Her Majesty's DBS Update
Gebruder Gumbold
San FranciscoPosts: 549MI6 Agent
Cheers Everyone,
Missing all of you, and sorry for not posting sooner, but I have had the old nose to the grindstone to re-restore Her Majesty's DBS, whilst doing just a few things to make her into the car that I always wanted her to be. Basically, this means recreating a nose section to the 007 correct "Sharknose" early type, which requires a wooden buck to be made off of templates taken from the ex-Grace Slick DBS (which lives only 3 hours away). Next, just as the factory did in the good old days, an aluminum section will be hammered out and welded on to the body. Loads of hammer and dolly work here. I also was able to find a correct set of louver dies for the inner wheel arches, and using a line out of OHMSS, did some "brass rubbing" techniques by Sir Hillary Bray, Baronet, (is that an inferior sort of baron?), and made a template of the louvers from the donor car. Next, I had a plate made on a Pullmax machine, and punched out 2 sets with 12 louvers each. Good grief, what a great deal of work! Next, I bravely cut the sections of the inner wheel arches out (pretending I was John Stears and this was the roof of the DB5), and am ready to weld everything in. Other operations include stripping the entire car to bare metal and starting the body repairs from there, numerous changes to make the car more Bond correct to the headlamps-scored an NOS set on Ebay of Lucas originals....Found an early ZF power steering box, and restored it, and will install following painting.
Many, many pics posted on OHMSSDBS.com, please visit regularly.
Hope someday to bring her to the UK, and compete in the AMOC concours there. Hoping to come over in 2019 to participate in any OHMSS celebrations going on then. Please advise.
Cheers, Tom
Missing all of you, and sorry for not posting sooner, but I have had the old nose to the grindstone to re-restore Her Majesty's DBS, whilst doing just a few things to make her into the car that I always wanted her to be. Basically, this means recreating a nose section to the 007 correct "Sharknose" early type, which requires a wooden buck to be made off of templates taken from the ex-Grace Slick DBS (which lives only 3 hours away). Next, just as the factory did in the good old days, an aluminum section will be hammered out and welded on to the body. Loads of hammer and dolly work here. I also was able to find a correct set of louver dies for the inner wheel arches, and using a line out of OHMSS, did some "brass rubbing" techniques by Sir Hillary Bray, Baronet, (is that an inferior sort of baron?), and made a template of the louvers from the donor car. Next, I had a plate made on a Pullmax machine, and punched out 2 sets with 12 louvers each. Good grief, what a great deal of work! Next, I bravely cut the sections of the inner wheel arches out (pretending I was John Stears and this was the roof of the DB5), and am ready to weld everything in. Other operations include stripping the entire car to bare metal and starting the body repairs from there, numerous changes to make the car more Bond correct to the headlamps-scored an NOS set on Ebay of Lucas originals....Found an early ZF power steering box, and restored it, and will install following painting.
Many, many pics posted on OHMSSDBS.com, please visit regularly.
Hope someday to bring her to the UK, and compete in the AMOC concours there. Hoping to come over in 2019 to participate in any OHMSS celebrations going on then. Please advise.
Cheers, Tom
Comments
Agonised over the correct screw head to use on the Selectaride dampers. Finally found someone with an original set, so I was able to use the correct ones.
Before I even leave for the shop, I play a little Bond music to get the creative juices flowing, then, upon entry to the workshop, I had made a little sign that I pass by that says "Integrity in your work."
So, when I have the choice to cut a corner, I look up and am reminded that the integrity of the work is far more important than a deadline to finish the car, or the ease of an operation.
Good example: I stripped and refinished the Armstrong rear dampers three times to get them right. The shade of the Hammerite was incorrect the first time, and the paint just didn't flow correctly the second time, so I did a third run, and got it right.
A friend in the UK is also restoring a DBS, and frequent e-mails and calls also help.
Today I visited "Radio Roy," a vintage radio craftsman, with the Motorola unit that I was able to find, which is the correct one for the Bond car. Got hold of the build sheet for the 2 007 cars, from Aston Heritage. Very nice people! I had to retrim the door panels to eliminate the lovely Voxson 4 speaker system that was fitted to my car, and was lucky to score some 4x6" NOS speakers, to give that vintage sound.
He will rebuild with modern internals, but only a 5W output to not blow the speakers, and give the sound that would have been heard in 1969. Wish I had some vintage air to put into the tyres!
I could have gone with modern everything, but I want to have the experience of driving and enjoying the car as it was in 1969, which means that I have to take up smoking soon!
Stay tunes on OHMSSDBS.com, Second Restoration section, for more details.
I can't wait to post pics of the sharknose bespoke aluminum front piece when it is finally ready.
Thank you, Tom
Thanks for the encouragement!
Pics of the hand made door finishers, engine shot of the power steering pump that nearly never made it out of Australia due to their stormtrooper style customs, and the original axles that were powder coated after I had a go thru of the roller bearings and u-joints.
Working as hard as I can to make that deadline!
Keep up with all the action on OHMSSDBS.com
Cheers,
Tom