Managing Director – Bridge Classic Cars
The 1969 Bentley T1 which has been in with the Bridge Classic Cars paint and body team has now been completed!
What started as a pretty standard respray on the classic Bentley quickly evolved into repairing and perfecting some previous repairs to the car which did not have the car’s best interests at heart. So, the team got to work.
After stripping down the classic Bentley in our preparation area, the team discovered a huge amount of body filler had been used on the rear quarter panels of the car to regain the shapes needed for the panel. Chris, one of our technicians, spent multiple hours just getting rid of the layers of filler to expose the raw metal buried underneath. Then, as they moved forward on the car, the front driver’s wing gave up its secret. An enormous dent/crack in the metal itself had been hidden under thick layers of filler. Before the car could be repainted, this had to be addressed.
The team managed to source a replacement wing for the iconic car. This needed some finessing and repairs but was a better starting point than the original. With this now on the car and lined up, it was back over to the paint and body team to finesse and perfect the panels and lines of the car before heading into our in-house paint booth for its first coats of primer.
Several rounds of primer, minimal filler and sanding work were done over several weeks to get the glorious Bentley back into shape. Then, it was time for colour.
The paint team perfectly matched the original Sage Green colour of the car in our mixing shop before laying it carefully and precisely across the body as it would have been done when the car was originally built. Taking the same care and attention to detail, if not more, than her original builders to ensure this T1 looked perfect. Colour sanding, polishing, more sanding, more polishing. All necessary to give the deep richness needed for a colour as synonymous with a classic Bentley as Sage Green.
Then, the team began the meticulous and precise task of masking up the Bentley to have its signature Coach Line applied down the lengths of the car. With that final piece done and the car put back together, it will soon be time for her to head home.
So, we’ve put together a gallery to show the evolution of the project in the Bridge Classic Cars paint and body shop:
