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A rebore to allow the fitting of new aluminum pistons, machining of head and block plus resetting the bearings was what it needed. Chassis sandblasted, straightened and welded, new bearings in the gear box, new spring bushes and hangers, new bonded brake linings, wheels rebuilt and a steering box and springs rebuilt from a lot of parts from friends rubbish dumps etc. All steering joints re bushed or replaced. Fitted a stainless steel muffler. Also on a trip to the Bendigo swap I found a front axle good enough to use, bought a new set of tyres, lenses and a bow tie badge. Had the radiator professionally restored and fitted a thermostat in the upper hose. That's all the easy stuff to get to a rolling chassis.

Now I had to face up to what I found to be the hard stuff. Converting an eight by four sheet of steel to replace rusted away Chev panels. No MIG welder, just the old farm type in the photo to the right and a pack of 1mm stainless steel rods. Peter Jackson was making the missing rear panels, valence and running boards for me. These we collected from him at the Ballarat swap meet.

Body now assembled. One little surprise. The rear side panel facing the camera was three quarters of an inch lower and half an inch shorter than it's opposite twin. I assumed a later replacement due to accident for one of the sides however when fixing the body mounting brackets at the rear, one set of holes was the half inch forward.

With the painted body on the chassis the new wiring loom was installed leaving the hood bows and windscreen frame as the only two difficult things to do. Hood bows were made from construction ply and I would defy you to recognise the windscreen frame as not an original. The seat frames from an Essex were modified to fit and the Chev was off to Clare for Nick Tilbrook to make the hood and seats.

The car is now fitted with a Holden carburetor but comes with a Zenith up draft on a manifold and with linkages. An electric fuel pump replaces the totally trashed vacuum unit.

The clutch tends to grab a little and the gearbox is noisy however the car drives really nicely. Here it is, ready for club or full registration and for sale.

Why you may ask, after all that work and cost!!!

No sooner did I bring the Chev home than I found a Singer 4A needing a full restoration, a car I have always lusted after, one to keep.