The art of stripping

So, the car now had an engine and gearbox, as well as decent suspension and it stopped, which was cool.

Now it was to strip her down. Again, I didn't really know what I was doing, so I photographed every single step, before, during and after disassembly. I also clearly labelled everything an placed them in zip lock bags. Soon I had a big box of parts.

I had decided at that point to replace anything that needed it, including all the electrics, lights, rubber seals, gauges, switches and anything else that didnt look good. I spent about $1,400 in new parts from Kaiser Willy's in the US.

So I took off everything I could and ended up with a basic shell. At this point I decided not to remove the tub. Firstly, it scared me, and secondly, it didn't look so bad.

I then found an old boy in a nearby Village who fixed cars...kind off. I went to see him and told him in broken Thai what I wanted. I wanted every bit of rust removed, every hole sealed up, and basically, the body in perfect condition. I went there every single day for 3 weeks as he cut, welded and ground that body into a straight shell.

He then fabricated a new gearbox tunnel and readied for undercoat.