PAUL DUFF — BODYMODS

PLAN, PLAN, PLAN. If you’re going it alone, at least talk to the right tradies so that you’re not heading down the wrong path from the beginning. The last thing you want is to have to pay someone to fix your mistakes, so do the talking at the beginning. When we are managing a complete restoration, my perfect starting point is a car that’s still complete, so we can assess the overall soundness, starting with panel fit. If we smell a rat at that point, we will measure and, if need be, repair underbody structure. We will build from the chassis up, leaving most bolt-on parts (doors, guards, bonnet, etc.) until last. Make sure your foundation is solid, and you can trust the processes that follow. In a perfect world, when we are managing a turnkey build, once we have established structural soundness, we will reverse restore a car: remove mouldings, repair, polish and put away, remove bumpers, de-chrome, repair, put away, disassemble a door, recondition parts as we remove them, replace any missing or damaged items — you get the idea. The theory being, once the car is completely stripped, all you have left to do is the bodywork, plus, you have now created a decent window of time to source hard-to-find parts or outwork. Once bodywork is complete, we will do a full mock-up and pre-paint so we know everything is fitting perfectly. This makes the final assembly go very well and minimizes the risk of damaging that beautiful new paint job. On most jobs, we will wire and upholster after paint, but will still do as much planning and prep as we can during the build. I will always hold off on motor rebuilds until near the end, as I don’t like freshly built engines sitting for too long. Each car, customer, and project varies, so this is only a guide. We often simply have to deal with whatever is handed to us in whatever state, which always keeps our days interesting!