This is part ten of a series of posts on the automotive restoration of this 1931 American Austin. Part One of auto restoration describes the history of the Austin and presents photos of the car before any restoration work. Part Two of auto restoration shows the condition of the Austin after return from media blasting and describes the donor chassis. Part Three of auto restoration covers the restoration of the chassis and mechanical parts. Part Four of auto restoration begins covering the metal work part of the restoration and talks about starting the new floor construction. Part Five of auto restoration follows on the floor rebuild and presents photos of the tunnel damage and restoration. Part Six shows how we made the left-hand floor from scratch using a pattern from the right. Part Seven continues the description of the floor rebuild, covering the upper end of the floor. Part Eight continues showing how the left floor half was made from scratch and grafted into the tunnel to complete the floor.  Part Nine describes how the rear end of the American Austin was cut apart to make structural repairs to the tail panel.

 

This post looks at repairing the tail end of the spare wheel housing panel flange to take our newly restored tail panel in Post Nine.  Patterns and measurements  are taken before the original metal is removed to aid profiling new material.

Photos of American Austin rear structural auto restoration

A new flange will be made and grafted in to replace the weakened original showed here.

 

New flange created and offered up the the rear body of the Austin.

 

Profile set and clecos used to hold in position.

 

Restored tail panel set in position to aid setting of new sheet metal.

 

TIG welding takes place after being tacked into position.

 Auto Restoration : Completed flange restoration – ready for next stage

Metal finished.

 

 

Tail panel is now ready to be spot welded to the new flange.

 

This is part ten of a series of posts on the automotive restoration of this 1931 American Austin. Part One describes the history of the Austin and presents photos of the car before any restoration work. Part Two shows the condition of the Austin after return from media blasting and describes the donor chassis. Part Three covers the restoration of the chassis and mechanical parts. Part Four begins covering the metal work part of the restoration and talks about starting the new floor construction. Part Five follows on the floor rebuild and presents photos of the tunnel damage and restoration. Part Six shows how we made the left-hand floor from scratch using a pattern from the right. Part Seven continues the description of the floor rebuild, covering the upper end of the floor. Part Eight continues showing how the left floor half was made from scratch and grafted into the tunnel to complete the floor.  Part Nine describes how the rear end was cut apart to make structural repairs to the tail panel.