| The doors have now been removed from the DS to prepare them for paint. The DS makes this easier than most other cars as the panels are all unstressed and fairly easy to remove. It also makes a colour change easier as the underlying chassis is black and its only the removable panels that have colour. The doors were in pretty good shape. They had much better paint than the wings and the boot/bonnet. There were a few older dents and so on and a bit of filler, but no real damage. At some point in its life, the […] The repairs to the DS continue to progress well. The crash damage is now repaired and the new parts I was able to get for the car have all been fitted and seem to fit well. They will now be removed for painting. The restored bumpers and NOS bonnet look great! It looks like a car again. The reproduction undertray and number plate panel also fit well and will look great once painted. The old bumpers now lie twisted on the ground next to the car, having taken the brunt of the impact. The car seems to […] Back in September last year, I unfortunately crashed my DS. Since then, I was able to track down a NOS bonnet, some good used bumpers and other parts and strip the rear of the car. The cars paint was faded so instead of having the repairers match faded paint, I will pay extra to repaint the whole car. My current plan is to change the colour of the car from Rouge De Rio (Rio Red), a 1971 colour to Rouge Cornaline, which was offered in 1969 and other years. The Rio red is almost and orangey red and I prefer […] The Mercedes-Benz museum is the best of the manufacturer museums I have been to. I was able to visit the new museum in 2008, which was a couple of years after it opened, replacing the old museum. I was already very impressed with the old museum and this new one was a big leap ahead. Of course the rich heritage Mercedes-Benz has helps as many cars that would get prime position in pretty much any other manufacturers museum struggle to find space here. The museum has various rooms based on themes and so some of the cars that you get […] The current Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart opened in 2006, but it wasn’t new. There was a previous Museum that was replaced. The previous Museum was smaller, but it was still an excellent museum. It featured the most famous cars like the 30s F1 cars, the 500K, Gullwing etc. I was able to visit the old Mercedes-Benz Museum back in 2003 and recently uploaded the photos. Of course, this was almost 15 years ago, and digital cameras were still in their infancy. The quality of the photos is therefore fairly poor, but the cars speak for themselves. Visiting this museum was […] The Gilmore museum is one of the worlds best car museums. I was able to visit back in 2010 when I lived in Michigan and it was a highlight. A friend of mine and I took a trip there in my E-Type, a nice 2 hour drive from Detroit. The museum is located in Western Michigan, about half way between Detroit and Chicago. It has a varied collection, but is especially known for its collection of Pierce-Arrows. Pierce-Arrow were a leading supplier of luxury automobiles alongside the likes of Packard, Duesenberg, Peerless and others. Like many of these makes, they […] In 2010 I attended the Concours d’Elegance of America, at Meadow Brook hall. This is still the best concours event I have ever attended. I was living in Detroit, Michigan at the time and the event was held in the Detroit suburbs. The Detroit location also meant that there were various concept cars and other rarities that may not be at other shows. The event is no longer held at Meadow Brook hall, but is still in the Detroit suburbs. I was able to visit again in 2018. Some of the highlights for me included: The matching pair of Bugatti […] | |
