As most active members will know, Chas' HDJ80, affectionately known as the Phoenix, was officially renamed HMS Phoenix after some nautical antics in Romania in 2016, requiring an auto gearbox rebuild, at significant expense, as I understand it.
Anyhoo, it thrived on the attention and sure enough, arrived in Romania with the others in the LC Club 2017 excursion here, displaying its "certain patina" as it's been (again affectionately) dubbed, that is to say that it's former rich and shiny red lustre had given way to the status of every panel on the beast being dented to various degrees, battle-scars, scratches and the like.
For this reason, Chas decided it needed a facelift, and on my suggestion, Chas stayed back when the U.K. posse left at the beginning of September, and HMS Phoenix went into dry-dock for its (second?) reincarnation.
It emerged on Friday looking very handsome in its new livery of "NATO Dark Olive" matt green.
Feast your eyes on the evidence...
Every panel original and straightened, even the tailgate, which looks impossibly pristine considering it was creased and gouged beyond recognition, when it went into the workshop.
The transformation is nothing short of miraculous, IMO, job well done thanks to skills and patience of Dan at the "Perfect Paint" body shop in Bucharest. Later, I'll try to gather some "before" pics, just to show the comparisons.
So the plan was to drive it up to our house in Comarnic, and to refit the rack and RTT, spare wheel and gubbins, and wave Chas off on his journey back to the U.K.
Sadly, not to be.
On the way up the twisty windy hill 500m from our place, Chas failed to negotiate a left-hand bend, put two wheels into the RHS ditch, hit a tree stump in the ditch, and bounced out again.
Not a pretty sight...
Surprisingly, the only panels that suffered were the drivers' side wing, and the bonnet.
The wing is dented in front of the snorkel, but worse still, badly mutilated in the area around the side light, the hardest part for any repairer.
The bonnet is damaged on the front lip, and the stiffeners under the main panel are deformed in the middle, giving it a humped shape.
The passenger side headlamp glass is smashed, and the drivers' side side-light has disintegrated.
Luckily, I have a full set of all 4 lights (LHD though) so at least they can be fitted to get him home. After that, he'll have to source suitable RHD headlamps.
Dan has kindly offered to hold his current workload for next week, and give Chas priority next week to see if he can get HMS Phoenix back into its rightful shape, once again.
Needless to say, were both gutted by the event, and Chas is pretty much in a state of despair and disappointment today, please go easy on him guys...
To be continued...
Anyhoo, it thrived on the attention and sure enough, arrived in Romania with the others in the LC Club 2017 excursion here, displaying its "certain patina" as it's been (again affectionately) dubbed, that is to say that it's former rich and shiny red lustre had given way to the status of every panel on the beast being dented to various degrees, battle-scars, scratches and the like.
For this reason, Chas decided it needed a facelift, and on my suggestion, Chas stayed back when the U.K. posse left at the beginning of September, and HMS Phoenix went into dry-dock for its (second?) reincarnation.
It emerged on Friday looking very handsome in its new livery of "NATO Dark Olive" matt green.
Feast your eyes on the evidence...
Every panel original and straightened, even the tailgate, which looks impossibly pristine considering it was creased and gouged beyond recognition, when it went into the workshop.
The transformation is nothing short of miraculous, IMO, job well done thanks to skills and patience of Dan at the "Perfect Paint" body shop in Bucharest. Later, I'll try to gather some "before" pics, just to show the comparisons.
So the plan was to drive it up to our house in Comarnic, and to refit the rack and RTT, spare wheel and gubbins, and wave Chas off on his journey back to the U.K.
Sadly, not to be.
On the way up the twisty windy hill 500m from our place, Chas failed to negotiate a left-hand bend, put two wheels into the RHS ditch, hit a tree stump in the ditch, and bounced out again.
Not a pretty sight...
Surprisingly, the only panels that suffered were the drivers' side wing, and the bonnet.
The wing is dented in front of the snorkel, but worse still, badly mutilated in the area around the side light, the hardest part for any repairer.
The bonnet is damaged on the front lip, and the stiffeners under the main panel are deformed in the middle, giving it a humped shape.
The passenger side headlamp glass is smashed, and the drivers' side side-light has disintegrated.
Luckily, I have a full set of all 4 lights (LHD though) so at least they can be fitted to get him home. After that, he'll have to source suitable RHD headlamps.
Dan has kindly offered to hold his current workload for next week, and give Chas priority next week to see if he can get HMS Phoenix back into its rightful shape, once again.
Needless to say, were both gutted by the event, and Chas is pretty much in a state of despair and disappointment today, please go easy on him guys...
To be continued...
