Sorry guys, All of the opinions given are great and add to the discussion, but the truth of the matter is that the owner makes the choices as he or she sees fit. The fact that they have good choices to pick from when it comes to panel beaters is great. Kevin, as an old aircraft painter, I'm very glad to see the GTO pictures. Keep them coming. I'm setting here with my dinger and picker in my hand reminiscing and wishing I had a quart of lacquer to sniff. Everything has improved significantly in the 25 years since I was in the business, and I thank you and the car owner for putting your work on the web. Were I able to get there, I'd sweep the shop for free. Dave
Hi Dave, I'll open a tin of Lacquer and sniff to your good health first thing in the morning, Cheers and kindest regards Kev, Ps. the broom is awaiting you !!!
Hi Team, here's an Easter present from Kev .............. check out these mouth watering images which I've just loaded. As the project now runs to 16 pages you can fast track to page 12 www,mototechnique/250GTO_p12.htm for new visitors go to www.mototechnique.com Hope you like them, we'll be working on the next batch over Easter and plan to launch them 18th April 2006, Cheers and kindest regards to all Kev.
Truly awesome. The "fast track" link you posted was incorrect. I think this will work better http://www.mototechnique.com/250GTO_p12.htm Thanks for sharing. This is truly exciting...
Kev Oh you are a tease... Will try to pop by some time in next few weeks as the PF Coupe is back from Terry's (looking sharp) and I just can't stop driving it ! When will the GTO project finish do you think ? Have a good Easter. Darren.
Hi Darren, Teasing Moi ?????? AS moto GP Legend Valentino Rossi said ...... eating ice cream with the lady you fancy is far better than .............x If you like these photos I'm sure you'll love the ones we're working on, so stand by Kindest regards Kev, the teaser, the Tifosi pleaser. Ps, looking forward to seeing the Coupe, swing by and we'll have lunch at my office on the River Thames.
Hi Darren and all fellow enthusiasts, No more teasing .....HERE THEY ARE !!!! please find the much lauded 2nd page of " Studio Photos", check out www.mototechnique.com regular visitors now can fast track from the GTO Page to Studio Photos and save a "wade" through all 16 pages of GTO conservation, Enjoy, Kindest regards Kev.
Beautiful photos. It looks like the grill opening in the nose was changed a bit and made smaller.Thank you again
Hi Vintage, delighted to see you'r enjoying the photos. Please bare in mind that these photos are taken " hand held " with out the aid of a tripod so there will allways be Shot to Shot perspective issues. ( our " Snapper " from habits of old likes to move fast and stay low !!! Cheers to all, Kindest regards Kev.
I appreciate the photos ... but much prefer the non-studio photos! It's a car guys, lets take 'car' type photos so we can see all the details. All the studio photos have done is 'show us the skin' and hide the interesting stuff ... there are thousands of magazines that have outside photos of the GTO. You have a unique opportunity to take never before seen under the skin photos ... please don't miss this chance . All the body repair work photos have been fantastic. What I am now hoping for are the assembly photos. Gee like I've never seen a GTO gearbox, rear axle and assembly ... the petrol tank and assumed rivetting, etc. Inside a GTO sump/baffling and what the dry sump tank looks like and even where it is located? ... the oil pump and lines, etc. That's the good stuff. Have a look at Jim's P3/4 restoration threads for all those fantastic photos ... almost wet dream material. It's what's under the skin that moves us ... literally . Pete
Hi PSK, please find the latest installment on www.mototechnique.com as you will see we are now finishing the paintwork. I have taken so many photos ( I have 5 cds' worth ) on the premise that you can't go back, once missed the opportunity is lost forever !!! So enjoy the portfolio there will be more to come, Cheers and kindest regards to all, Kev.
The 250 GTO bodywork / paintwork is now completed and the project moves up a gear. Check out www.mototechnique.com for the latest updated photos, Cheers to all kindest regards Kev.
Hi Chris, in answer to your question; Whilst we have been busy with the body work aspects Martin Greaves at Classic Performance Engineering and his team have been busy working on the mechanics. In order to maintain an orderly trail I have to-date focused on our work, I now intend to give due credit to Martin and his team and the future postings will centre around their endeavours. With a good wind and all things being equal we reckon that in two / three weeks the car will be ready for the Trim shop. Then it will come back to us for final fitting followed by a serious shake down to ensure total reliability. Hope this answers your enquiry, cheers Kev.
