The 'E' Type Forum

Hello,

I'm Simone, please to meet you all.

I'm in the very fortunate position to have grown up with a Series 1 E-type Roadster, 4.2, 1966, Carmen Red.
It was bought by my father and his uncle back in 1966 and has been part of the family ever since. It has been kept in Italy for the past 30 years. My dad is now 82 years old and although still in fine form, touch wood (knock, knock), is starting to need help looking after the car.
I thought I would join this forum finally. I have been using it passively to gather information and now thought I might as well join and participate.

A little about the car:

It's in fundamentally in good condition, but needs a fresh lick of paint and some tlc all around. This year we are planning on getting Italian plates put onto it, so it can be driven on public roads properly and legally once again. This is the part that has been bothering me a little.
I hate to see the original plates go as it's such an original example and I feel it would be losing something, maybe I'm wrong.
Thanks to this forum and the very knowledgable members you all are, I have spoken with Ace Peak Plates and inquired whether they could create an original looking rear plate but manufactured with Italian numerals, as found on a modern plate in the style of the original relieved white lettering (if that makes sense). Ace have been 'ace' and very helpful and said they can. This in part makes me feel more comfortable with the whole thing and will confidently go down that route. In truth, I don't have much choice, short of taking it back to the UK every year for its MOT.
The other niggle I have is on the re-spray. It's Carmen Red. From the forum and various other research, I understand you can't just turn up at the painters and request a coat of Carmen Red as it no longer exists as such. Is it a case of matching by eye with the best remaining bits of paint on the car? Any advice, would be very well received, thank you. I've also been thinking it would be nice to re-spray the exterior parts, but leave the interior parts ie: underside of bonnet and engine bay with the original paint in order to retain some originality. Is this the done thing? Or am I in danger of creating a monster? Once again, any advice would be great. You may have gathered that I'm no expert, but trying to learn more and more as I go.
I hope I'm not too inexperienced for this forum and thank you in advance for your patience with me!

Thank you,

Si

Hi Simone

Welcome to the forum. As you already know let's a lot of help on offer out there. Others with more specific knowledge will I'm help on the paint matching, I had mine resprayed after someone hit it and had to do the whole car to make it match.

Put some pictures up please when you can.

John

Hi John, Thank you. As soon as my cousin sends them to me, I will. Thanks, Si

Hi again John,

Sorry the pictures aren't ideal, but I think they show the state of the paint well. The sun has had its go at the paint over the years and from what I know, red is affected by sun damage more than most.

Simone, welcome to the forum. Lots of friendly and helpful advice here. There are a couple of people on here in Italy, I'm sure they may be able to advise.
One thing is that your car is now old enough not to need an MOT, whether that'll encourage you to keep it on UK plates is up to you. Also, if you want to keep the old registration number you can hold it on retention, not expensive.

If the car hasn't been driven for a while then please think of some routine maintenance. Tyres, brake pads and fluids may all need replacing. Also a good check for rust in difficult to check places will help you feel it is all in safe roadworthy condition.

A respray can be expensive, depending on how thorough you want to do it. Removing all chrome, etc. to do it well. A detailer can often revive old paint (think t-cut, but much more refined and comprehensive) and that will give it the look of an old, but well loved car. That might be a way to go.

Keep in touch with the forum to share your thoughts and be careful of going to so-called classic car mechanics who don't really understand E Types. You've got a lovely car and we all want you to enjoy many more years of ownership.

Good luck

Geoff

PS, no-one is too inexperienced for this forum. We all learn something about the cars and the people on here have helped someone like me when new to ownership

Hello and welcome, Simone.

Just a thought from me but why not try to restore the paint that's on the car? If it is the original paint then you are among a very small group of owners that have cars with original paint and probably interior too. Many people would far rather have an original unrestored car with some blemishes than a heavily restored shiny trailer queen.

All that said, it's your car and you can do whatever you like with it but remember that a car is only original once.

I hope you have many years of enjoyment from your car, which is truly stunning.

Regards

Welcome from me too Simone. Your car is incredibly rare being in the same ownership since new. I think it would be fantastic if it's possible for you to keep the original paintwork, just carefully polish it. What is the state of corrosion? How much has the car been altered since it was new? If it is relatively unmolested AND in good condition, i.e. a true "survivor", that is a priceless car to have.

Simone wrote: ↑

Fri May 18, 2018 10:03 am

This in part makes me feel more comfortable with the whole thing and will confidently go down that route. In truth, I don't have much choice, short of taking it back to the UK every year for its MOT.

Simone - you make an interesting point about MOT. You may not be aware of this , but , by a complete coincidence , as of this weekend , your car, having been first registered in the UK in 1966 , no longer requires an MOT test, although it can be submitted voluntarily. On that basis, the question arises whether it is now legal to drive it in Italy as a UK registered vehicle. You may want to consider this, as it would save you a great deal of trouble in re-registering it etc

Hello everyone and thanks for the invaluable advice and information on the above, I must admit some of it moved me. I didn't quite realise what we had on our hands. We shall have to think long and hard before restoring it in any way. It would be great if we could give it a very good professional polish and see what that achieves. I wasn't aware of the new MOT rules either, so thanks for that too, invaluable and will hopefully save a lot of red tape!

If there is no visible rust I would recommend delivering to a detailer. From the pictures this is not that bad and can pretty good after a professional have had their time with it.
Also if there is dents they can mostly be fixed without any traces of it afterwards.
1owner and original paint in good condition is something that is rare