It's been a REALLY long time since I've done much on the Vixen. Lockdown has kept me super busy, teaching students remotely and changing jobs (I am now head of technology and vocational at a school much closer to home - no more slow crawl down the A12 to Chelmsford - yay!)
Just before the winter I decided to move the body tub back into the garage. The tarpaulin "tent" I'd built to house the body on the drive, whilst working on the mechanical reassembly of the chassis, was looking pretty frayed and thin!
I knocked up a wooden frame out of 2x3's, slightly wider than the rolling chassis and put it on shopping trolley style castors. With a lot of heaving between us, my wife, daughters and I got the body onto the new construction and wheeled it into the garage! It only just clears the ceiling by a couple of inches, but sits about 3' above the chassis, allowing me to continue to access mechanical work in progress.
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| High-rise body tub trolley |
Through the cold winter months, not much progress has happened, having watched a couple of interesting videos about removing the paint from a lotus elan of a similar age to the Vixen, I began the laborious task with careful use of a hot air gun and a scraper......this is going to take a LONG time!
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| Paint removal - very very slow! |
Yesterday, I enjoyed a drive (now we are allowed) up to see Duncan Reuben, who has moulded me a new roof without a sunroof (one less thing to restore!) and a couple of new floor pan sections. What an Aladdins cave Duncan's workshop is - and what a helpful lovely chap!
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| The new roof section currently sits, like a hat on top of the Vixen tub - awaiting the warmer weather for attaching. |
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| A very handsome new hat! |
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| New floor panels from Duncan - waiting to be bonded to the tub |
