Bop-Bop-Bop...

Phil Robson

Well-Known Member
I have finally got 'BOP' back from its almost 3 year sojourn at a friend's garage & will be hopefully getting it on the road over the next few months. I'll post as often as I can although I expect it will be done in 'fits & starts' as these projects often are! Before then, I'll just give some background:

BOP 499K is a Birmingham - registered first season V8S in Zircon Blue with Ebony ambla boxpleat interior. Chassis number is 48100732A & it was registered on 13 January 1972. The car was local to me in the '90s & was always kept in super condition back then, with no expense spared.

In 1999 the car left the area after a friend bought it; ten years later he passed away & kindly left me BOP in his will! Unfortunately it was now in a very poor condition as I found when I recovered it from my friend's barn (Yes - another 'barn find!).

Here it is when I first saw it again in 2009:


The car actually had an MOT, but when I drove it home it had NO rear brakes! The pads weren't even scraping the rust off the discs!

As we all know, this would be just the tip of the iceberg! If the brakes were poor, the sills were non-existent (poorly 'repaired') yet it passed another 2 MOTs before the tester's yellow chalk circled too many areas to mention.....
 

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Hopefully this will be a quicker project than a previous one, Phil! :wink:

Seriously though, I can see this is another labour of love for you given the history you have with the car. Keep us updated when you can, please.

And good luck! :)

Stan
 
..after dragging it out...


& a few of BOP's fellow inmates before the auction:
 

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The world is made of dust! Many references to it, whether Cosmic dust or Fictional (Golden Compass dust ) but the damned stuff seems to be every where wouldn't be a problem except for Dust Rust :( . The trouble with all these barn finds is that they invariably mean a complete panel respray due to the dust causing surface rust. Carcoon seems to be the only sure fire way of long term storage (or similar).

Always nice to have a photo record of your cars time with you

Graeme
 
Had a look at BOP at home today - the three P6s together after a long wait:


Still some work to do; both front wings for a start!
 

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Still looks good from a distance - it shows how pictures can deceive!

I've got a fair bit of work to do, but the hard graft has been done at my friend's garage. After doing 3 other P6s' sills (the sharkstooth's were non-existent :shock: ), I farmed out the bulk of the work on this one & just have a bit of tidying up to do. The n/s was done in the traditional way by using a pattern middle sill & floor edge repairs, however the o/s was far worse.

Before this side was started, I came across a complete o/s floor & sill section on ebay which seemed like a good idea to save a lot of work; I ended up with it for about £70 delivered!

To be honest, I then had serious doubts about how this part was going to be fitted without destroying the integrity of the car :? . I certainly wouldn't have had the b**ls to do it myself! When I saw it like this...

...I sincerely hoped my welder friend knew what he was doing!

I'll pause here so you can catch your breath back :D
 

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Phil Robson said:
I'll pause here so you can catch your breath back :D

No chance of catching my breath, I'll be running in the opposite direction as fast as I can either that or rolled up in a catatonic ball on the floor.
Sights like that are the reason there is such a thing as repressed memory syndrome.


Graeme
 
This was the section I bought to weld in:

It was virtually mint apart from a tiny hole at the back & some light surface rust. Regardless of this, I was still rather nervous about getting a duff car back!

Anyway, fortunately my friendly welder was well up to the job & I'm very pleased with the results :D :

I had all sorts of thoughts about doors not closing properly, odd panel gaps etc, but the work is fortunately truly superb & everything is as it should be.
 

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The piece was butt, spot & plug welded as appropriate, with staggered cuts in the pillars etc so that strength was not compromised. You can just see the weld along the floor:


No messing about with this area now:


Just needs paint...
 

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The n/s still needs some work, although it's now further on than in this picture:


This will be where I start to do my work. The inner wing needs plenty doing unfortunately.
Hopefully I can get it at least roadworthy by summer & get to a couple of rallies in it.
 

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Starting to look good now. Its very scary when all that metal is gone.
will be another rover p6 saved. Just shows as were seeing on many projects they can be saved in the right hands.
marcus
 
I've just unearthed this shot of the state of the driver's floor before it was replaced:


& again, how much was removed... :shock:


I haven't got round to any work on it yet; Hazel has a small repair to do first. It's in the same place, but I'm sure it won't be quite as involved :D
 

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