It was time again to catch up with my much-respected body builder, who is slowly but surely putting the shell of the Le Mans Mini Marcos back together.
Originally, the plan was to have the body shell fully restored and painted by the end of this month, pick it up and bring it over to Le Mans just for display and then carry on along the autoroute towards Pau where the engine is being built at the moment. But you may remember that things went differently (click here). So, unfortunately you won't see me or the car at Le Mans this July.
The good news is that work on the body shell commences, so let's have another look at what's happened in the last couple of weeks.
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
Originally, the plan was to have the body shell fully restored and painted by the end of this month, pick it up and bring it over to Le Mans just for display and then carry on along the autoroute towards Pau where the engine is being built at the moment. But you may remember that things went differently (click here). So, unfortunately you won't see me or the car at Le Mans this July.
The good news is that work on the body shell commences, so let's have another look at what's happened in the last couple of weeks.
The front is further repaired. Cut out section and rain gutters are now restored
Picture Jeroen Booij
Close up of the right hand side rain gutter. Most of it had been roughly cut out
Picture Jeroen Booij
And then the floors! Now fully restored to their original specification with steel strips and balsa wood 'glassed in on both sides. A painstaking job but beautifully carried out
Picture Jeroen Booij
If you look closely you will see the balsa wood sections consist of several puzzle pieces
Picture Jeroen Booij
They have different thicknesses, too, as can be seen here. They were lacquered before being put in
Picture Jeroen Booij
The rear end is also coming along nicely now. The fibreglass was ultra-thin here with many cracks
Picture Jeroen Booij
Flashback - this was the rear end three months ago. All the cracks have now been removed
Picture Jeroen Booij
Another crack repaired. This is where the right hand rear side screen goes
Picture Jeroen Booij
Door post repaired. This, too, had some bad cracks
Picture Jeroen Booij
The same went for the right hand sill
Picture Jeroen Booij
Next up: the roof. This, too, is full of cracks. Unfortunately there is a thick layer of filler put over the whole of the roof. You can see that some of it has already been sanded off. All of it needs to go though
Picture Jeroen Booij