David W's Gen 3 coupe #16 at the body shop

[David Williamson]

With the help from a friend with his truck and trailer we took my Coupe to the body shop just before Christmas. Today I went to see it and talk about the details of the job. This shop has done a number of Cobras but this is the first Coupe in the area.
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He has a good start on the seams. He is planning to glass the spoiler onto the body without the flange so it looks like it was part of the body.
David W

[David Hodgkins]

Looking good!!

:)

[7tvette]

Looking forward to cruising with you and Cathy this summer!

[WIS89]

David-

Fantastic; you must be totally stoked to be at this point!

What color(s) are you going with?

I would love to see some progress pics, if you are able. I have always been impressed with how well and how fast these shops work on our cars.

Regards,

Steve

[David Williamson]

I will be going to check on the progress every few weeks and there will be pictures. The plan is red. likely something close to Ford Ruby Red, with silver stripes but that could change? we will see.
David W

[Bob-STL]

That looks real good.

What color is it going to be?

[Geoff H]

Looks great! Nice to see progress in such a short period of time.

Geoff

[Garry Bopp]

Great progress, David!

Garry

[Automan]

looks great. On my #50 the mold seams right behind the side window are really off. The rear quarter looks like it slipped in the mold and it is set in. Might need a lot of mud to try and make it smooth and look good like yours

[nskaats]

Great to see some body progress pics on a Gen 3 coupe. I haven't been able to find too much on actual body work on these yet. Get as many pics as possible for us please!

[David Williamson]

I made another trip to the body shop yesterday and here are some more pictures. The rough cutouts that I did for the door hinges and latch are fixed along with the hood cutouts. The hood was curved in too much to fit over the cowl properly without messing up the paint or cutting the weather strip so he made some cuts in the hood and opened up the profile to fit better. The doors open and close perfectly.
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David W

[David Williamson]

and a few more pictures also from Feb 12
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David W

[David Williamson]

Some more pictures from the body shop. The spoiler is on, he cut the flange off and glassed it to the top of the body. A slight adjustment was done to the pontoons to get the wheel cutouts perfect, the hood hinge was at full adjustment, guess I did not get it quite right when I fitted it. He sanded down the top of the door jam so the weather strip fit is the same from the top to bottom, it was tight at the top.
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David W

[WIS89]

David-

This is very exciting! Looks like they are doing solid work.

Have they given you a time frame for completion? It looks to me like you will have most of the summer driving season behind the wheel!

You must be very stoked! Thanks for the update.

Regards,

Steve

[Jeff Kleiner]

They are clearly doing a good job!

Jeff

[David Williamson]

i am looking forward to getting it back for Spring driving. Can't wait to see it painted. The fit of the doors and hood are now perfect, maybe about 6 weeks more until the paint is done. I will have lots of work left to finish it off after I get it home but it will be drivable while I do the work.
The guy doing the body work is a perfectionist and he has many years (40+) of experience with both fibre glass and metal custom cars. He has done a number of FFR cars but this is the first Coupe.
David W

[Geoff H]

Looks great David - Perfect timing for the driving season!

[David Williamson]

Back at the body shop again today and a few more progress pictures. He has made the top of the doors straight so the side windows will seal, added to the body at the front of the doors so there is more area for the weather strip to seal against. The 3 holes on the top of the doors are for the side mirror bolts and wires, there is a small metal plate inside the door to add strength to the mirror mount. There are LED turn signal lights in the mirrors. He has closed up the hole in the body for the side pipes. It is getting closer all time.
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David W

[David Williamson]

And some more pictures from the body shop. Does not look a lot different. Except for the nose it is all sanded to 220 ready for primer. The door and hood fit is perfect.
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I will have to finalize the paint color soon.
David W

[David Williamson]

another visit to the body shop. The doors are primed and he was taking the hood off ready to prime the rest of the car.
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David W

[Geoff H]

Perfect timing for the season. What colour did you land on?

[David Williamson]

I am still looking at colours, it will be red, something close to the Ford Ruby red and likely no stripes.
David W

[David Williamson]

getting close to finalizing the paint color. Cathy (my wife) and I spent about an hour taking with Daren (painter and shop owner) about the color.
We should have some samples to look at next week. The first coat of primer is on and the body is mostly sanded. The hood has not been sanded yet.
this sample from Lexus is close to what the paint will be
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here are some pictures of the body and hood in primer
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David W

[edwardb]

Looks great. Can't wait to see mine at that stage. Interesting to see they're painting it body on. Going to have that discussion in the near future with the shop that's doing mine.

