A Zagato like no other!

[akitaman]

Well now that the floors are done more or less it's time to focus on the perimeter of the car. The big objective to make the car strong enough to put on a rotisserie. Once on the rotisserie, the rust of the under side work will go fast. This week we focused on the front crossmember and framing. The damage up here was the very first thing I remember seeing when we started the project. Based on the way the metal had deteriorated I knew back them the cause was poor design. In other words, to many point where metal was lapping with no rust protection, packing and horse hair being used as a buffer where aluminum and steel meet. No Primers prior to paint. And that was for starters. Anyway, the level of damage was a bit hair raising but fixable.

Here can get a sense of what the challenge level is or was.

This is after the nose was removed.


Here's the back side of the nose (inner wheel arch behind the head lights driver side).




The first chassis locator point.


Bottom of the same point


The erosion of the aluminum skin that has come in contact with the steel framing.


The upper framing being removed


Once the crossmember was removed.


After sand blasting, the crossmember showed to have a lap repair on the ends.


Here Stephen is reproducing the ends of the crossmember on the bead roller with special offset dies that will be TIG welded to the member.


Here checking for fitment before welding.



Tig welding the new bits


After Tig welding final fitment was confirmed.




Next it was time to remove the tubular sections that are in need of replacement.




we will continue this soon.

[1750GT]

Daron, you've got great craftsmen working with you...you guys are re-creating these pieces in a manner not unlike the methods used back then by the coach builders of the day. Keep up the spectacular work guys!

[Taruffi]

Incredible!
I hope the owner is not becoming discouraged by all the corrosion.
It seems as you guys now are over the hump on this restoration?
Who is rebuilding the engine?
Any chance of a quick peek?
Cheers,
Tom G(Taruffi)

[cstlhn]

I love this thread! Great work!

David

[akitaman]

Hi Rossano! It's always great talking to you. Thanks for the kind words my friend.

Taruffi- yes the motor is being restored by a local Ferrari specialist. He is well known for these type of cars. I will be sure to cover that in time. Updating the BB has been a low priority to me as of late. We are in the middle of changing a lot of things at the shop. Removing situation that are not good for us, investing in new equipment and replacement of very valuable ex-employees. With these things in the works, BB updates has not been an option. Quite frankly, I would be working this very minute if the wife didn't put her foot down yesterday.

Hi David!- At times, I think the BB world gets really sick of our displaying of efforts. What we (here at the shop) do that turns us on, doesn't sometime seam all that big a deal to others.... or so I think. And maybe it isn't. But the set up to preform some of the small detail work is really rather difficult and requires a great deal of pre-planing and research. This resent effort for example required good planning. The old section was modified in the cars past. So we couldn't use that as being right. And it was far from right. We had to really study the attentions of the original before making the first cut. I also checked my 59' Flaminia GT to confirm our thoughts but it can be very stressful when building a extremely low number production car. Think God the owner is one of the best people I have ever worked with. BTW, thanks for the very kind words. We try very hard to honor the cars we work with.

[Subtle]

Good to see the progress. ++++++

[Dan Walker]

Daron- Speaking for myself, I never get sick of seeing your incredible carftsmanship in restoring, or in some cases, re-creating automotive masterpieces. I'm constantly amazed at what you can do, especially on a project like this Zagato. The rust and corrosion have taken such a toll on this car, and yet you are fabricating from scratch all the stuctures that will ultimately make this car better than new- and I'm sure you'll have given everything a better corrosion treatment than it ever recieved at the factory! Keep up the posts as you are able- we all learn a lot from your generous sharing of the processes you use, and the great attention to detail in keeping some otherwise doomed cars on the road and in appreciative hands. Thanks for sharing!

[ncundy]

Never stop posting your progress..please. These are not only a tremendous source of knowledge and reference for those of us who contemplate such a restoration, they are also fantastically interesting and provide both inspiration and understanding, as well as a demonstration of your obvious talents.

There are many threads on how we all enjoy driving our cars, but a shortage of threads on how they got to the position in which they could be enjoyed. And those threads on bodyshell restoration, IMHO the most demanding and important part of any restoration, are even thinner on the ground.

Tell your wife that you need to spend more time posting on the BB

As to your worry that the BB is getting fed up of your posts - this thread has over 26,000 views, more than twice the next highest, which says it all.

[78-AR-SPIDER]

Daron,
I never get tired of reading your posts! When your busy and there is time between your posts I go back and reread your threads.

Thank you for taking the time to show us the incredible work that you and your crew do.
I also want to thank your wife for allowing you the time do the posting that you do

[akitaman]

Hi gang. I'm glad there is some value in the treads. I really would like to show more of the stuff we are getting into. We have some very exciting stuff coming up. Race cars that will be almost as fun to build as the Pan-America super was, ultra light weight GTV racers, wide body builds, we even have a full conversion to aluminum car coming up. If it really works out I want to show our relationship with our key outside folks. We have a twin spark motor heading to the dyno soon (shooting for 200 h.p.), I would like to report on it if possible, we have a car getting ready to have some of the most advanced suspension works ever made for a GTV installed on it. Having time to write about it is difficult. We are also looking at other ways to make this information available to people. One thing were doing, is almost all the cars in the shop are going to have a private web sites dedicated to them for the owners and there friends. Some of the owners now have there sites. Others will be on line this week. We've talked about web cams. But that is something our lawyer friends shot down. The point is, I know I haven't been a good BBer lately. All I can say is, when we complete some of the changes in the works, remove relationships that have not been good for us, finalizing other things with in the shop, we should have time to show more. But for now I'll do what I can.

[rabhalter]

Daron,

In your last post you apologized for not being a good BB'er lately. On balance, I don't think you've got anything to apologize for. Yes, I was feeling withdrawl symptoms lately for lack of your posts, but I could never believe you had the time to post as much as you did. You must put in 22 hour days! Your posts are a great service to Alfisti and an inspiration to all who have looked at a rusty rocker panel or a bent fender and wondered what to do next.

Thanks much,

[Super1600]

Darron

Like all before who have commented on the amazing craftsmanship of yourself, and your team I can only concur. These restoration threads are what effectively hooked me to the BB.

Never fear we won't won't tire of them. As I previously said on another of your restoration threads I just wished we had someone like you and your team available here to help us/me.

I took my 1750 GTV out for a spin today, perfect weather, first time in 10 months and so enjoyable but boy the poor old girl needs work.

I too am simply amazed at just how much rust the Zagato had but am really pleased to see it being rescued. The owner is obviously in love with the car, and how could you blame him. It will be superb once finished.

BTW, I can't remember who mentioned re the red Flaminia Zagato here in Aus, but from memory, Malcom Fraser a previous Prime Minister back in the 70's used to own one, perhaps the same car. Dave

[akitaman]

Hi gang. Continuing with some of the repairs on the chassis locator points. This is the front, driver side unit being repaired.




And this would be the cut out and replacement.






And end results

[mbaum]

Very impressive, Daron. Thank God for your wife, that chases you out of the shop and in front of the computer to continue to share this.

It is good to see that more and more of the Flaminia Sports get top notch restorations: Bruce Miller's covered headlight car was spectacular in every aspect in Monterey this year and Tony keeps working on his series 1 as well (With a second one waiting ...).

Can't wait to see the finished result of this one

[akitaman]

M!!!! Hey my friend. The owner is once of those guys that is super smart about his vision. He doesn't get rattled, he wants what he wants and is focused on the brass ring. Very solid guy.

Dave, Bob- thanks for the kind words. We try really hard to do our best. And more times then not it works out.