The Unwanted 2nd Restoration
Actually, I hadn't wanted to do so much work again, but things don't always turn out the way you think.
I've had the GT Cabrio since 1983. After a little work to get it in good driving condition, I took it to a meet in Ibbenbueren for the first time. Spurred on by the beautiful cars I saw there, I began to take my car apart and repair it. It would have been an exaggeration to even call this a "restoration," considering my skill and ability. This went on until 1993 when I registered the car. Since then, I've driven it almost 100,000 km. In the meantime, I replaced the 1300 motor with a 1700 motor I had freshly rebuilt, since the original documents and vehicle identification number indicated this was actually a 1700 GT.
It came time for the TÜV (Technical Inspection Agency) inspection in 2011 and the car was examined. I passed the inspection again, since only some light bubbles on the A-pillar and a tiny bit of rust on the B-pillar were detected. Actually, the car still looked pretty good. It was only out of curiosity that we opened up a little piece of the rocker panel and found out that rust, or better yet, a horror, was lurking in the shadows.
After a long time spent deliberating, I finally brought myself to begin the work in October 2011. This time I was going to have to do it in an orderly way or this would be the last time for me.
All the chrome pieces, the roof, the seats, and the carpet were removed. The rusted parts were taken out piece by piece. I already had some chrome parts on hand, and obtained the hard to get parts. I had to make the things that weren't available by myself, for example, the entire area behind the B-pillar. First, I had to draw some paper stencils, then cut out some generously-sized pieces from a sheet metal panel, then bend or form them as needed into the correct shape, and then fit them into place. The rear side parts, exterior and interior rocker panels, the reinforcement behind the A-pillar, repair panels for the front fenders, pieces of the floor panels, and the inner rear fenders were already available.
I approached it in the following way: the door cut-outs and each detached part were measured, then the available or the newly made parts fitted, and then spot welding and welding were completed. After that, the restored sections were coated with rustproof primer. Holes were drilled for later inspections and, in the case of the box sections like the rocker panels, then filled with wax and plugged with rubber. We slowly began the preliminary work from front to back, first on the left side of the car, then on the right.
All the chrome pieces, the headliner, the seats, and the carpets were taken out. Then the door was removed and the chassis stabilized. This is especially important, otherwise the entire car will warp or buckle. And this is not only the case for a cabrio when you see all the load-bearing parts that had to be replaced.
