A pic of the car as I found it. Front fender has dents, rear fender has a non-matching repaint:
It's hard to see, but the hood and fenders have been repainted and had surface rust:
Unlike with my previous Spiders, I did not leave the bodywork for last - I was ready to have a good looking Spider!
In the fall of 2004 I took apart the car and with a friend we sanded until we could sand no more...
The sidemarker holes were welded shut:
Then the trunk was painted:
I'm drilling the holes for the new front sidemarkers:
Finally the painting began:
Things started to look good:
It took a few weeks to assemble the car:
The sidemarker has an orange bulb and also serves as a turn signal:
Also installed a new cloth top:
The bumper was still MIA:
Here's a few pics of the car as it looks now. The parking light has a brake light bulb so it can be used as DRL:
At Fiat FreakOut in Missouri (2005). The 'tall' sideview mirror is from a 124 sedan:
While working on the seats I found some rust behind the driver's seat, so I cut it out:
Here's the rotten piece that I cut out:
Then welded in new metal. No fiberglass in my car!!! It was later painted with POR-15 for rust resistence.
The engine compartment was painted later when the engine was swapped:
In 2007 as I had more funds available the rear bumpers were rechromed and the overrider holes filled:
The front bumper was put in for rechroming in the summer of 2007, but it was not finished by the platers until fall of 2008! The overrider holes filled aswell:
