm afraid you'll have to try and ignore all the mess in the background of the photos, I share the garage with my dad who uses the boot and space under and around the car as storage as there's nowhere else since the car moved in

The ash frame has needed some attention as well as the bodywork, After getting through some of the wood I bought a few years ago, a mate who worked down the lumber yard managed to get me four 8"x6" 6 foot long air dried ash beams for a tenner as they were closing down meaning I can safely finish all the woodwork on the project and have some left for whatever is next









At times there hasn't been much to go by!