Packed away

After 3 years in Cornwall, Jemima was rolling again with lots of new metal but it was time to return from whence we came.

She was packed in a van with all the usual household stuff and rolled into her new garage the next day.

Not a lot happened for a few years, except I would spot some rust and rub it off, and paint it, then some time later it would come back again, so it was rubbed off, again, and painted.

Once the house was finished, and I had rested, redecorated the house, and rested again, I ventured back into the garage for some serious work on Jemima.

The underneath was sealed, the back axle cleaned and painted, wings fitted and a new bonnet was bought (and not fitted).

This activity didn't last long.

And then we moved house again.

Stripped naked...

Jemima was stripped naked, and all her rust was exposed. It may have been a bigger job than I originally thought but it doesn't explain the 20 year time scale.

Over a few years her bits and pieces were cleaned and bagged, lost, found, lost again or distributed all over the house.

The rusty bits were then replaced with non-rusty bits. Many new panels were used in this lengthy period of bashing and welding. In those days, a new complete bodyshell wasn't available. Now it is - although not in the MkII form. It may have been an easier starting point, but it wouldn't be Jemima.

Jemima, you see, has been in the family for some time. She was purchased by the wife when she was 17, it was her first car. A super banger even then, but she looked good.

For a while...

Until some work revealed a large lump of wood where the sill should be...

The saga begins

Almost 20 years ago, April 3rd 1987, Jemima failed her MOT.

Shortly afterwards, her last trip under her own steam was when we moved to Cornwall. That Christmas I was given a MIG welder and, as the title says, the saga began.

In those dim distant times, computers were rare, blogs didn’t exist, digital cameras a pipe dream and digital watches were the height of sophistication. Which is a shame as it would have been good to have started this at the beginning.

Initially I shall try to add the history of how Jemima got to where she is today but the idea is to log her resurrection, hopefully before April 3rd 2007.