LagondaNet

[david]

On the basis that a Lagonda shared is a problem halved (!), myself and Robert decided to by 13397.

A risky enough venture at the best of times but we bought it blind as well!

When it arrived, first impressions were mixed but underneath it all is a good car waiting to come out, we hope.

It only has 54,000 miles on it and the engine sounds fine and has good oil pressure too.

The car is very solid having had most of the usual weld repairs carried out.

It came with a number of useful spares and a recently fitted starter motor, new carpets and a retrimmed boot, new front tyres (Goodyear eagles) and 12 months MOT with 6 months tax.

The CRT screens are in fact an LCD replacement, being driven by the original computer and they start up by saying "Welcome to my video world". They don't work reliably and will have to go - we are in need of a challenge so will see if we can build up a set of CRT's for it from scratch.

It drives well but (and there's always a but), the paintwork is really bad, made worse for being in black, so after a weekends hard work the car is now stripped out ready for a bare metal respray.

The good news is that no real horrors were exposed during the strip down but now the paint is of the boot and bonnet, it is clear that some repairs will be required where corrosion and accident damage (and a hole drilled in the boot lid!) have occurred. - The front of the bonnet is in a bad way, it had just been bodged up with a load of filler, new metal is required.

The plan is to paint it, put it back together and sort out the screens, air con and whatever sundry electrical faults there are and have it on the road hopefully well before LagondaV8 2011.

http://s878.photobucket.com/albums/ab343/dmgarage/13397/?albumview=slideshow

[Lagondanet]

Excellent pictures David. Keep them coming on all of your projects. I shall keep my fingers crossed that you will get it finished as it would be good if you could take 3? cars to France next year.

[Keith]

Was this car purchased from Essex? It looks very familiar to a car that used to be parked on a road that was on my route home from work a few years ago.

On a much more selfish note: I hope that you are not intending to buy any more Lagonda's as you might not have any spare room in your garage to work on my car in January. LOL.

[david]

The glass needed to come out to paint the car, also when the headlining was removed, it became obvious that there were some water leaks too.

Those of you with a nervous disposition - look away now!

Bolstered by the fact that the rear screen is £1133.00 plus VAT, the front screen is £1063.00 plus VAT and the roof glass is unavailable (!) it was with trembling hands that I started to remove the screens.

None of the surrounds wanted to lift so I called Julian and Ossi (the former becuase he has done this and the latter as his car has had the screens out) to see if I was missing anything - regrettably I wasn't and words like very difficult, just work through it and take your time, followed by best of luck, were the main theme. Julian added further to my concern about this job by saying that he did not even have second hand rear or roof glasses.

I had no choice, they needed to come out and as I was not sure of the construction, I ordered a sample from AM to see how the surrounds fitted.

They are essentially a "T" section, pressed into the bonding mastic so are sealed in very tightly.

You can no longer get the one piece surrounds from AM, they come in six foot lengths that need to be both bent and cut to shape - more stress if the originals are damaged on the way out!

Some hours later, the roof glass and rear screen came out with no damage but the front screen broke, almost at the end of the job - annoying (and expensive) to say the least. Whether it was overconfidence or just a weakness maybe from a stone chip I don't know. At least all the surrounds are OK. I think I will get a remanufactured screen from Julian as it is more cost effective.

The job is bad enough when they come out for a respray as I did not have to worry about damage to paint work but doing them on a good car will be even worse which is why I am not looking forward to taking out the leaking roof glass on 13380.

Even using a block of wood to spread the load does not prevent a degree of deflection of the roof panel, almost unavoidable in prising out the surround but no damage appears to be done. - I'll wait for the body shop to shout at me!

Both electrical connectors to the heated rear screen were broken and judging by the condition have been for some time. I am not sure what we will do to repair this but I'll work something out as it does not warrant paying for a new screen. The way the wire is laid over the seal means the rear screen is not completely bonded to the car but in truth, the odds of water migrating up the connector are very slight indeed.

I now need to do this job on 13150 and 13501 - but a (very) large brandy first, I think!

http://s878.photobucket.com/albums/ab343/dmgarage/13397%20Glass%20removal/?albumview=slideshow

[peacorp]

[Keith]

Hi David

Yes, That's the place. I used to look at it with very envious eyes each time I passed it.

Have you moved since as I have not seen it for a couple of years?

Keith

[peacorp]

[Keith]

Hi David

No, I have not thought about going to a meeting as I am not an AMOC member.

Maybe I will get a chance to have a closer look at your car at this year's Lagonda Festival in Brittany, or possibly earlier if the suggested springtime / early summer mini UK meeting becomes a reality.

Keith

[peacorp]

[Keith]

Thanks for the invite. I may well take you up on that offer.
I will send you a PM in advance when I do.

[Lagondanet]

[peacorp]

[Keith]

And for those of you who are wondering what a Paddington stare is all about.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2005/jan/19/buildingachildrenslibrary.booksforchildrenandteenagers