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1980 TR8 - Repair Progress
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The bodywork on the blue car was expertly handled by Wayne's Body Shop in Clarksville TN.
We selected them since they are the only I-CAR certified shop in town. |
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| ...what a mess! off to the bodyshop... |
...final 'pulling' after cutting away crumpled metal... |
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| ...installing the sills and lower 'A' pillar.... |
...fitting the inner fender valence... |
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| ...followed by the front wing.... |
...and then the bonnet & header panel... |
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| ...starting to look like a wedge again... |
...installing the engine... without a vehicle lift, we believe it is easiest to install the engine
by itself from above followed by the gearbox from below. |
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| ...some finishing required, but finally on the road again!........ |
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We were going to have ABC body shop of Clarksville finish this car, and in fact they took care of the remaining dents for a reasonable charge, but again took far too long (almost two months) to complete a job that they initially estimated could be 'taken care of in a few days'. After a final two weeks of missed deadlines I had had enough, but it was their attitude towards paint colour that ultimately led to them being fired. Being told on two separate occasions that the paint they presented was far from the original on the inside of the trunk ought to have been sufficient for them to wise up but apparently not. They insisted instead that they would 'adjust it'. What a bunch of cobblers! We thus decided to have the car towed to another shop, but not before the proprietor of ABC removed all the masking that had been affixed to the car in a deliberate attempt to make more work for the next shop. Do not take your car to ABC body shop of Clarksville TN: even though their prices are competitive, it is simply not worth the hassle.
Automotive paint is mixed by following a precise formula based on the manufacturers paint code, and this is where I have to commend Clint at Maaco of Clarksville who came to our rescue. He looked up the code JMW in his Dupont computer and came up with: Persian Aqua as used by Rover 1979-81 He returned a few minutes later with a freshly mixed sample and we tried it on the aforementioned inside trunk lid. It was a perfect match! It should be stated for the record that Wayne's body shop also got the paint wrong on the inner fender valence as a result of guesswork. |
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| Overall, Maaco did a splendid job. I did have to use some elbow grease & Acrysol to clean up overspray on the rear lights which was odd since they had removed them, placed them in the trunk and supposedly masked the openings! They did paint some plastic parts such as the bumpers which perhaps should have been left alone, and for some odd reason painted the fuel filler cap & bezel body colour! I suppose they were in modern car mode! |
