1975 3.0csi RHD... The long, hard road.

NZCSi

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After 5 long years, the body is now rust-free and painted so thought I'd share some info/pics.

HISTORY
Manufactured in March 1974 and delivered to London in June of 1974. Sold in February 1975 by Langley Motors in Thames to an owner in Brentford, Middlesex. It suffered a 90s english bodge-job before being imported into New Zealand in the mid 90s. Sold to me in 2003 and driven for 7 years before going into storage for another 7 years.

RESTORATION
The restoration started in 2015. Endless rust and new body panels like floors, sills, guards etc - pretty much everything except the bonnet, roof, engine bay and boot. Eye-watering costs. The car is finally painted and sealed which is a huge relief as the first paint-prep guy left the car outside and it had to be re-blasted - God only knows what he was thinking.

The interior wood has also been completed to the original colour and finish.

Overall, it won't be an over-cooked show Queen, just a drivable 70s fit and finish with NO RUST. I hope to get it to the mechanic in the next few months.

Enjoy...
 

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NZCSi

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Round 2...
 

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NZCSi

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Round 3...
 

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NZCSi

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NZCSi

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NZCSi

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NZCSi

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Gazz

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Why do we do this? When I see the early shots of the amount of rust I wonder if you ever thought of walking away from it? It's a long and expensive road to take just to arrive back to how the car started its life. Mine was 400 hours on the body before painting and I thought that was a lot however it had no where near as much rust as yours.
Are you assembling it yourself?
What engine / gearbox / ECU are you using? I have a few parts left over so let me know if you need something. As the new 7th state of Australia the shipping costs should be less than most other sources.
 

Wes

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Why do we do this? When I see the early shots of the amount of rust I wonder if you ever thought of walking away from it? It's a long and expensive road to take just to arrive back to how the car started its life. Mine was 400 hours on the body before painting and I thought that was a lot however it had no where near as much rust as yours.
Are you assembling it yourself?
What engine / gearbox / ECU are you using? I have a few parts left over so let me know if you need something. As the new 7th state of Australia the shipping costs should be less than most other sources.

Careful, you will pop the Trans-Tasman bubble before it starts. What next, suggesting Pavlova, Crowded House are Russell Crowe are Kiwis.

*US readers scratch their heads on what a Pavlova actually is and why anybody would want either a crowed house or Russell Crowe.
 

NZCSi

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Why do we do this? When I see the early shots of the amount of rust I wonder if you ever thought of walking away from it?

I totally thought about walking away but in the end, it was partly naivety (I knew it would be big, just not that big) and partly sentiment because my partner bought it for my birthday many years ago and I didn't like the idea of someone else giving up and parting it out.

Also, I saw an affordable 'restored' example but it had a tiny bit of rust and I didn't like the idea of inheriting another lurking mess - I now know my car is mint, no questions. Thankfully, the bulk of the work was completed when business was good!

What engine / gearbox / ECU are you using? I have a few parts left over so let me know if you need something. As the new 7th state of Australia the shipping costs should be less than most other sources.

Fully stock and I think I have everything I need thanks. The car had about $10k worth of engine work done on it before I got it, and my mechanic always commented on how great it was mechanically. I pretty much know nothing about cars so won't be doing it myself for obvious reasons!
 
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nosmonkey

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Some fantastic work there. I'm of the same thinking, a clean looking car with some rust spots can easily blow into a full resto after you strip it back and find 5 decades worth of bodge jobs, at which point you're replacing as many parts as you would on a rustbucket!
 

NZCSi

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Amazing work...made same month /year as mine so it's a #435 VIN series then ?
Yes, that last batch of 200ish RHD cars as I understand it: #4350179

Some fantastic work there. I'm of the same thinking, a clean looking car with some rust spots can easily blow into a full resto after you strip it back and find 5 decades worth of bodge jobs, at which point you're replacing as many parts as you would on a rustbucket!
That's where I got to, tiny rust spots on these cars can mean only one thing and most people are kidding themselves unless they live in a super dry climate IMHO.
 
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eriknetherlands

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Amazing body work. it is a shop who clearly know what they are doing. You truly went to great lengths to achieve a good basis to work on. It is all so much nicer when you know the bones are solid. Enjoy the rest of the build.
 

NZCSi

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Amazing body work. it is a shop who clearly know what they are doing. You truly went to great lengths to achieve a good basis to work on. It is all so much nicer when you know the bones are solid. Enjoy the rest of the build.
Cheers. Yes, I only wanted to do it once so decided to do it properly.
 
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