PLEASE NOTE - WE ARE SHIPPING TO MAINLAND UK ONLY

1963 327 Roadster Body Off and Repaint

Having had an inexpensive repaint some years ago, John's 63 roadster wasn't looking too sharp. Nothing a body off, repaint, new carpets, and a disc and power brake conversion couldn't fix...
  • 31st Aug 16

    the start of the project, the paint job was clearly inexpensive and hastily applied, but the car looked basically straight and together and a good candidate for refurbishment. Here the body gets prepped for lifting.

  • 1st Sep 16


  • 2nd Sep 16

    Some video prior to the body lift

  • 15th Sep 16

    With the body removed it was time to see what we had. It was pretty mucky and showing signs of some reasonably severe corrosion, considering the cars age I guess it is entitled to a couple of holes...

  • 16th Sep 16

    After the body is removed the chassis is given a hard steam clean and then all the suspension and drivetrain components are removed. Next job is to burn out all the suspension bushes, strip the trailing arms etc and get everything ready for sandblasting

  • 20th Sep 16

    The chassis and all ancillaries back from sandblasting. Once all the sand is blown out, everything is given two coats of primer and 2 satin black topcoat.

  • 1st Nov 16

    Whilst the chassis was away at the blasters we spent a bit of time on the body. Once the exterior paint was stripped we prepped the engine bay for paint and did a few small repairs to the inner wings.

  • 11th Jan 17

    Once the chassis came back to us, the next stage was to cut out the bad metal out and let in new repair sections. Looks like new again.

  • 20th Jan 17

    Once the repairs were finished the chassis was resprayed in satin black, along with all its components. The new suspension bushes were installed, trailing arms were rebuilt with new bearings and bushes, and we also fitted a later set of front hubs to convert this 63 to disc brakes at the front. At the same time we converted this one to power steering, both of these will make a massive difference to the driving experience of this car.

  • 27th Jan 17

    And back on its wheels once again. It always starts to feel like the homeward stretch now even though we are a long way from completion.

  • 30th Jan 17

    John wanted the engine to look a bit more stock, it had been modified in the past with an aftermarket intake and carburettor. We sourced and rebuilt a correct Carter AFB, and the correct intake manifold, fuel pump and lines, the engine was given a coat of orange and the manifolds blasted and dressed, correct distributor and leads installed. Starting to look like it should again.

  • 1st Feb 17

    The engine bay was given the satin black treatment and new a arm flaps installed. The new aluminium radiator with electric fan was fitted along with an auto switch. You can also see the new radiator expansion tank and the power brake conversion.

  • 4th Feb 17

    With that part of the job complete, the chassis was wax oiled inside and out and the engine and transmission installed, then the body was refitted. The panel gaps were all pretty good on this car and it was deemed an unnecessary expense to spend a huge amount of time improving them. The headlight internals were rebuilt and the housings bead blasted to remove the old paint that had hit everything inside them.

  • 10th Mar 17

    There were lots of smaller body repairs to take care of and as is often the way, these took longer than expected. This is the car just about to get loaded onto the transporter to go to the paint shop. Exciting stuff!

  • 21st Apr 17

    And here it is looking sharp, back in its original Silver Blue metallic.

  • 14th Jul 17

    Starting to take shape now. This is the time when all the previous hard and messy work starts to pay off and this once tired old girl starts to look brand new again. 

    You can almost picture it the day the first owner took delivery back in 1963....Can you imagine how that must have felt?!
    Here the re-chromed bumpers get installed, along with new emblems, lights and weatherstripping. The new wheels and tyres look great too.

  • 1st Aug 17

    The iconic 1963 only hood grilles fitted.

  • 3rd Aug 17

    New carpets getting installed, no mean feat on a 63....

  • 4th Aug 17

    We stripped the instrument binnacle and redid the black and silver finish, thats easier said than done! This shows the refurbished Dash installed, along with the repainted speaker grille and the lovely 1963 only acrylic glovebox door.

  • 7th Aug 17

    We're pretty much there now, just a few more small jobs to do.

  • 10th Oct 17

    The finished engine compartment. I love really clean engine compartments and it is one of the areas that seems to get ignored by a lot of people. Now isn't that just lovely!

  • 15th Oct 17

    The interior showing the refurbished dash and new carpets. The shift console is a later replacement that we refinished in the interior colour. Seats and door panels were cleaned and reinstalled. Seatbelts were redone with new webbing and buckles. Not a bad place to sit is it!

  • 24th Oct 17

    And we're done! The car looked lovely at the end of this, the colour combination is to die for, and with the power steering and power brake/disc brake conversion the car drove superbly. The only thing lacking is a 5 speed transmission, maybe next year eh John???