Once I had everything unloaded, my first task was to begin reassembling the car so I could figure out how things went together before anything was cleaned and stripped of paint. I started with the front valance and air intakes. I refitted the tank and twin SU pumps and there was enough of the original leather tie down |
straps left to have them reproduced. I also began an extensive correspondence with the owner of the #44 car, Ian Prior, in Australia. As luck would have it, it appeared that whatever was missing or mangled on my car had survived on Ian's and visa versa. In January 1991, we finally met when Ian and his family were our guests for a few days, needless to say we spent most of our time out in my garage. |
Some things just needed to be thought about for a while to figure out what had been there originally. There were two small felt pads on the left front side of the boot floor ( one is visible in the lower right foreground of the picture on the left above ) and a clip a few inches above it. The clips for the starter handle were located farther to the right to clear this area. I finally realized that this was for the knock off hammer. |
Other details came to light just by digging. The original seat coverings were found under the white covers. When the battery box mounted in the firewall was removed it became obvious that the opening had been crudely altered to accommodate a larger standard size battery. After the body was removed the transmission tunnel and floorboards were replaced to check fit. It became clear that, unlike the production part, the tunnel had been |
designed to fit on top of the floorboards to make engine and transmission removal easier. |
