Do you like a good story? Man have we got one coming for you! But for part one, here’s the finished product of an RPR “Make it Legal” or “Make it Roadworthy” or “Make it Safe” AFTER a “Full Restoration”.
Yeah sounds weird we know, but this poor Torana came to us after another SA shop had completed a two year restoration. Dropped off via Tow Truck she has some, uhem, err, issues…..
After only having the chance to drive the car once since delivery, which resulted in it overheating (electric fans weren’t plugged in), it then refused to start and displayed a lot of electrical issues. Giving the car a look-over, the owner wasn’t happy with what he was seeing so brought the car to us, which is where the fun began…
The owner supplied us a two-page list of complaints to be rectified, but once we spent a few minutes on her this was only the tip of the iceberg. In over 20 years of seeing what can be passed off as ‘restored’ by other shops, this one even caught us off-guard. The sheer level of unsafe, poorly installed mechanical and electrical components was off the charts.
There was so much it was hard to believe, and rather than posting 100’s of photos at once we’ll share some of what we found in dribs and drabs over the coming weeks on our Facebook page.
Sadly, the entire car had to be completely stripped to a shell and started again, with the majority of parts having to be replaced due to negligence….ie incorrect parts mis-match, damaged parts (poor installation) etc. We used/salvaged as many parts as possible and kept the original styling that the customer was after to try and keep costs down. This included leaving the body/paintwork as is, because doing so would blow the budget.
The good news is, 12 months later and she’s finally finished and running and the customer is stoked with the final product, which is now chalk and cheese to how it rolled in!
Keep an eye out on Facebook for some of the ‘what we found’ photos next week!
