This weekend I was allowed to work on the car along side our paint man and fiberglass expert. I'm not sure how much help I was, but at least I got to participate. I didn't do any of the heavy glass work...My job was the rear deck lid. We're painting the inside of the rear deck lid instead of carpeting, 'cause that's the way the real cars were. I know, I know, you can't see it. But if we didn't spend time on all those things that will never be seen the car would have miles on it already!



First I cut the returns off all the way around so that the reinforcing 'hoop' was all that was left. Note the change from the top picture where there are 1"-2" returns protruding to the center of the decklid all around the now clean cut edge.



Then we reinforced the unsupported edge.



Here is a couple file shots of the surgery to insert the fender flares and the final product. This will also be the basis of improvements to the door striker plate that I'll show next time.





Alright, this is the other door, but the process is the same.



While I worked on the decklid, Don made the big dust on the cowl edges that we are rounding off. Here's what my view looked like all day in the shop with two sanders running and a 10 mph breeze running through the open doors...



When the dust settled...Literally, the almost final product looked great. Rear cowl...





And the front...





Here you can see the modified return all finished up.



I can't smile enough when I see it. I can't wait to get it in our garage! This is a homecoming 14+ years in the making.

Brian Carlson

Unique 9122 - 289 FIA Cobra - The Legendary "Spence" Car