Cool! Thanks for the info. You've done one heck of a job and i can't wait to see the car when its done. Chris
Hi Team, thought you'd all like to know that the GTO is now comming alive :-} As you will see from the latest page added today www.mototechnique.com we are now reaching the closing stages, mechanical components have been overhauled and re - instated by Martin Greeves and his team at Classic Performance. Panels are hung and the car is now at my son Rob's workshop for trimming of the interior www.coachtrimmers.com I will be posting more photos of the mechanical assembly courtesy of Martin and his lads. Cheers, keep smiling, Kev.
Speachless. What an amazing project for you guys to be involved with. Thank you again for the photos. History in the re-making.
Hi Vintage V12 plus Team, delighted to see your enjoying our work please check out www.mototechnique.com for the latest photos which were taken yesterday 1st june. The trim work is moving on a pace with Robert and his team burning the " midnight oil" they plan to be finished end of next week ready for final roadtesting and shaking down, more to follow shortly, cheers Kev. Ps, for more info on Roberts work check out www.coachtrimmers.com
Dear Pete Having worked for six years had building and restoring some of the world most expensive cars i must say you are incorrect on that statement. I worked for 4 years on Ian Cummings d type jag bringing it back from the 3 piece wreck that it was to the show winner it ended up being. Each master tradesman i worked with had learnt there trade in Europe where hammering was the taught method, Rolling a wheel is also used, some panels must be rolled before you can take a ball pane hammer to it. It's all about the desired shape that needs to be reproduced. It just logic that if making a well rounded wheel arch that it would be rolled before hammering. it allows you 60% of the basic shape, prior to hammering. Also just by trying to hammer the shape on a large piece will tend to thin oout the panel gauge. Which oftn leads to very thin metal to work with when file finishing is required. The roll whell even out the gauge. This method was also used on Ferrari's of there day. that's why today when a restoration is done , no two panels are the same and some panels are wider or bigger the there opposite sides. Andrew
Hi Andrew, cheers for your input which is very interesting. I was fortunate as a youth to work with some of the finest craftsman England ever produced, these guys were modest and highly respected and they had developed their skills to such an extent that they could and did form all the shape entirely using the " English Wheel" and only used a hammer to dress welds: in fact it was allmost criminal to over paint their work which took on a polished allmost chrome like finish. You are correct in that the wheel will produce a more consistant thickness to the panel, if you check out the photos in our "Unique GTO" photo section on our web site www.mototechnique.com you will see that we have used a combination of these skills during the conservation of this project, in short we don't count the hammer marks we do what is required. Cheers to all Kev.
Forget the World Cup football !!!! this is for real ....... new page added to www.mototechnique.com web site, got to go I'm off to watch the Footy, cheers and kindest regards Kev.
Andrew, With all due respect, this Italian hammering of panels has been documented in many hundreds of books about Ferraris, etc. Also look at Jim Naplios's P3/4 and P4 rebuilds ... they are hammering their panels over sand bags to duplicate the way it was done in the old days apparently. Please note I am talking Italy not Europe ... which to somebody from New Zealand is not just one coutry . Now heck I only know what I read, but if I'm wrong then so are many, many so called experts that write these marque books. I also remember reading about a 206 Dino mid engined race car that had never been damaged that came up for auction quite a few years ago ... and the review I read went on about how all the original hammer marks were still visible on the inside of the body work, which they also noted was very roughly made and had large amounts of 'goo' used on the inside to (I guess) tidy it up. Now we all know that the English are far superior at this panel process thanks to the English wheel, so is it possible that you are giving an English view of this process. Fact is that panels CAN be made completely by hammering, but the English wisely found a better way. Jim has many old school Ferrari people working on his cars and they are hammering out his bodywork ... so it appears that we have one side that worked for Ferrari doing the hammering (and all those authors) and we have the english saying the wheel was around for a long time. Heck I don't know. Heck maybe they used the wheel for some models and not for others ... or though that makes little sense. Kev, Did you find hammer marks on the original panels of this GTO? I know you found some shoddy work Heck maybe this is all down to a communication confusion, ie: Italians talk hammering as we all know that is part of the process even when you use a wheel. English talk wheel even though hammering is part of the process Pete
