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22nd March 2008......One of the jobs I'd been putting off for ages was completed today....putting the chrome strip on the boot lid. I know it's not a difficult job but there was always the chance that I would mess up when drilling the holes for the trim. (Slim chance I know but still one that worried me going by my previous record of restoration). All did go well and the trim is now on. My trim had broken in half years ago so it was in two pieces. The holes were drilled after putting two bits of masking tape on the boot lid then using a small hole punch to make a centre mark before bringing a drill anywhere near the lid. All went well and my new made up clips worked a treat. I did smother everything in waxoly as well. The two grab handles and two coat hangers were also put back in, (I'd just forgot these), so that just leaves the body side stripe to be painted on.  That's why I said sort of finished, as I definitely am not doing that, Joanne has agreed I can take her to Dave for that. I love that women! So there you have it, DHR only took four years to restore. I still need to cure the oil leak, oh and the exhaust rattle, oh and the speedo needs fixing, oh and the tracking needs adjusting and the...............bloody hell does it ever stop. I am starting the blue GT next week as I have the week off work and this will be all my own work so if DHR has taken four years Kara, (that's what I've called her), should be finished in 2014 if I'm lucky.
21st March 2008......I only got to go up the garage for two days over the  bank holiday weekend, David and Hannah got their new flat so I helped them out one day and we had family round the other, but I can sort of say DHR is finally finished. On Friday I sealed the rear screen and put the chrome moulding in place but then got distracted and sorted out all my spares, putting them in the correct boxes and labeling everything. Sounds a bit stupid but I really didn't know what spares I had, so this will make life easier. Some time back I found the name of the head man at the DVLA and wrote him a sob story of a letter, telling him of my problems of trying to trace DHR's history, well he's written back. Well not him, he's passed it on to someone else who has. (And it hasn't cost me another fiver!). Well they've found one more owner, a lady from Wiltshire. Now this is interesting as the DHR number plate was first registered in Wiltshire but the VLT number is a London number. The DVLA at Swansea say they only have records for DHR going back to 1977 and that the records before that would be with the Wiltshire branch and suggest I try them. Swansea also say in the letter that they have NO record of VLT at all. So all is not lost just yet but it means more letters to faceless burocrats who don't understand how important the history is to me. I slagged off the DVLA quickly enough before so this time I would like to say at least they've tried and probably can do no more from the Swansea end.
19th March 2008......Last night I managed to fill in the tyre marks I made at the weekend when I drove over my still wet concrete floor. Hoping to be ready for the weekend to finally finish DHR completely, apart from the body stripes, (I'm getting Dave to do them for me now). All I need to do is seal the rear screen and put the boot chrome strip on, then I will start Kara, (aka SHW). I'm looking forward to this as it will be all my own work. No don't laugh, it'll be all right, this will be my daily driver instead of DHR. Oh ye of little faith!
16th March 2008......I always knew today would be cut short garage wise as we were due to look after our granddaughter this afternoon. With garage time at a minimum I managed to make up some small clips to hold the boot chrome trim on, but haven't attached it yet. (To scared to drill holes in her). I painted some of the garage floor with floor paint making sure I didn't box myself in and cleaned and polished the front end of DHR, as I'd used her all week and she was filthy. I've done the bonnet, front wings and one door then my time was up, but if you looked at her from the front, at a certain angle she looks stunning. The granddaughter was great, all laughs and giggles and only one smelly nappy and I didn't change that, so a good day all in all. Roll on the long weekend.
15th March 2008......Why is the female of any species so bloody awkward? Take my wife and 'hopaloticus jumpicus', otherwise known as the frog, for example! Saturday morning and I'd agreed to go shopping with Joanne before I spend the rest of the day in the garage. No problem you'd think. We come home, I start laying my floor leveling compound on the garage floor when Joanne spots frogs spawn in the pond. "Get it out, get it out", she cries. (She hates frogs). So I start lifting this frogs spawn into a bucket when she spots some frogs, not just one or two but literally dozens. So the r est of my day is spent cleaning out the pond of frogs spawn and frogs in the pouring rain. I end up with four 5 litre buckets full of frogs and frogs spawn. I then do my Bill Oddy impression, under the cover of darkness, by taking them to a local pond some distance away as Joanne says they might be homing frogs and travel back to us. So my question is, why does my wife hate frogs so much and just how does the female frog get so much spawn out of their little bodies? Then to cap the day off, the floor leveling compound you can walk on in four hours but obviously not drive on in four hours, as I now have tyre marks across the garage floor and the two front tyres are covered in compound. Give me strength!
12th March 2008......A momentous day today - DHR got wet! It rained on her for the first time in 25 years. (Saying that I think it rain on her a bit at Billing last year but not like this). It was okay when I went to work and poured down when I came home. I now remember how bad Viva wipers are. At 30mph they clear a small patch in the middle of the screen and at 70mph they go off the screen. I re-bushed all the wiper joints when I re-built her but they're still crap! Anyway the really good news is the screens didn't leak. Well I couldn't find any leaks, so it's the same thing. What I did notice is that the back end was a bit twitchy on the roundabout coming out of Tring.....great fun! Last night I laid two bags of floor leveling compound in the garage. This was my birthday present from last year and I've only just got round to it. I'm hoping to do the complete garage floor by the end of next week.
2nd March 2008.......Spent most of the day on the lathe. Trying different motors and switches. Spot had given me a big industrial looking on off switch which I wanted to put on the lathe. After about four attempts I gave up and used another switch. I also ended up using three motors. The first I managed to get smoke pouring out, the second would just about turn the lathe but then give up but the third one worked a treat. In the end I turned my first piece. I turned a big bit of metal rod into a small bit of metal rod....and great fun it was to! I told you it was a good weekend as I also had a go at a practice body stripe. I practiced on an old boot lid and lets just say I need more practice. I will also put this in the gallery section for your amusement but that may not be for a week or so. I told you it was a good weekend, lathe working, new compressor working, screen rubbers fitting better and I've started learning how do the body stripe. If only there were more hours in the week.
1st March 2008.......Had a great weekend. Garage is nearly there and most of the boxes have now been sorted and the stuff put away. I can now get things on the bench at one end! I cleaned out one of the under bench sections and raised the shelf up by about two inches, which allowed me to put the new compressor under the bench and about halfway up the garage. This is perfect as the air line will reach both ends of the garage easy. I then rewired it and connected it to a fused spur on the garage wall. This compressor will be my general use one now, (its quite quiet) and the big compressor is connected to the blast cabinet and can be used if I ever get round to spraying. Next I moved on to screen rubber modification. Now as this is hard to describe without pictures I done a section on it in the gallery, it will be added to next weekend when I put the finishing touches to it with the gutter sealant and chrome looking insert.
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