Back to its core – stripping our 1973 Ferrari 246 GTS
June 27, 2024
The 1973 Ferrari 246GTS ‘Dino’ has been in the Bridge Classic Cars workshops for a few weeks now with the restoration team getting started on
ferrari restoration
Ferarri Daytona Update: Paint, Trim and Heater
March 25, 2021
Heater removal Scott has been taking out the heater in our Ferrari Daytona so that it can be re-wired and refurbished. Trim The trim restoration
Daytona Dash, Trim And Suspension
March 18, 2021
Lydia and Brian have been working on various panels for the Ferarri Daytona. Lydia has taken off the original leather and the screws from the
Daytona Seats
March 3, 2021
Lydia has continued making the seats for our Ferrari Daytona. Now with a whole new colour pallet, this is more than renovating the seats, its
Daytona Goes Green
March 1, 2021
Our specialist classic car painter, Matt, has been working on spraying our Ferrari Daytona its new green colour. Having sat in primer, Matt could then
Daytona Details
February 24, 2021
The Ferrari Daytona is currently sat in primer and is being smoothed and prepared for its final paint step: the official colour. Before it can
Ferrari Daytona’s Looking A Little Green
February 12, 2021
The bonnet and doors have finished their blocking stage and been sent back into the paint bay to be primed. When the rest of the
Ferrari Daytona’s First Steps
January 14, 2021
Scott has been working on preparing the Daytona door frames by welding the bottom to correct the rust damage. He’s essentially grounding out the rotten
Ferrari Daytona’s Debut
January 8, 2021
We received the engine for our unique 1979 Arrow Ferrari Daytona Replica. This kit car is going to be a particularly large restoration with the
1979 Arrow Ferrari Daytona Restoration Begins
August 13, 2020
And so it begins, we cannot wait to begin work on our Arrow Ferrari Daytona restoration. This car will be treated to a new engine
Back to its core – stripping our 1973 Ferrari 246 GTS
June 27, 2024
The 1973 Ferrari 246GTS ‘Dino’ has been in the Bridge Classic Cars workshops for a few weeks now with the restoration team getting started on revitalizing this iconic sports car. Most recently, the car has been in with our body team aswell as our workshop teams to begin the process of repairing corroded and damaged sections of the car.
To begin with, the workshop team have been carefully removing all of the trims and accessories from the exterior of the car – making sure to catalogue and document each piece that is removed for the moment when it is ready to come back together in our brand new finishing workshop.
After that, the car could be transferred into our body shop for Chris and his team to begin the process of taking the cars paintwork back to reveal areas of corrosion and damage highlighted during the cars assessment. Most notably, the sills which have actually corroded all the way through in places along with other areas which will require the careful and delicate attention of our fabricator, also called Chris.
Ferarri Daytona Update: Paint, Trim and Heater
March 25, 2021
Heater removal
Scott has been taking out the heater in our Ferrari Daytona so that it can be re-wired and refurbished.
Trim
The trim restoration for our Daytona continues with Brian taking off any extra leather around the skirt of the seat, adding in eyelets for the headrest and pulling the leather over the side of the base onto the back. Lydia has been marking out and cutting new pieces of foam to glue onto the “inner” frame and glueing the foam in place and adding more foam padding to fill out the frame. Lydia has also pulled the cover over the frame and foam and glued the sides into place. She started with the calico strips that run around the edge, she then pulled it tight to get the shape of the seat. Once the seat frames were completed, she fitted the backboard and inner section into place.
Lydia also sanded down and re-covered the sills recently and then glued on new foam and leather.
Masked And Painted
The engine bay, bonnet, boot and wings have also been masked and painted, meaning that the exterior is now finished.
Daytona Dash, Trim And Suspension
March 18, 2021
Lydia and Brian have been working on various panels for the Ferarri Daytona. Lydia has taken off the original leather and the screws from the sun visor panel to clean the fibreglass, ready to be recovered. She has also been taking the covers and foam off the A, B and C posts and sanding off the old glue. She then glued on s fresh 3mm of foam before wrapping the posts in new stretchy vinyl. Brian has removed the old cover from ‘c’ posts, sanded and filled any fibreglass to make it smooth before recovering in new vinyl. He has also removed the cover from the ‘a’ posts and cleaned the metal so it’s ready to be recovered. He did the same for the B panel too. Brian then removed the cover from the rear window top bar and cleaned up the fibreglass. He added new foam onto the top bar and glued new vinyl onto the rear of the panel. He repeats this process on the a, b and c panels too.
Kath has been recovering the head rests with new updated modifications to make the head rests a slimmer design on the clients request.
Kath has made the skirt and clipped the four sections together in position before sewing all the parts together. After sewing the mock together, Kath could refit the foam. She then unpicked the skirt ready to cut out new parts to then sew together. Once all sewn together, Kath could place the cover over the frame to see how it’s going to fit. With a few modifications, the cover fits perfectly and the skirt folds over the back of the cover. For the inner piece, Kath drew around the centre of the foam, marked out new leather, clipped together the pieces and finally sewed them all in. Once she ensured it fit perfectly, she could assemble all the pieces. She repeated the process on the second headrest.
