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Car Restoration

As the value of Vintage and Historic race cars has increased, we are continually asked to bring some of them back to life. This process usually involves considerable work, but the result is well worth it. The ages have taken their toll on the condition of many of these important cars and parts must now be thoroughly cleaned and reconditioned to be made like new once more. We have been quite successful in this endeavor, though, and our clients keep asking us to restore cars for them. Here are two examples which are under restoration in our shop at this time. Scroll down the page to see the Fiat Abarth 750 Allemano.

Lola T-640 Formula Ford

Young Michael Andretti ran a 1981 Van Diemen as his fist race car that year to gain experience. The goal for 1982 was to win SCCA's Runoffs. For that purpose, Mario arranged with Carl Haas to bring two T-640 Lolas into the country as factory sponsored cars for Michael. They were chassis numbers HU-17 and HU-18. During the season #17 was crashed badly and written off. Another car was ordered so that Michael always had a spare car and chassis HU-28 arrived in Chicago. Number 28 was recently restored and sold to a new owner in Australia. We found HU-18 and are restoring it now. Look for it in SVRA and HSR competition in 2012. Here are some photos of the restoration in process.

Michael Andretti's Lola T-640 HU-18 at West Palm Beach in 1982

Same car in 2009 after a good steam bath. Average condition for a 27 year old car.

After dis-assembly, the Lola's frame was blasted and checked for cracks or other issues. No cracks were found but we did discover a couple of previous crash repairs which need attention. Those were repaired and the frame was powder coated in glossy black. The suspension was also powder coated. This process does tend to hide cracks but we found none and so expect no more. This finish is impervious to brake fluid and scratches. It adds to a beautiful restoration and will last for years.

Beginning Reassembly

New bodywork was ordered from TW Mouldings in England. When it arrived, it was fitted to the car. This process involves trimming numerous areas and adding body fasteners where required. The original body was repaired where needed and both were then painted in a brilliant red to replicate Andretti's original color.

Fitting Bodywork

The small parts can be a time consuming area of a restoration. A new belly pan was fabricated and the fuel cell reconditioned. A new aluminum radiator was obtained, the master cylinders and calipers cleaned and re-plated and the sheet metal work was reproduced. A NOS set of Fox shocks were found to replace the non-adjustable Bilsteins which came on the Lolas.

Working on the Front Half

The gearbox was inspected and freshened as necessary, the header blasted and Jet Hot coated and a new clutch installed. The engine still retained the original Scholar valve cover. When the car first came in, we started the engine. It sounded good and showed no obvious problems. We then did a leak down test which also showed good. We opted to try it as is, rather than to do a rebuild that may not be necessary.

Engine and Rear Suspension

Restoration of this historic Formula Ford is progressing well. Check back for more photos. It will be on track soon!

1959 Fiat Abarth 750 Allemano

This car was discovered in a storage unit in Florida among a stash of motorcycles. When we got it back to Texas, we began to realize that its condition was a bit rough. The floor pan and rocker panels under the doors were severely rusted and the aluminum body had been previously repaired with a lot of Bondo. Our goal is to bring the car back as close to the original 'as raced' condition as possible while using virtually no body filler. We stripped the car to the bare body and had it soda blasted and then removed all the Bondo. The aluminum panels are being reformed to the original shape and all the small parts have been cleaned and are awaiting new paint or plating as required. Steve Jennings Racing Engines is rebuilding the engine so it will be a screamer. Check back for new photos and progress reports.

Aside from being very dirty, we discovered areas all over the aluminum body which had been bashed in on the track and then covered over with filler. The flat area between the roll bar and engine compartment was pushed down probably because wheels or motorcycles had been stacked on it.

Fiat Abarth 750 Allemano as delivered

The roll bar in the car was made almost useless by the manner in which it was mounted. It also added little stiffness to a car which needs all it can get. The engine cover did not fit the opening. All in all, it is a project which will require a lot of work to bring it back to really nice condition.

Condition was a little rough.

After the car was completely stripped. we discovered the original color was blue. It was sent out for soda blasting to remove all the paint without harming the aluminum.

Soda blasting removed all the paint and rust but left the copious amounts of body filler which had been used to repair the aluminum body after some early 60s "rubbing" on the track. Josh Anderson removes it here.

Before replacing the original rusted out floor pans, we built a bolt-in structure to maintain the proper dimensions of the driver's compartment.

Check back for more reports as progress continues.