Center Console Complete

Hi

Nice quiet day yesterday, the sun was out so it was driving, visiting and shopping although I did manage to get a few hours work in. 

The lacquering has been my main job, every six hours I have been sanding down and spraying, I was even up at 0430 on Sunday morning sitting in the kitchen rubbing down with 600 grit then giving it a spray ready for the morning feed. I mean lacquering. The work has payed off as after around 10 coats it is looking great even though I had to hand sand as I could not use the flat block because of the inlay around the edges.

In between sprays I labeled the dial gauge wiring and transferred the gauges over to the dash.

Looking pretty good, I also cut the hole for the courtesy light and fit that, I was going to reposition it but thought what the hell its on the wrong side to see the keyhole for starting the car so it won't make any difference where I put it.

You may also notice the small Panther winged badge very well stuck on above the radio, well I had a little oops! with that, it was supposed to be positioned on the dash central to the radio. I had it all measured where to go, put the superglue on the badge went to position it and dropped it, luckily it was close to where I wanted it, I tried to get it of but only just managed to straighten it before it was stuck and impossible to remove. O well.

I bought this badge on eBay along with another when I first bought the Kallista, the other badge is a 1st prize medal for section 11 for the 1984 International Coachworks Competition.

I have tried to do a search for more information to be certain that it was for a Panther and for which model and the only reference I can come up with is from a chap called John McEneff from the Irish Jag club.

The picture shows the badge in a J72 so was it for the J72 or the Kallista I don't know.

What I do know is that the J72 was in production from 1972 to 1982 and the Kallista from 1982 to 1990 and this was a 1984 competition, anyway if anybody has the info then please let me know.

Today was my 20th wedding anniversary so we had the morning in Durham with a nice breakfast and a walk along the river.

But the afternoon has been spent on the car.

I had finished the lacquer at 0800 this morning and it was ready for sanding.

The error I made on it is mostly hidden and I put it down to over enthusiastic sanding with a heavy grit on my sander. The top fillet was a little higher at one end than the other which put the centre switches out of alignment. I did a little fiddling with the holes and with the addition of the trim you can hardly notice.

You can just see it tapering down from left to right.

I rubbed it down with 1500 then polished and glazed it ready for the wax.

Before waxing I wanted to stick on the Panther logo I had carved from a piece of buffalo horn, it still had some small scratches from the sanding so I very carefully used the 3" sanding machine and buffed it up, I had difficulty getting into the tight areas but it mostly had a good polish.

I marked off where it was to go and put the superglue on the back, only this time I had more to grip than the little badge and managed to get it in the correct position.

I then gave it 2 coats of wax and a good buffing and it has come up quite nice.

I have fitted it to the console and fit all of the pieces into their holes.

Doesn't look much from the back. but the front looks great.

I shall buy a couple of mirror screws for the vent adjuster, these have the chrome covers that screw in the screw head.

The edging hides the plywood nicely.

I could not resist putting it all together to get an idea of the final look.

I have also managed a couple of other jobs today.

The main one I have been looking forward to since day one was the fitting on the nose badge.

Thanks Val if you are reading this it does look good.

I had one other job to do today and that was on the tie rod washers, I had a mail from Terry B the other day who pointed out I had them back to front and he wasn't wrong. I had a look at the pictures I took at the time and the cup goes to the nut side, all changed now.

Well that all for a few days as I am off to Middlesbrough tomorrow for a 2 day course to get ready for my new job which I start on the 11 Sept.

see ya Paul