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

 

We round out the rear end restoration in this post with a freshly made upper floor panel and inner wheel arch restoration.

The flanges on the both lower areas of the inner arches were both decayed and misshaped due to the area being overstretched.  We removed these affected areas from the American Austin and replaced them with new metal as shown in the photos below on both inner arches.

The upper floor panel was totally rotted away on the lower right hand corner, we did contemplate repairing this area on the original panel, but decided the resulting panel would be structurally borderline at best.  A new panel was therefore made from scratch, which completed the rear end rebuild and restoration.

Photos of rear end American Austin antique car restoration

Weakened inner arch metal was removed.

 

New metal piece made and offered up to the wheel well.

 

Newly made section grafted in.

 

New metal in the right hand wheel arch.

 

…and metal finished.

 

Interior view of inner wheel housing and new repairs.

 

The upper floor panel needed a great deal of help. After careful assessment, we decided to make a new back panel.

 

Back panel created, now need to weld in to the rear end.

Completed rear end restoration – ready to join the rest of the American Austin

New panel positioned into place on the Austin.

Rear end completely ready for the rest of the body.

 

This is part eleven of a series of posts on the antique car 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 of the American Austin was cut apart to make structural repairs to the tail panel.  Part Ten presents the repair of the tail end of the spare wheel housing panel flange.