Eric the Half a Bond

[barrett]

A few weeks back, during one of my semi-regular 'Bond Equipe' ebay searches, I noticed a local parts car with a very low start prince. Went up to have a look one evening after work, and the condition of the shell convinced me to have a low bid and see what happened.

Naturally, I won the thing. I finally got round to collecting 90% of it on Saturday in a hired van...

 

It wasn't really a car, just the body, chassis, engine, gearbox, suspension, wheels and bulkhead. I had gone up a couple of weeks ago and spent some time unbolting the few bits that were bolted together to make moving it easier, but it more or less looked like this when we arrived

1965 Bond Equipe GT4S by barrogance, on Flickr

 

 

After about 25 minutes, it looked like this...

 

And an hour later it was all packed up and ready to go

 

That's the whole thing, minus the engine/gearbox which we couldn't lift high enough to get in the back. It's amazing what you can get in the back of a Transit!

 

The plan is to cut my wobbly, accident-damaged shell off and pay somebody to do the thanksless task of bonding this new shell onto my floorpan. The paint is crazed and chipped in a couple of places, but it's definitely good enough to polish up and keep, I'll just get my doors/bulkhead sprayed to match. A shame in some ways as it changes my plans for the car slightly, but I hate shiny cars and I'd much rather have something in original paint if possible.

The chassis is 100% rot free and part of me wants to build it up to a really good standard and then transfer everything on my car over to that... but I almost certainly won't be arsed. Plus I have no room to do any work now, my entire garage is filed with a dismantled car. I forgot to take a photo of that so you'll have to take my word for how silly it looks.

[rml2345]

Good to see the Bond is getting some progress, even if it's the purchase of another half a Bond to keep it company. 

[garethj]

Excellent work!  If the chassis is in good nick you can always punt it on to Herald / Vitesse owners and claw some of your money back.

[HillmanImp]

Whilst i am not there from what you say would it not have been a lot to transfer the good shit from your car to this one? You do allude to it but if this already has a good chassis and body Shirley it would have been easier to swap the mechanicals over? Or have i missed something? That sounds easier than swapping the body to me. There is not exactly a lot to fit to one of these.

 

Edited due to not reading draft on my phone properly in the first place.

[Cavcraft]

Great stuff, and the Transit shot is just brilliant. That blue colour suits the car very well imho.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Toilet blue, love it

[coalnotdole]

Great to see how well it fits inside the van, I love how neatly these come apart. I assume you must be pretty much there parts now?

[Micrashed]

Go on, admit it - you all sat there singing the thread title in your head didnt you?

[eddyramrod]

To what tune?  Champion the Wonder Horse perhaps?

[scruff]

Nice one - original paint is for winners

[Micrashed]

To what tune?  Champion the Wonder Horse perhaps?

[lovejoy]

Shirley, the tune should bee half of the John Barry theme to 003 and a half?

Barrett, you need to change your name to "James", methinks....      

[HillmanImp]

Barrett, you need to change your name to "James", methinks....      

 

Or Basildon?

 

[garethj]

I've always thought of Barrett as more like Eddie Shoestring

[Sigmund Fraud]

Great work and that Transit picture has to be calendar material !

 

Those Bonds are brilliant... At roughly the same time when messers Lombardi, Ghia, Zagato etc. were employing aging craftsmen to make beautiful coachbuilt coupes out of mundane sedans, 'Sean Connery' was busy unbolting Herald body panels and replacing them with hastily designed chunks of fibreglass to make his own premium* sportscar* !