Restoration Help

[ennerdale]

Hello Everyone, joined the club this morning having acquired a P5B Coupe. The car has just passed an MOT but needs a fair bit of work as it has been off the road for at least 18 months. Not running well and in need of some mechanical work initially, followed by some welding and rehanging of the drivers door, attention to passenger door and nearside wing which encroach on one another. All door bottoms are in need of attention. Interior needs front seats redoing and new carpets fitting, also some rechroming is needed especially the rear bumper. No doubt other items will come to light, phew! Does anyone know where i can start to get help in or around the York area? Thanks, Jonty

[johnwp5bcoupe]

Hi Jonty welcome to the Club also the Forum.

A good idea is to find a local member who knows the P5b well and ask him/her to have a look, from what you say the drivers door drops it may be a simple adjustment or the A post has a rot problem this is where you need a hands on member to advise don't just go to someone local seek out a restore/welder who is recommended as the P5/P5b can be a minefield if done incorrectly!

Is there a member in the YORK area who could give Jonty a new member some advice please

[Pete Collins]

Hi Jonty

You should get a club magazine in a day or two. Have a look inside the back cover and you will find a list of regional reps with phone numbers, we have one in Yorkshire. He should be able to help.

[Multi-Tech]

Would love to help but but of a journey way from you. Someone should be able to guide you.
Welcome to the forum and club and don't forget to up load some pictures of the car

[ennerdale]

Thank you for your suggestions to get my P5B in shape. Unfortunately my area rep. is unwell at present and is completely unavailable. So if there are any club members out there in Yorkshire who are owners of this model and have trodden the restoration path themselves, please let me know! I need someone who has the time and the experience of working on the P5B, either mechanically or bodily, or preferably both. I can be reached on 07736 010095. Thank you!

[barryr]

Welcome Jonty,

When I first joined the club in the early 90's I felt there were few members doing work on their own cars and scant advice about. I even went to an organised pub meet and was ignored! All the mags seemed to focus on good garages rather than tech advice etc.

But That isn't the case at all now and the forum is full if top people who know the car and it's foibles.

I would say you have to set your expectations. If you have low or no car experience a p5 is a challenging place to start but it is just a car.

I hired mine out for tv work when I first got it and made enough money to buy a decent compressor, welder and pay for night school to learn to weld.

My car is a generally sound but scruffy example that had a lot of work done in the 80's. This means mediocre respray, enough welding to get through an mot etc.

In short it'll never be perfect but it's mine. I'm doing the resto work and have been for last 3 years after a 14 year lay up while I progressed career, got a house, got married, had a son etc.

I say grab all the books on offer through the club, study the forum and go for it!

All the best

Barry

[ennerdale]

Thanks Barry, it was really interesting to hear your story. No doubt at the beginning your car took second place to your family and career, I can see it was a question of priorities as time passed by. Being retired and much older than yourself, I probably have less future left ahead of me, so i want to make quicker progress to improving the car and enjoying it in restored condition whilst i still have the enthusiasm (and the licence!) to do so. Hence, i'm probably looking for a smaller restoration firm who know the model well, and can do most of ther work involved in stages, hopefully at reasonable rates. My current abilities do not extend beyond basic 'nuts & bolts' servicing and repairing light damage to bodywork, so the work needed is beyond the scope of my abilities. I shall definitely take your advice to get hold of all the material I can to understand and learn more about my P5B Coupe,- it was the car I drooled over but could not afford when in its' heyday. It still has great pomp and I can't wait to get cracking on the resto, so once again I'm asking for recommendations from any club members who have personally used restorers familiar with the marque in the yorkshire area. Surely, they must exist!

[Pete Collins]

Aug 14, 2012 20:26:40 GMT ennerdale said:

Thank you for your suggestions to get my P5B in shape. Unfortunately my area rep. is unwell at present and is completely unavailable. So if there are any club members out there in Yorkshire who are owners of this model and have trodden the restoration path themselves, please let me know! I need someone who has the time and the experience of working on the P5B, either mechanically or bodily, or preferably both. I can be reached on 07736 010095. Thank you!

Hi All
As Jonty has said the Yorkshire regional rep Richard Yates is unavailable at the moment and has stud down, our previous regional rep for the area is feeling a lot better after a bypass operation and is taking the area on once again until Richard is well.
So anyone wanting to contact the Yorkshire rep ring Mervyn Dickinson 01924 862838

[ennerdale]

Thanks to everyone for your responses, gratefully received and i shall post some pics as work progresses!

[bebopdeluxe]

Good luck. We will hold you to posting those photos ;D