Newby to mk1's in general!

Hi guys, I thought I'd post a few pics of my new project.  I officially bought this car Sunday (although I have been planning to for about 6 weeks) from a mate.

It's a 75 Lofoten green Swallowtail, it's covered only 36k and still starts and runs - I even drove it!

It's in desperate need of new inner and outer wings, as I think the inner wings are too bad to be patched - but we'll wait and see what my bodyshop thinks first.  Apart from that it's in tip top shape, it's going to be a complete resto, strip to bare shell, restore and paint then built and replace all the necessary parts.  It should keep me busy for a while yet!

The original number plates are present and are in good nick, so they'll be restored which will be a nice touch.

Anyway, here is it!









I'm new to mk1's - but spent 2 years helping my other half strip and re-built a mk2, luckily I'm not scared of a grinder!

The first thing we'll do is give is a damn good clean, and take out the interior which is mint, and have a good look at the floor.  I'll keep you updated with progress.

Cheers, Karen

Welcome to the site, great find there. Swallowtails are hard to find these days, I see its also got a wiperless tailgate. What size engine has it got?

Fuel filler area, tailgate doors, bootfloor and rear panel don't look bad at all. Is the photo of rust of the front inner wing? Post any questions you may have and put some more photos up when you get the chance

Cheers

It's a beastly 1.1

That is a pic of the very holey inner wings, not sure what to do with them yet, I don't really want to replace the whole panel as the turrets are fine.

Thanks for the welcome.

They do look a bit shot at the top, but is hard to tell how extensive the rust is until all the paint and sealant has been stripped off.

You can buy repair panels for sections of the top of the inner wings avoiding the need to mess with the suspension turrets - check out www.perfectpanels.co.uk. Every so often you see entire inner wing panels on for sale and they can be a source of repair patches if you want to keep as much of the original wings. Do you intend to keep it standard or stick a bigger engine in?

Cheers

Great find. A lovely retro colour and nice alloy badges too    

Hi Kaz!

Glad to see you made it over to the Home of the Mk1

You will need to strip all that sealer off on the inner wings as I have found much hidden rust on mine.

Be very careful with replacement panels for such early cars. Your inner wings are different to later cars (check the forms of the panel carefully on the inside and you will see) and replacements are not available from anywhere! This means to do a proper job many parts have to be hand fabricated.

Cheers
Rajan

Be very careful with replacement panels for such early cars. Your inner wings are different to later cars (check the forms of the panel carefully on the inside and you will see) and replacements are not available from anywhere!

 8O didn't know that. Don't suppose you come across many early donor cars with good panels to cut patches out of

Yep, kind of thin on the ground! Even if you find one you are then faced with another dilemma - should I cut up a rare car for the sake of another one! :cry:

I have been offered the needed panels, I think.  I did specify the car's year, so fingers crossed they'll be right.
But as stated above, I don't really know what I'm dealing with until I get the grinder on it, hopefully it doesn't have too many secrets, it's been garaged it's whole life and has spent the last 20 odd years sat in a dry barn not being used.

I'm prepared to do the complete wings if necessary, but I'm aware the later ones are different because of the engine mounts?  

Whilst I'll do most of the prep work, the welding will be done by a pro, hopefully he can graft on new top wing sections (cut above the wheel arch) - are they year specific?

As for engine plans, whilst the 1.1 runs, it's very smokey - so I think we may be addressing that as the car is built, if it's changed then it's most likely going to be a 16v unit of some kind on carbs - got to stick with old skool!

Thanks for the welcome, I will become a full member as soon as I get some funds in my Paypal account