Into this
And I hope to document it here.
Yes, I am under orders from my wife to have our Anglia repainted and ready to go (flying optional) before the next Harry Potter movie and book come out in July.
We’ve had the Anglia for several years now, and it was always the plan to get it fixed up and repainted to look like the flying car from the Harry Potter series. Now it’s come down to the wire and I’ve just gotten started.
Since time and money are of great importance, I decided to do all the work myself. I should probably mention at this point I have done very little body work, and never painted a car myself. I have picked up and hammer and dolly set and am planning on getting a larger air compressor and paint guns.
I started yesterday, and figured first on my list should be to remove all the trim. Heck I’ve seen them completely strip and repaint a car during a 1/2 hour TV show, how hard can it be.
Well, so far I have managed to get one bumper off, and a turn signal loosened. The bumper was the easy part. Once I started working on the grill and turn signals I realized the entire underside of the car had been undercoated, with what can best be described as inches of dirt and tar.
Luckily, I thought to use my trusty heat gun to loosen it up so I could search for the fasteners holding everything on. Once I got the turn signal removed I could not figure out how to disconnect the wires easily, since they are covered in tar and look pretty fragile. So I think I am just going to tape it up and carefully leave it in place and paint around it.
I also need to get new tires, since I am pretty sure the ones on the car are from the late 60’s early 70’s. Though oddly they are still in really good shape. I am going to post in the For Sale section if somebody wants them for free. The original tires are 6.50 – 13. From what I have found online that converts to the following sizes:
P175/75R13
P175/80R13
P185/70R13
P195/65R13
P195/60R13
P215/50R13
Does anybody have a suggestion on what would be close to the original or look the best?
The biggest problem with the car is the fenders/wings near the door. The had rusted out and were repaired very badly. When I first bought the car, I figured I could just buy reproductions and bolt them on. FIRST I found out the reproductions from the UK are very expensive, and shipping would almost triple the price. THEN I found out that the fenders are not bolted on but welded in place. I read on another board that if removing the fenders, you either ruin the fender or the car. So think I am just going to patch them up the best I can with fiberglass and/or bondo.
Well, hopefully I’ll have more to post tomorrow or the day after!
-James