December 1997

21st December 1997

he chassis had arrived at Crendon's workshop, so I arranged to go up there and take some photographs. When we arrived it was amongst three other partly built cars. It had been finished in black powder coating and really looked excellent. I was pleased that we had chosen a Crendon. All the welds were clean and neat and it really looked beefy. John had even put bits of carpet on the axle stands to stop the chassis from getting scratched, little things like this attention to detail is what we were looking for when we decided to buy a cobra. Shopping around and seeing the manufacture's setup is the only way to truly judge what type of car you are getting. Choose your supplier carefully.

Next step is the supply of the reconditioned Jaguar suspension, brakes and all that goes with that - those items are due in January.

The bodyshell had also been delivered so I took the opportunity to take some photographs of this. As you can see from the pictures I've ordered this without a coloured gel coat finish. It is supplied in its plain white finish.

Why didn't I go for a gel coat finish?

You get a much better finish if paint is sprayed onto the fibreglass rather than going with a gelcoat. Before any paint is applied all the bumps and irregularities can be filled and sanded down to produce a really smooth finish. This will give an excellent surface and the paint will really look good once properly applied. As ever, there is no substitute for good preparation. Gel coats are ok, however they never produce a completely smooth or really deep shine as the colour is impregnated and is the top layer of the glassfibre construction.