This is part nine of a series of posts on the auto 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 of auto restoration  shows how we made the left-hand floor from scratch using a pattern from the right. Part Seven of auto restoration  continues the description of the floor rebuild, covering the upper end of the floor. Part Eight of auto restoration  continues showing how the left floor half was made from scratch and grafted into the tunnel to complete the floor.

The following three posts cover the rear end of the American Austin rebuild and restoration.

In this post, we separate the entire rear half from the rest of the body and then turn the body upside down for ease of restoring. Again we discover decayed original sheet metal in the tail panel that we replace with new metal after patterning. Aged splits and stress cracks in the body are TIG welded and repaired.

American Austin Rear end auto restoration photos

Work begins on the rear end of the body.  This is the inside of the rear panel that holds the spare tire.

 

Rear tail panel now removed and ready for restoration.

 

Tail panel flange badly decayed and in need of new metal.

 

Stress cracks around the rear bumper brackets.

 

Bumper bracket now removed and showing evidence of damage.

 

Decayed, stressed, and cracked metal now cut away and removed from the rest of the body.

 

New metal piece grafted in.

 

Restoration in progress. Decayed metal on the bottom also removed and replaced with new metal.

 

Metal finishing the newly grafted in section.

 

Bumper bracket location pilot holes drilled.

 

New bottom section created and ready to graft in.

 

 

New bottom section TIG welded into position.

 

Various splits and tears throughout repaired.

 

Final restoration photo

Tail panel now restored and ready to put back together with the Austin body.

 

This is part nine of a series of posts on the auto 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 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.