Adam's Ford Escort Mk1 - Page Two
With the front inner wings, strut top and bulkhead areas now repaired, the shell was now strong enough to be moved and sand blasted. The engine bay, inner wheel arches, underneath and inside the car were all strippped to bare metal. As were the roof gutters and scuttle areas. Whole panels - such as the roof and door skins cannot be 'blasted' as the metal is too thin and easily distorts. Such areas will be stripped the old fashioned way!

Page Three

Page One

Back from blasting, it was time to start the long and tiresome job of hanging the front end panels. This step of the job requires a huge amount of patience in order to achieve factory finish 'panel gaps'. Large or inconsistent panel gaps are often seen as the mark of a rushed or poor quality restoration. Below are photographs taken at random, as progress was made. The two front wings required major modification in order to gain a good panel gap/ shut line with the door.

In order to make our lives a little easier, before the final welding of the front panels, we spent a few hours tidying the inner wings. A lot of old, bodged repairs were removed, and new metal was spliced in where neccesary.