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American Austin
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Working the material to form beads to match pattern

1931 American Austin Restoration for Pebble Beach: Part 6

This is part six 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.

 

This post will describe the finishing of the right-hand floor rebuild and restoration.  The tunnel that runs down the middle of the floor first needed to be joined back to the right-hand floor.  A section of the floor near the rear wheel arch had to be repaired with new sheet metal.   The heavy duty work came in when we began the left-hand floor.  We took a pattern that was also used for the right-hand side, since they are symmetrical, as you can see in the photos below.  Then we hand chased the bead pattern into a piece of new sheet metal.  The final two photos show some of the structural components of the floor that we were able to rescue.  The next post will show how this all comes together to complete the floor restoration!

 

 Right-hand floor restoration

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Welding the new right-hand floor panel to the newly restored tunnel
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Completing a section on the end of the tunnel, which connects to right-hand floor.
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Close up angle of the TIG weld
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Metal finished: right-hand floor panel to tunnel
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Attaching the right-hand floor to front of the rear wheel arch
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Left-hand side tunnel repair

Patterning for a new left-hand floor

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Mapping out left-hand floor from a pattern used on right-hand side
automotive restoraiton, classic cars, vintage cars, unique cars
Working the material to form beads to match pattern
automotive restoraiton, classic cars, vintage cars, unique cars
Able to salvage the structural section of the left-hand floor
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Back end view of structural section: needs a little repair

 

This is part six 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.

For more information check out the automotive restoration services we provide at our workshop in Denver.