This is part six of the automotive restoration series on this 1960 Ferrari 250GT PF Cab.  Part One describes the creation of a ‘measuring box’ to check the car body symmetry.  Part Two explains the creation of a new tail light housing.   Part Three illustrates patterning up the rocker panels.  Part Four looks at how the original rocker panels were dismantled.  Part Five covers the rocker panel build.

This post takes us to three separate areas of restoration on the Ferrari 250GT PF Cab: the rocker panel skin graft in, suspension pot restoration, and seat frame rebuilds.

The new rocker panel skin graft in rounds out a process covering the inner rocker structural rebuild.  Knowing that you have new metal inside your rockers for overall body/chassis strength and having confidence your body is not going to rot inside out through your brand new show paint is priceless.  Our final touches to the rocker skin include having placed spot welds in the original factory position, after photographing and noting locations before tear down.

The suspension pot was a restoration made easy with the addition of copper in the rebuild.  Welds do not stick to copper, so making a good support wall is necessary.  Checkout photos below on how we used the copper.

And finally let’s look at the seat frames.  The frames had gone through some poor historical repairs, resulting in bad posture whilst driving.  Pictures below show how we corrected this.

Ferrari 250GT Rocker Panel Photos

All inner sheet metal is painted with weld through primer for maximum rust protection and prevention.

Inner structural sections are now being welded to the Ferrari 250GT body in original factory positions.

New hand crafted rocker skin freshly made (with the guidance of our previously made templates) now cover our new inner structure.

Grafting in process. Tacked and TIG welded ready for the metal finishing process.

Now showing the rocker skin completely TIG welded in and metal finished.

Bottom flange under the rocker joined to the Ferrari body, welded in place and equally spaced just like the factory 250GT.

Final check with our templates for the correct profile.

Using our lower door hinge bracket jig that we created upon removal, we position the door hinge back into factory location.

Hinge welded into position after applying the copper color weld through primer.

Ferrari 250GT floor repairs

Onto the floor, where a few triangle sections were either decayed or damaged along with the chassis rails.

Triangle floor sections made and grafted in to restore the underside of the 250GT chassis.

Suspension pot restoration

Building our copper jig to aid welding the suspension pot wall.

Thin copper strip to maintain groove definition.

Suspension pot restored and ready for service.

Ferrari 250GT seat frame restoration

Poor repairs over time had resulted in an uncomfortable posture.

The frame backs had twisted over time and resulted in an uncomfortable sitting position. To remedy this we had to cut and re-twist the adjoining bar with the aid of a thread section in the center to dial in seat back squareness.

Restored seat frame with new metal and in correct working order, next to the un-restored seat frame.

This is part six of the automotive restoration series on this 1960 Ferrari 250GT PF Cab.  Part One describes the creation of a ‘measuring box’ to check the car body symmetry.  Part Two explains the creation of a new tail light housing.   Part Three illustrates patterning up the rocker panels.  Part Four looks at how the original rocker panels were dismantled.  Part Five covers the rocker panel build.

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