Hello. Have just begun the restoration of 264, a second series car. It has lived in Southern California practically all of its life, but in the last few years its been a less than idea life. Its a fairly complete car with its original engine (running), but its had some minor body damage to the boot lid area, its diff is broken and parts of the floors are rusty. It was a steel wheel car delivered in a dark green color. I'll be looking for badges, bumperettes, window winder mechanisms, probably a new windshield (due to delamination) and a fix for the diff. It looks like I may need some of the interior panels as well. The list will obviously grow, but the project is underway, with most components stripped and the rolling body/chassis on the way to a body shop that does wonders at brining fiberglass back to life. I'm in Orange County and would love to connect with other Peerless owners in SoCal.
Welcome to the madness. I am in Thousand Oaks, CA. I am planning to have a gathering of all So. Cal Peerless and Warwick owners this fall at the barn.
In the mean time please feel free to email me directly and I'll share my full contact info.
I can point you to a local shop for the rear member rebuilds. He did two of mine. I am sure I have all the bearings and seals cross referenced to available components, as well as the axle shafts.
I may be able to help with the bumpers. Sorry but you just missed out on our group glass import, but I understand you can order direct. Happy to send that info as well.
I spend time with some of the guys on the Vintage Motoring web site as user HealeyBN7.
Thanks Nigel. Dean did reach out, but I've been "distracted " for the last few weeks with a broken toe that became infected. On the mend and eager to get out of the house, so I hope to visit him soon. In the mean time, the car is at a body shop that does great work in breathing life into old fiberglass. They did wonders on my Marcos. The floor on the passenger side is in pretty bad shape, but otherwise it looks like a straight forward project. Does anyone have patterns for the floors, or is a bespoke replacement?
IMhO if you're lifting the body off and doing a full resto I would replace the floors with steel, it tightens up the whole chassis and doesn't flex when you put your feet on it!
Nigel, thanks for the recommendation. The decision about taking the body the body off was difficult. The chassis is in good shape except for a six inch section next to the poor floor board. I've watched what Dean is doing to his, and followed a couple other body off restorations. Figured it would probably end up adding at least another year to mine, so chose to blast and clean up the chassis in place. The goal is to make it a very strong, well preserved and appreciated driver. Better to have it on the road looking and driving fine than sitting in pieces with the potential to be perfect. I do appreciate the effort some are putting into theirs, but this approach works best for me.
I'm with you on that one, I wanted mine to go out all singin and dancin but when it got into its tenth year of resto I threw it together and still trying to finish it off 18 years later.....but then I have enjoyed over 57,000 miles in it!