clubstylus

Hi everyone. Having originally owned a Dutton in the 80's and a Westfield in the 90's, I have just returned to the scene taking on probably the craziest project yet. Living in Kent, I have just returned from Devon with a classic Stylus that has sat on a trailer for 15 years! At last I own a Jeremy Phillips car.

Both trailer and Stylus are in need of TLC but I am determined to get both back on the track (I am not sure how easy it will be to get her through the IVA). Amazingly I got it back to Kent in one piece and after removing the birds nest and ivy growing from the inside, set to it with the electric wire brush to see what the damage was. The chassis will be fine but a couple of the floor pans under the seat and in the bulkhead will need replacing. This not a problem but the lack of a bonnet is! I have read all the posts and it appears that getting a new one or the moulds is going to be very unlikely. I have read all Rob's story from 2009 about adding a lightweight bonnet and creating a flip front which seems the most likely way to go unless anyone has an old bonnet they are prepared to sell. Apart from that the body seems OK once given some care.

I have a garage full of useful spares including a K series 160 VVC which amazingly is still in one piece.

Anyway I look forward to joining the group, sharing my progress and helping others. If anyone has any fresh advice about my lack of a bonnet / flip front it would be gratefully appreciated.

Anyway, this weekend will involve getting to grips with cleaning up the chassis

Your avatar pic appears to show a bonnet Andy ---- having said that , creating a flipfront is pretty easy even without a bonnet if the car is still full one piece bodied. Putting a new half body on and matching it so everything fits/shuts is very tricky which is what I had to do .
I have another bonnet and would loan but not sell it

Indeed, the photos in the PH ad show the bodywork looking pretty complete?

Good luck with the project, there appears to be a whole load of potential there.

Dave

Good spot Dave. What the picture does not show you is that the bonnet had a few significant cracks in it as if it had been jumped on or something similar. (The car was originally bought as a project for youth offenders) On the journey home on the trailer it split into pieces and I lost most at some point between the end of the A303 & Fleet services! With valuable hindsight I should of course removed it completely and at least have got it home until I could have checked over properly and possibly saved it. Still once the basics are sorted it will go back into the hands of children as I am the Head of an Engineering school and the plan is for the students to help return her to glory. They have just finished building a Caterham straight out of the box so I thought they needed a bigger challenge. Plan now is to take the plunge and cut into the front end and graft on a on a bulge, possibly from a Fury. I'll keep you up to date.

Hi Andy,

Bit of a shame about the bonnet going AWOL - as you say it may have given you a basis for making a replacement, since obtaining a new one is as good as impossible.
I am currently carrying out a full stripdown-rebuild on a Stylus, and have two bonnets, but neither are perfect. The first one had a great big hole cut out of it for a bulge/scoop to be fitted, which has also caused the bonnet to sag and distort. I also have an unused bonnet which is intact, but has gone slightly out of shape during storage. I think I will try to get the newer bonnet back into shape with some weight on it for a while. If you want something to take a mould from, drop me a line, and we might be able to work something out.

Lucky kids that get to play with building cars - would have loved that when I was at school.

Dave

Thanks for that Dave. Reading other posts I have now realised how hard the fibreglass body parts are to get hold of. I will try the bonded fury bulge first but thanks for the offer of a possible mould. I may still have to pursue that option. As well as being in partnership with Caterham, we are also a Bloodhound SSC (world land speed record) education centre and had the full size replica on site last month. Now that really is a serious piece of Engineering!