Ex-Police Panda Traveller

[pskipper]

Our Ex-wolverhampton Police Traveller is finally in the garage ready for strip down and restoration. He is almost completely rotten and going to be quite a challenge so I'll be going slowly, doing lots of measuring and asking lots of questions!

Todays job was recording some details before starting to strip him out as the majority of the interior is only good for the bin and we want to make sure we get the right colour headlining when we put him back together. Also his rear wings came off (with only a slight pull) and I jacked up the woodwork (hopefully back to the correct level, I've posted a question about that in Bodywork).

Pic's coming soon but that's probably it on the car for this week as paid work will be getting in the way

[pskipper]

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So, as well as all the welding he needs new wings all round, a new bonnet, new wood and a new interior.

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I'm vaguely hopeful that only the outer flange will need replacing on this side but will have to clean off all the muck first

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The muck on the floor in the first picture is the "sill repair panel" which was held on with a nail and fell off when I took the wing off, the second picture is after it came off.

[irmscher]

Quite a rare car where was it first registered ?? .

[pskipper]

First registered in Wolverhampton just around the time they changed from being Wolverhampton Police to West Midlands. Originally bought as a standard black traveller for use as a Sergeants car he was resprayed on the outside in panda colours so will be blue and white outside and black with a red interior on the inside

Now I'm re-reading Taupe and Neil MG's restoration threads to try and work out a good order to work as I've not done a traveller before and I'm not entirely sure how the rear panels line up with the wood etc as the ones on this car have rotted away to nothing .

[Mark Wilson]

I'm well on with my Traveller (well, I've told my wife it will be ready this year). Totally agree that NeilMG and Taupe's are the threads to follow, but also suggest you get hold of the rather pricey Ray Newell traveller book, if only for the section by Steve Foreman on replacing the wood.

Mark

[Neil MG]

Yes, it's an excellent book and Steve virtually refuses to sell you the wood kit until you have it!

Sounds like a great project with that history. To me the restoration seems more interesting when you know the cars story.

[pskipper]

A little bit more work done....[frame][/frame]
Rear bumper is off, surprisingly hard on a rotten car, not enough support to undo the bumper nuts. The two nuts that go into the panels at the end of the wing were rounded. In the end I managed to undo the bumper iron nuts and bolts that go through the boot floor and then wiggle the rest of the bumper out of the hole where the boot floor should be, complete with rotten panels of course![frame][/frame]
Unsurprisingly the floorpans need replacing.[frame][/frame]
And I think this might count as excessive corrosion at the seat belt mounting point, a possible MOT fail?

[pskipper]

Took a day off of work to do something more relaxing....[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

I also took off the rear doors and the door on that side. The rear door on the drivers side had to come off as it was pulling the woodwork apart! I've now ordered a whole load more panels for sorting out the front quarter on the passengers side.