Lydia has also been working to make the centre rear carpet section. The original carpet was red, which she needed to remove first before cleaning all the glue off the base. She drew around the original pieces of carpet to make out the new template which she then cut out new leather from. Once this was done, she sewed around the edges of each carpet to bind, then glued around the surround section. She then glued the fabric into place.
James has just started making up a brand new bespoke dashboard out of fibreglass for our Daytona. This will be a detailed and difficult process but worth it in the end.
Scott has been working to add new springs into the front suspension. He is also working on removing the front cross member mount bolt which has seized. This eventually will be holding in the front suspension.
Daytona Seats
March 3, 2021
Lydia has continued making the seats for our Ferrari Daytona. Now with a whole new colour pallet, this is more than renovating the seats, its a total make over.
Lydia had to position the black insert strips onto the leather in the marked places for the squab covers and sew them into place. Lydia then punched holes out of the Insert Strips and stuffed scrim foam in-between the insert strips. She then sewed all round to seal them into place. She then sewed the middle strip between them.
Daytona Goes Green
March 1, 2021
Our specialist classic car painter, Matt, has been working on spraying our Ferrari Daytona its new green colour. Having sat in primer, Matt could then mask up the body, apply a base layer and then finish by applying the final colour. The doors, bonnet and boot still need to be done separately however we’re very excited to see this major development in the Daytona’s restoration.
Chris has also been working on the Daytona paint work and has sprayed many of the internal components black.
Kath has been working on the seats for the Daytona. Last week she rolled out and marked all the leather for two seat faces. Once she’d marked out the foam ready to stuff into the fluted panels, Kath cut the calico out so that all the seat faces were ready to be sewn together. All the parts for the seat face with the black strips were then laid out ready to be added to the frames.
Daytona Details
February 24, 2021
The Ferrari Daytona is currently sat in primer and is being smoothed and prepared for its final paint step: the official colour. Before it can be painted, it needs to be masked. We hope to see the shell painted by the end of the week which will mark an exciting milestone in this restoration.
Here are some examples of different stitching options for the interior of the Daytona. The trim is set to be a similar tone of green to the exterior.
Scott has also been continuing his welding to the front subframe of the Daytona. The bottom of it was heavily damaged so he cut the damaged area out and straightened the supports inside. He then, cleaned up the rust inside and treated it by applying a zinc primer. Scott then fabricated a new panel and welded it in. Finally, he dressed the welds so it was ready to go to paint.
Ferrari Daytona’s Looking A Little Green
February 12, 2021
The bonnet and doors have finished their blocking stage and been sent back into the paint bay to be primed. When the rest of the body is finished, Scott and Chris will do the same to the body which has been masked.
Chris has also added epoxy onto some of the components and primed them for black DTM (direct to metal).
Ferrari Daytona’s First Steps
January 14, 2021
Scott has been working on preparing the Daytona door frames by welding the bottom to correct the rust damage. He’s essentially grounding out the rotten parts before we send it off to chrome.
Here’s a closer look at the Daytona engine we have sat here waiting to be installed. This huge piece of machinery is what gives the Daytona its iconic power.
Tom has been stripping down the rear axel by cleaning and preparing it to be refurbished.
Scott has removed and repaired the sash on the door glass as it was rotten. It was then painted it and bonded it back onto the glass. Scott then cut any rotten bits out of the door frame and welded in some new metal and then got it ready for chrome. Scott has also removed the door handles and got them ready for chrome.
Scott has also removed the complete front axle assembly and the radiator to start checking over to see what needs to be refurbished.
Here’s the rest of the work Scott has been doing to the Daytona:
Ferrari Daytona’s Debut
January 8, 2021
We received the engine for our unique 1979 Arrow Ferrari Daytona Replica. This kit car is going to be a particularly large restoration with the process expected to take a while but we know for certain it will be worth it!
Ant, one of our fabricators has been working on stripping the body. It originally had a lot of stickers on the side which have now been taken off, allowing ant to prepare underneath for new paint. The current plan for this Daytona is to be painted Green – stay tuned!
This is what it looked like before we started the stripping process:
One of our technicians, Scott, has also been stripping down the Daytona by focusing on the doors and removing all chrome and lights.
Scott has also been working on the removal of the complete exhaust system and rear axle which will be refurbished.
Tom, another of our Classic Car Technicians has been sorting all the parts, which are a mix of new and old. He has ordered and filed all the components so we know what we have and if we need to get anything else. It also allows us to see which bits need refurbishing and cleaning.
1979 Arrow Ferrari Daytona Restoration Begins
August 13, 2020
And so it begins, we cannot wait to begin work on our Arrow Ferrari Daytona restoration.
This car will be treated to a new engine rebuild, full respray, interior restoration and any other nessasary works to get her back on the road.
The original Jaguar V12 engine currently in the car has blown. There has been a replacement Jaguar V12 engine sourced, which has been restored a number of years ago. Before it goes back into the car it will be sent down to to Rushden engineering, specialists in V12 Jaguar engines for a complete rebuild.
