Restoration Project Pg01

The body was in reasonable condition although the paint was faded. There is some rust but repairable. It is limited to the lower quarter panels, the bottom of the guards, around the rear screen and a little bit above the rear tail lights.

As we are planning a restoration the decision was made to start with repairing and painting the body first.

First step was to pull the engine out and completely strip the engine bay. All removed items were labelled and packed for assembly later.

The front guards were stripped next. Unfortunately they are rusted a little to much to bother repairing. We have been able to secure some N.O.S. items to replace them.

To our amazement there is no sign of any previous panel damage to the front end, it looks like this car has never been in an accident.

The engine bay has been sanded back to bare metal before being sprayed with an acrylic primer. (Yes, we did sand it back by hand. No chemicals or mechanical strippers here, this is after all, a labour of love).

We have also decided to stick with acrylic rather than two pack enamel as it is more in keeping with the period.

With the engine bay under primer, our next focus was on getting the shell rubbed backed to bare metal.

All lights, vents, mouldings, bumpers, etc, have been stripped and stored for reassembly later. The rear quarters have been sanded as has the tail of the car.

Again, we have been lucky as there is no sign of any previous panel damage.
Once the rear panels were ready they were sprayed with acrylic primer.

Now that the GH Sigma Turbo is becoming rarer and harder to find unmodified we thought we'd save this example and restore her to its former glory.

This car is factory build number 00229 and was complete when purchased. The original engine is still intact so all serial numbers match.

At this stage, the interior has been completely stripped out of the car. The windows were removed from all the doors, as were all the trims and rubber seals.

The doors were then rubbed backed to bare metal and primed as earlier. We actually removed the doors so the insides could be sanded along with the door jams.

Again, no signs of any previous panel damage, although there are some dings as would be expected.

The bootlid was removed from the car, sanded back and primed. The new guards were also subjected to the same treatment. We paid extra attention to the inside of the guards and