After watching tv shows like Classic Restos, Gasoline, Cruisin, Restoring Dreams, etc, I got the restoring bug. But what to restore. You really have to restore a car from the classic 1960’s After the staid 1950’s the 1960’s were exciting times. What with the music, styles and fashion. As Bob Dylan said “The times are a changing”

We had the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, mini skirts, the pill, beer came in cans, transistor radios, human heart transplants, man walked on the moon and the Sydney Opera House was being built. Anything was possible.

And the cars. Look at the classic cars from this era. The E type Jag, Mustangs, the Corvette Stingray, Cobras, the Monaro, GT Falcons, VW Beetles and Kombies were the ‘in’ car, the Cooper S and the Sprite.

I think it is a good idea to restore a car you had in this era. The reason being is at the time you had a choice and bought the car because you considered it to be the best for you. I hope it is not just reliving your youth. I had my love affair with cars during this decade. Before cars were merely just a form of transport. I had all the early Holdens, a Sprite and a GT Falcon. Restore an early Holden and all you get is an early Holden. Been there. Done that. The Falcons are getting expensive and I would not be seen dead in a replica. That leaves the Sprite. The Sprite was a fun car. Only small, easy to work on. There are not acres of heavy bodywork to straighten up and parts are still available. So it is decided. Restore a Sprite. However, I wanted to modernise it. A modern twin cam engine,5 speed gearbox, disc brakes all round, wider tyres and modern electrics. I have done my apprenticeship.

The purists will shun me but hey, it’s your car. Everyone is entitled to their own dreams. On joining the Sprite Club, you see how members are passionate on preserving the originality of the car. I can understand someone going along the concours path. If I restore another Sprite I will go the concours route. But I doubt I would have started that way.

OK. The first thing is to get a car. This probably took about 6 months. E bay is an eye opener for the novice. Like having the car all day, being the highest bidder, only to be snaked in the last 10 seconds. Or, being the highest bidder and the owner refuses to sell. Get a car that is as rough as possible. You are going to restore every part anyway. The reason you get a rough car is when you take a picture of the car, this will be the before shot. Then when the car is finished people will remark “wow, you restored the car from that”. The sparkling gem I purchased definitely fulfils the rough before shot requirement. I also purchased the motor I was going to use so there was no turning back.

Because I had other projects I wanted to finish first, the car was sitting there for say a year. Even though the car was sitting there, I was planning the different stages in my head so it was not a waste of time and I could anticipate problems I would have when I started. Nothing gets done my planning, But it saves a lot of headache, frustration and redoing work.

I moved the car to my work and made a carport to keep it out of the elements. My son said I would have used the spanners on my first Sprite. And you know he is right. In quiet periods I could work on the car. I stripped the car down to every nut and bolt. I did this with a 3/8 socket set and some spanners I had in my apprenticeship days.

I made a rotisserie for the car. I cannot see how you can restore a car without one. It is simply a matter of turning the car upside down to get at the underside for cleaning, cutting, welding, drilling. Fitting etc . On the rotisserie pivot, I drilled radial holes with a pin so the car could be positioned at various angles. This helped for better downhand welding and having the car at a convenient work height.

Once the car was stripped down, I put the Sprite motor and gearbox next to the 4 cylinder motor and gearbox to replace it. The size difference was astronomical. It was like putting the sun next to the earth. I did not think I was Going too overboard. There was the gallant A series next to the monstrosity which was going to replace it. I then put the new motor next to the engine bay and thought it will never fit. So I went away and came back later with a tape measure. Measured a few things and decided yes, that part will probably fit. But what about the rest. I went away again and came back with a tape. This went on for half of the day and I finally concluded it will probably fit. So I wheeled the motor away and started on restoring the body. There is work to do.

I used POR15 products to restore the car. This stuff is fantastic. As their advertising spiel says “POR15 covers metal with a tough ceramic like finish that will not crack, ship or peel. Protection is permanent” I worked in small areas at a time. For instance, the underside floor of the car. I used a gerni, degreaser, paint stripper, wire brush, grinder and sand paper to get back to bare metal. Any rust was cut out and new plates welded in. Using the POR15 process. The underside of the floor was painted and then I moved to another section. Once the entire car was treated with the POR15 inside and out and no likely hood of rust again, I started on the modifications. I need a break. My fingers are worn down to the bone. I close my eyes at night and see rusty metal ready to be sanded. I am going surfing and come back next week.

If you want to get the car registered, you have to go through an Engineering Signatory for the modifications. Get a copy of the RMS rules and abide by them. For instance, they are very strict on motor capacity/car weight, tyre width, ground clearance, etc. The RMS will not allow you to make your own say suspension parts but will allow you to use parts from another car. I can see their point as car companies spend millions on R,D. Whereas, a car builder might try to save weight using say untested aluminium control arms.

I tried to do one item at a time and finish it. It is tempting to move to another stage when delays crop up. The trouble is then you get another delay and end up with all these unfinished jobs. It may take longer and most of the time is spent finding and sourcing parts and waiting for their arrival. For instance, it took one month to get the tacho recalibrated to 10000 rpm. The IRS took one year to perfect.

The car took me 5 years to complete. So what. The pursuit of excellence goes at its own pace. It is a great feeling of satisfaction when the car is finally registered and rolling down the road. This is something you made.

The acceleration of the car is fantastic and has a glorious exhaust note. The car vibrates, does not like bumps, is hard to get in and out of, scares the shit out of me but I love the car.

Paul Hunt