1970 2800cs body restoration

[mrobertbrown]

It's been awhile since I posted, but since I'm getting close to being back on the road I thought it was time to recognize the progress that has been made.
A brief bit of background info: I purchased SN 2270084 in August 2010. The car had sat for 20 years. After about 6 months of mild work, I got it back on the road and used it as an occasional driver. In May 2012 I bit the bullet and embarked on a campaign to put the car in better shape: address the rust in the front fenders, freshen the engine, repaint in stock color, clean up and restore what I could without completely depleting my kid's inheritance. It has been three years, but I can honestly say that I'm very near to driving status once again. I'll make another post when I'm on the road....

 

[mrobertbrown]

and a few more pictures...

 

[mrobertbrown]

and the last of the pictures...

 

[Markos]

Hi Robert,

Your project is literally an inspiration for me. I won't be doing a checkbook restoration. My project should transpire much like yours. Clean things up, drive for a bit, then tear down. A couple of questions:

1. Any particular reason why you cut the old fenders off like that? It looks like you kept the new fenders intact and welded them back on at the proper points (windshield frame, etc.)

2. Can you outline the replacement fender parts. What are they? What are the part numbers? Where did you get them? How was the experience getting them?

Thanks!

 

[Stevehose]

Congrats, looks great

 

[mrobertbrown]

Hi Markos:

The fenders were cut off and thrown away. I replaced them with new metal from my friendly local BMW dealer. The price is about $900 per side. I saw some posts about people renewing and reusing their old fenders but I did not think I had the skill to make that happen. Besides, I doubt that the time involved to resurrect rusty fenders is warranted given the price of factory new metal. Everyone makes different decisions given the same information...

There are two great guides that I retrieved from this fine discussion board; I found them most helpful:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&p...MGNmMjg2OTgyYQ
http://www.e9coupe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6971

BTW: I may not be inserting the links properly, I'm new at this blog thing. Just use the search button with the words "fender replacement" and you will find many relevant entries.

 

[Markos]

I guess what I was asking was why you ran the saw just behind the side "vent" instead of drilling out the spot welds and removing the entire old fender. It looks like this happened later, before the new fenders went on.

 

[Stan]

Resurrection well done

wow! Nice work, you should be proud to drive it!
Insure it sufficiently, it is worth quite a bit now

 

[CSteve]

I nominate you for the Coupe Restoration Hall of Fame. Fantastic.

 

[tmason]

Nice work! Another one saved and I'm sure you are looking forward to driving that ultimate driving machine.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Sven]

Great color. Nice work.