Nice choice on the candy red. I have a certain affinity for that color. :p

[David Williamson]

He has painted a number of Cobras and did them body off. With the coupe he wants to reduce the chance of paint damage handling the body and he thinks it will be easier to get everything lined up again after paint.
And yes Paul I see you are partial to Red. I already have a blue Cobra so I wanted something different this time.
David W

[jdavis500]

Can you tell us more about the mirrors that you chose?

[David Williamson]

The mirrors are from Vision Hot Rod Concepts www.visionhotrod.com I have the model VF2 with LED lights. They were about $150 US for the pair.
They are mounted to the door with access through the hole for the door latch. The body guy (Rob) put a metal plate inside to reinforce them and changed the mounting bolts to studs.
They are just long enough to "see" past the back fenders and with the wide angle mirror I have on the roll cage above the windshield visibility is not bad.
David W

[Geoff H]

When is paint day?

[David Williamson]

Went to pick out the final colour today. Still a few small areas to finish priming and sanding but getting very close to ready for paint. Hope to have it back home early June.
Guess which one of these 4 we picked? The dark one and one of the light ones are custom tints. The other light ones are Ford ruby Red and a Lexus red.
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It's hard to get a great picture but... best we got.


Oh the correct one is the dark one.
can't wait to see it done, it's going to look great.
David W

[Geoff H]

Tha's going to look great! No red cars around here. Will you have any stripes? Or will it be full red?

[David Williamson]

going for a simple look, no stripes
David W

[David Williamson]

I talked with Darren (the shop owner and painter) today, the car is all cleaned and in the paint booth. They are working on masking it off ready to paint. No pictures because "not allowed to look at it until it is done" he likes to wait and show off the finished job and see the reactions. We talked about the details of the paint as he was about to order it. The paint is a BASF product called Delmonico pearl red, it is a single stage paint with lots of candie in it and expensive.
Can't wait to see it finished
David W

[Geoff H]

That's going to look awesome! Let us know when you get it home - will definitely have to stop by.

[David Williamson]

i received a message last night, the paint is done along with a picture of the mirror.
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it's getting very close
David W

[Geoff H]

Great teaser! Looking forward to seeing it.

[KDubU]

That looks very nice!

[David Williamson]

I had another picture of the paint today, almost finished color sanding and ready to start polishing.
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you can see a hint of the real color on the edge of the headlight bucket.
David W

[David Williamson]

I had a call from the shop yesterday, they are starting to do the assembly and needed the door weather strip. It was a nice day so I took the Cobra out for a spin. Darren was just getting ready to polish the last body part, a door and he let me see it. The color is exactly what I had in mind. He told me the car looks spectacular and I can't wait to see it.
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Planning to bring it home on Friday
David W

[WIS89]

David-

Holy smokes, that color looks beautiful! That's going to look amazing out in the sun! You must be out of your mind excited about getting her home.

Thanks for sharing the progress with us. I have really enjoyed following along, and am really looking forward to seeing her all buttoned up!

Regards,

Steve

[Bob-STL]

Wow!

[David Williamson]

it is now home in the garage ready for final assembly. When we got to the paint shop it was sitting out front waiting for us. The paint is amazing but very difficult to photograph, the color changes with light and angle. In bright light it looks red and in shadows it looks like merlot wine.
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this picture is one of the better ones.
David W

[Straversi]

Wow, she’s a beauty.
-Steve

[johnny cobra]

Really nice Colour ......

[Geoff H]

Looks great David! Excellent choice!

[edwardb]

Very nice. :D

[Garry Bopp]

Awesome, David! You are getting close to "on the road"!

Garry

[Tree]

Beautiful. My wife likes your paint the best out of all I have shown her so far, which has been more then a few.

[nskaats]

Car looks outstanding! More pics please

[David Williamson]

A few more pictures. Working at getting the lights hooked up.
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David W

[Jkviper]

David, the Coupe looks fantastic in the color, very nice choice.

[Geoff H]

Looks waaaayy better now that its home! Looking forward to seeing it all together!

[mburger]

Looks awesome!

[David Williamson]

One more picture that I like then the "body shop" part is done. On to the finishing stuff.
this picture shows what it really looks like and is not enhanced
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David W

[Garry Bopp]

David,

The coupe is looking awesome!

Garry