My 144 DL Auto

[emtee]

Just thought I'd share a couple of pics of my 144 running restoration.

I bought the car as a project from MikeV on here in mid November last year and did the necessary repairs to return the car to the road after a 20+ year absence. This included some of the usual front inner wing & floor repairs and general recomissioning. The screen was out of the car when I got it and needed a lot of repair/rebuilding but at least I could see what I was in for rather than a car with the screen installed that could have been hiding goodness knows what.

The car as I first saw it, looking very sorry for itself but 99% complete and showing potential -













By the looks of it the car has changed hands a few times over the years it was off the road with several owners doing work and then passing it on. The rear arches and rear sills had been repaired but not finished etc. I had no idea whether the car ran and drove but Mike assured me that he'd driven the car into the garage a few years previously so I took the chance.

The passenger side was a lot worse than the driver's side with large rust holes in the passenger door and front wing.

TBC...

[emtee]

Work in progress...











The car passed its test on 2nd January this year with the MOT tester (after initially laughing & taking the mickey at the ratty state of the car) commenting on how solid the car was. It was then lightly used throughout the winter months, managing to get moving one day when our Mk4 golf failed (We live on a hill that never gets gritted)




After a hard winter I took the car off the road a few weeks ago to give the car a respray. I've not done much of this kind of work before and I was working outside in weather that changed from sunny to ****ing down to hail stones and back again every couple of hours, or so it seemed...

Anyway, the results are not too shabby, not perfect by any means. The paint's rubbed through in a couple of places and there's still a couple of small rough patches. Definitely learnt a lot from doing this car - I scrimped a bit and only bought 2 litres of 2k top coat, probably could have done with 3.

Having said all that, as far as I'm concerned it's gone from looking like an old banger to looking like an old car which is fine by me as the car lives outdoors in the street all year and is there to be enjoyed as an ongoing project.

The V70 steel wheels are temporary, I have a set of P1800ES wheels to go on when I sort the tyres.

[emtee]

[classicswede]

Do you need the trim for the screen? I should have all the bits that I have taken off my 145 as I'm going for a more modern look.

[emtee]

Originally Posted by classicswede

Do you need the trim for the screen? I should have all the bits that I have taken off my 145 as I'm going for a more modern look.

I am missing parts from it so that would be very helpful. PM me your email address if you like and we can discuss

[Iroll13]

Great to see, you're putting me to shame. I will have to start now, I suppose its true what they say the first cut is the deepest. I will take a brave pill and catch you up!

I'll have to see it sometime.

[Volvorama]

May be too late to say as you've got the screen in, but using 240 screen trim would be an idea. It uses plastic clips on the glass itself and you fill in the holes for the rust-promoting steel clips as they're not needed.

[emtee]

I dispensed with the clips altogether and will be bonding the trim like John h suggested in his 164 thread (I think...)

[john h]

Looks great, well done!

John

[Lord Volvo]

How did you repair the rust along the windshield area? My 140 has a few rusted areas and I'm not sure how to approach fixing it so a new windshield will mount properly.