After getting some major engine work done Spring last year this was the year for sorting the bodywork. So after a forum member recommendation for a garage in Stoke it's now booked in for rear arches, boot area, sills, bonnet seams, refreshing the black pillars, wheel refurb etc. He had seen worse coupes so there was no sharp intake of breath thankfully. He'll take some pics so once completed I can do a quick piece for the 16/20 mag

Great News G Man!

For a second there when I read your post title I was worried!

These cars just get under your skin and are hard to be allowed to die.

I was looking through "how many left" the other night and its sobering how small the numbers now are!

Lets hope the car is returned to good health asap.

Regards

MM

Ah good stuff Alan, try and get some pics of the work in progress

@G_Man These issues sound very close to what I need doing on mine, what ball park figure are you looking at (PM me if you want to keep it private)

Cheers

PM sent mate

Prices in Germany are very probably higher than the UK. Ours needed "welding" and associated repairs on:

- Sills
- Lower wheel arches
- In the boot
- One door needed a little attention, plus both doors needed small dents pushing out,
- front "Eiffel towers" were replaced, rear ones repaired
- new bonnet
- plus umpteen other places where there was rust a little rust
- headlights refurbed with new lacquer

The car was then resprayed completely (window out /bumpers off) and we were 7000€ lighter! This was not a real restoration but a good quality "repair" so that the car looks tip top again.

On top of that we needed new rear windows and changed some other tatty parts such as the door handles, the slam panel, etc, etc, and that probably added another 1000€ or so.

It is now getting a suspension refresh and new belts which will be in the region of 2500€ I guess.

So, 10,500€ and the A/C still to fix! But what could I buy for 12000€ that would be as good as this will end up? It is only the price of a basic Hyundai i20.

Complete waste of money if you ask me


Photos, provide.

Well, it might not be the most intelligent use of money but it does look cool again. Will sort out some pics when the car is back from the mechanic.

Sooo - after a bit of wait (try almost 10 weeks) I got the car back on Thursday. Was due to be start September but kept going back with the owner of the garage being a bit evasive, problem with colour matching etc which I could fully understand and hey, with everything being cancelled the coupe wasn't desperately needed. The reason for the delay - they decided in the end to give the car a full respray without letting me know and wanted to leave it as a surprise . Couldn't believe my flippin eyes! As they didn't seek my permission for the respray they didn't charge any extra!!! Everything else done on the job sheet including a small repair to the 16v badge which I didn't ask for. What can I say, just totally speechless. It's now externally probably the best 16v in the country (sorry Neil ). I'm not going to say how much this cost as it would be unfair on the garage but they're happy for me to promote on the forum:

Bucknall Garage, Pennell Street, Stoke-on-Trent, ST2 9BD.

Gaz, the manager, is a great bloke and I think mine is the third coupe they've worked on.

Did I say I was speechless ....

Fantastic result Alan, pleased with your success!

The conspirator in me couldn't help asking - was there some accidental damage done which they just "manned up" to and sorted......

In any case it's

G_Man's garage: Resprays his Coop without his permission.

My garage: Revs the shit out of my Coop without my permission.

Garage wars.....

Simon - I bet your ring tone is 'suspicious minds'

Gaz told me that he was having trouble with the paint match and it was looking like a patchwork quilt so he cut his losses and did the re-paint. Some pics attached and, well, it's very YELLOW The shot of the pillar is the black recoat where it was peeling away at the top plus the badge repair where the left end of the slash was missing.

Having said all this I have noticed that there was an extra 2k on the clock and found some Euros in the drivers door pocket ..

Sorry peeps - they've been saved upside down for some reason but you can rotate in your viewer

I just did a handstand, it was quicker

Is that something I should google, or will it install a virus on my laptop?

Sorted the pics Alan

Brilliant btw, great to have her back all shiny and tlc'd

Looks good Alan. Mirror image a couple of the pictures.