oldcar

Thank you I see to have solved the problem. Bernie j.

The short answer to the above is simply because it is something I have always done. It is too late to change now!. Bernie j.

It is now 4.30 pm on Saturday afternoon. I have just closed the garage doors and am ready to get cleaned up and changed out of my work clothes. To come in from the garage I have to walk past my Lagonda Rapier. I cannot help but wonder about my sanity. After all I am now approaching my 85th Birthday, I have an absolutely fabulous car in my Lagonda. It has served us faithfully for a great many years and countless thousands of miles both here in Australia and overseas in the UK and Europe. If I looked very diligently I could find any number of little jobs that while not completely necessary I could be gaining satisfaction and a certain amount of pleasure doing. Why am I waisting my time fiddling about with a heap of rubbish which some day may emerge as a 1945 Lea Francis "special". I really do not need this sort of mindless "projects". WHY AM I DOING THIS? Bernie j.

Unfortunately the original seats were all nor useable mainly because they had been water logged for so long. The car itself was black. That in itself may be OK but I have always avoided black as a colour for my cars. Bj.

Hello Chris, Yes! as far as possible the original bonnet will be used, this will require some trimming to match the new scuttle. Perhaps even more so today, I attempt to incorporate as much of the original material as possible. For example I do have the original front seats that after some esential re-working will be incorporated in the car. Regarding paint and upholstery colours, I well attempt to move away from my usual off-white or green. Only time will tell. Bernie j.

However I am racing ahead yet again, my next task will be to lift the body frame off the chassis so that I can go over it and complete some of the welds which were inaccessible. Only then can I start to making panels to go onto the body frame. Days more work, especially if I am going to be able to do this without buying more aluminium sheet. Apart from the obvious savings, there is a certain amount of satisfaction to be had re-cycling the original LeaF's panels. Only time will tell. Bj.

It is now 5.22 on Tuesday afternoon here in the land of "Down under," I would think that by this time tomorrow the body frame should be ready to lift off the chassis so that I can complete most of the welds holding it all together. It may still require a little adjustment before I start to look at fitting a "skin" on to it. I hope that someone has been taking a note of the time spent on all this. Not necessarily in hours but days should be sufficient. I am not sure what the "Professionals" charge by the day but then I must take into account that I am a (nearly 85 year old) "pensioner". That and I am having "fun" 24 hours later, the whole point is that regardless of time or cost I am getting on and "doing something creative". No only that but I am enjoying the process. There again, I am saving a car that after 25+ years on neglect was on the verge of falling apart and becoming a pile of junk. I am not really all that disappointed that I missed the chance of restoring it as a four door saloon. I am now glad that I have been instrumental in giving it a completely different future, that it has not gone to the scrap metal pile or been broken up for "spares". I now have just a day or so more work on the "body frame". I am still of two minds, do I buy another motor or do I just as easily repair and rebuild the original? Bernie j.

Thank you Chris At times like this I am sure that I have a friendly poltogiest living in my garage. I have not other explanation. Bj.

Amazing!

I now have a mystery, those two magnetic "welder's friends" seen (in yesterday's photograph), have disappeared! I left the garage front door open while I went in for lunch yesterday and when I went back to finish the work, I had started that morning, they had disappeared! I find it hard to believe that someone would have walked in and taken them without taking any of the other tools off my bench.... I wasted about an hour looking for them and again this morning I will have a "Big Tidy Up" to make sure that they have hidden themselves somewhere. We live at the end of a "Cul de Sac" so we have virtually no passing traffic with almost no people "just walking past". Bernie j.

Keeping you up to date, here are this morning's photographs. Those two triangular gadgets are magnetic "welders extra hands", They are invaluable in holding pieces in place while adjustments can be made and welds finished. I am sure that I have mentioned the need to have a good selection of "screw "G" clamps when working by myself. They are probably far more reliable that many human helpers. Again over the past sixty or so years I have always found it easier to work by myself. It reduces to number of arguments significantly! I now have used three out of four lengths of the steel tube that I bought before starting work on the body frame. I have also used one short length of rectangular tube that I already "had in stock". I still have to use the length of steel "strip" but some of it will go around one side and the bottom of the door. It will also go to form the brackets to hold the (timber) dash-board. Bj.

So here we are in Victoria, Australia. It is Monday morning and the sun is shining although it is still very chilly outside. I have just finished my breakfast but still have a couple of chores to do before I wander out to my garage. Yesterday I managed to bend and cut to length some more steel tube ready to be fitted on the drivers side. This may torquier some final adjustment before being welded into place. There being no door on this side makes todays work possibly a little easier, only time will tell. Matching the scuttle up to the left hand side being possibly the most difficult task for today. I am now waiting for my camera's battery to recharge, so I can down-load todays photographs. Bj.

Don't mind me, I have been suffering from depression for as long as I can remember, I just keep taking the tablets. I have recently reduced the dose so this may be the result. It may take a few day to adjust. Meanwhile I will keep beavering away on the LeaF. The Rapier is very good and just sits there quietly waiting until I can take it out for a run. Keeping the Peugeots battery charged is something else, I did manage to take it out last week so hopefully it will start the next time. I seem to need to charge the Rapier's battery every time, before I go out in it. Again, once it has a run, it is OK until the next time. The VW is Helen's car and it is used regularly, being a Diesel and a VW it is typically reliable!

