'61 220SEb coupe restoration

Well after several years of enjoyable ownership I’ve decided to spend some of my hard(ish) earned cash restoring my 220SEb. I had it resprayed a few years ago and although the body was solid the boot floor and sills were starting to show signs of rust so this seemed a good place to start. As well as the signs of rust there was also some plating to the sills, but as it always passed it’s MOT with little fuss I never got round to repairing it. Until now!

So the other Saturday morning I set out armed with a large Philips screwdriver and start attacking the sills. To be honest they didn’t seem that bad and I was left with the option of either 1; buying a welder and experimenting my self, 2; getting it patched up in a back street garage or 3; having it done professionally. As I’d become quite attached to the car during the past six years of ownership, and having some bad memories from a Rover P4 I attempted to weld in the past I decided to go for option 3.

After some recommendations, a bit of research and visits to various restorers to view their work I decided upon the long established Derby firm Wilkinson & Sons who started back in 1904 building horse drawn coaches. They later progressed to coach building for motor vehicles specialising in the nearby Derby manufacturer, Rolls Royce.

Pre September 2004 photos (June 2002 actually ):
As my PC died a few weeks back taking my recent photo files with it these are the most recent 'before' photos I have.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/heckflosse/08-06-02-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/heckflosse/08-06-02-2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/heckflosse/08-06-02-3.jpg

Saturday 11th September 2004:
To try and keep costs down I removed the chrome sill covers and started striping the interior.
Despite being in place since 1961 the screws to the covers came undone with ease except for 4 which I carefully had to ground off with a Dremel handy tool.
The leather is very good still so I intend to just buy a cleaning kit from Connelly Leather and buff it up. The carpets were infact in quite good a condition and only the thin strips which run along the doors are frayed. I expect although replacement can be bought they will be a different shade due to ageing. I’ll decide whether to replace just the strips or the entire set at a later date. The only apparent work needed in side is the wooden strip below the window and probably a new windscreen due to frosting of the corners.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/heckflosse/14-09-04-nearside1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/heckflosse/14-09-04-nearside3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/heckflosse/14-09-04-nearside4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/heckflosse/14-09-04-offside1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/heckflosse/14-09-04-offside5.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/heckflosse/14-09-04-offside9.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/heckflosse/14-09-04-offside10.jpg

You sir have one fine looking automobile I look forward to seeing the photos when it is complete.
Dave S

[lamtha]

Jason,after looking at the pictures,i will tell you that there is some serious rusted rocker panels.i love these 111s,i have two of them.unless you are an expert welder, do not attempt to do this by yourself.if you like the car let the experts do it.
Peter
220se 1965 cabrio
300se 1965 coupe
300e 1988

[67coupegroup]

Jason,

I'm in the process of restoring a W111 coupe (at a snail's pace) and am very interested to see/hear how you are progressing with your work. It seems like us w111 owners are a very small minority as most of what is posted on the BBs is regarding the more common chassis, as expected. So please keep us posted and add a few pic's from time to time.

[Gilly]

In regards to Rolls, I did quite a bit of work back in the late 80's on a P2, body was a Hooper touring, it was considered a 34, but my understanding it was first a 1929, but was rebodied in 34, and the way Rolls worked back then it could somehow be "titled" as a 34 after Rolls got done with the chassis and Hooper rebodied it. As I recall it was chassis # 104SK or SK104. Was originally in India, owned by "the Majarinin (sp?) of Baroda (India).
Cool car. It had sat in "cold storage" from about 1969, so about 20 years. i was the first one to start it after all that time. Blew a bunch of mouse nests out the tail pipe. Neat feature was an "exhaust whistle" which was documented original! Loudest horn ever, short of possibly a semi air horn. Depended on throttle position of course.
Gilly

Hi again,

Yes I wasn't confident enough to tackle this amount of welding and I though it would be worth while paying out to get it done right. Got quite attached to the car

I'm only the second owner (bought in '98), still keep in contact with the previous owner so know all it's history.

For those interested I've posted more photos on this Land Rover forum simply because of it's down load facilitys

http://www.landrovernet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19893

[Gregg Bambo Jr.]

Heckflosse,
I just finished viewing the Rover website photos. It took awhile to get to them as it required registering and then waiting for confirmation of registration before being allowed to view the posting (Aproximately 15minutes). After viewing all the rust that you had to repair, I am impressed with your fortitude and willingness to save your 111! I just finished having my 220SEb cabriolet stripped and painted and fortunately the only rust was in the left spare tire well (typical for a convertible) and the same cross member rust that you had above the gas tank. No rocker or wheel well rust as it was formerly an Arizona car. Hope the finished product turns out well and look forward to final pics. See my rust in thread and what I did with that area after repair:
1970 280 Sel 108 chassis body work question.
111 Cabriolet strip & new paint