Having just come in from a couple of hours work on the Lea Francis, I think that I have discovered what my life long sin has been. Instead of staying inside where I am sure there are sufficient house hold chores; that I have spent my life avoiding, walking around or simply closing my eyes to; to keep me more than occupied instead of spending my time outside messing about with bloody old motor cars. This has to stop! Just what I do instead I still have to discover, perhaps I should just lay down and die! That would save a lot of trouble. I have outlived my "use by" date and it is time that I was gone. Bernard Jacobson 9-11-1936. --------

Thank you Chris Our current crop of politicians seem to delight in their ability to completely disorganise the life of the Australian public. Together with them we have the people who take their entertainment in seeing how best they can disrupt life by consistently breaking every available rule. Then we have the "Anti-Vaccination Brigade", These people consider that in every instance, "Nature" should be left to create havoc at every possible opportunity. That in some unaccountable way, the more that the general public suffer, the better it is and that in fact we are all being punished for our sins. Just what these sins are and who they are against is not explained. Bj.

Thank you Digger Right now here in Victoria, Australia we are locked in with "Co-vid" restrictions, add to this I have just this minute, received a phone call to tell me that there is a cylinder block etc available as soon as I can do the trip, about an hour or two away, to collect it. I had resigned myself to the thought of repairing the block but now that should not be necessary. Bj

Now all I need is a fresh burst of enthusiasm. I really do question my sanity, do I really need to be working on all this old rubbish just to survive. I managed to spend an entire day yesterday without doing anything constructive on the LeaF while the Rapier sits in the carport gathering dust. Every time I go out the front door I walk past it without really seeing it. Yesterday I had to drag out my extension ladder to get up onto the roof in order to clean out the gutters that collect the rain water from the roof. It all seems so pointless. A total waste of time, in another three months there will be almost as many leaves on the roof again.

No not drop everything but he did come by on his way home from work and assisted with turning the LeaF around so I can now start on the drivers side. To day I am busy doing some domestic chores, cleaning out some of the guttering where the leaves have built up and are slowing down the water running off the roof. We/I have given up on the "Handy-men" who put notices in our letter box advertising their service as being next to useless. Our forecast is for a return to Winter after two or three days of Spring. Bj.

Hello Chris I have no control over what grows in my garage, my role in the whole affair is limited to welding together the parts as they appear on my bench or attached to the chassis. There are no drawings or plans! This is how I have worked for the past 50 or 60 years. Things just "happen". I am now waiting for our son, Steve, to call in to assist me to turn the LeaF around so I can make a start on the driver's side. As you can see in today's photographs I am not over endowed with space! OR the very latest in equipment. What you are seeing here is the start of the driver's side. BJ.

And now I am putting these bends to work. Yesterday I started on the LeaF's body frame, there is not a lot to show for now but at least I have made a start. As with all my bodies rather than working to a drawing "IT" is taking shape as inspiration becomes reality. Having said that it will no doubt not be very different to most of the two seater bodies "out there". I will leave you to be the judge, but not just yet. My present thinking is for it to have a door on the passengher side but not on the drivers side. Similar in some ways to my Lagonda Rapier, please note the quite deliberate use of the word "similar". Bj.

I am sure that I have shown this simple tube bender many times before but for the benefit of any new comers, I will show it again. While limited to the one radius it does give a consistent bend without causing any "puckering" in the bend. Tube is bent "cold", simply by applying pressure on the end of the tube being bent. I have simply lost count of the number of bends I have made in tube being used in body frames. It works best with square tube up to 20mm. Made simply using a section of a damaged (scrap) 13 inch wheel rim, it has "paid for itself over and over again! Bj.

After that brief digression, The LeaF body kit arrived nice and early this morning, about 8.15 am. Even before I had opened the garage door. All I need to do now is to "cut it out and assemble it....... Now 24 hours later One length of square tube is cut up and my tube bender has been hard at work`

Hello OCF and Digger Welding is rather like riding a bicycle, You never complete;y forget. I probably have an intense period of welding nearly every day for perhaps two or three months about every five years. Some years ago I changed my large industrial size gas cylinders to the smallest, handy-man size. During a spell of body frame construction I am probably doing some welding every other day, then almost none for a year or two. I actually enjoy these creative periods. In some ways I would be happy to pack up all "car-stuff" and wander off somewhere quite with a box of water colour paints and a few sheets of decent paper. Perhaps in my next life? It is a funny thing during these artistic sessions in the past, all the rural paintings seemed to have a car somewhere in the background. Out in our garden you are likely to trip over a piece of "welded sculpture" Most seem to have melted into the background. Again most of these incorporate some odd asortment of mechanical bits & pieces. This one, brake discs and drums. This combined "bath and feeder" is a favourite spot for many of our feathered friends. Its location is where we can observe the comings and goings through our "family room" window without the need to go outside. Bernie j.

My only problem is that I sold my (electric) arc welder some years ago, so now I have to rely on oxy-acetylene. This tends to slow down the process. I have put to one side the pieces cut from the chassis. if I decide that I need to reinforce the joins I will have plenty of material. The original chassis is "boxed" construction so there is no shortage of steel. My (Tube steel) body frame will also provide some extra strength. It is my belief that I have done the "right thing", that this "LeaF" should be a really interesting little car. Only time will tell, it is extremely likely that this will be my last "Restoration", so hopefully it will be a "good one". I bought that "chain block" quite a long time ago, it has paid for itself several times over. Bj