Units 20-21 White Road
Charfleets Industrial Estate
Canvey Island
Essex
SS8 OPQ
Tel: 07731 545857
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In 2002 the restoration started on Vin 502. Below are some images of the car on first inspection.
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The Images below, show various dents and imperfections in the sheet metal. The drivers door being the most difficult to repair with over 200 hours in filing and re-shaping.
The first panels removed were the quarter panels. It was decided at this point to 'copy' Vin 530's black solid rear quarter panels. This in hindsight was a mistake as 502 always had clear perspex as seen when the car first arrived at PJ Grady. Only with photographic evidence has this now been confirmed. Thankfully the current owner has corrected this mistake, and reverted the car to the correct configuration.
The first image of the quarter panel side perspex was taken in 2002, and clearly shows a modification to include a rear antenna to make the car more usable day to day. The other images were taken in 1981 of Vin 502
Below are some pictures of the Interior. As can be seen the car needed some restoration, and it was decided to fully remove the interior and re-dye each and every part, including new carpets, and New NOS seat covers, along with some other needed parts to replace broken trim. In the picture below you can see 502's original turbo gauge. At this point not knowing the car as well as we do now, it was decided to 'borrow' Vin 530's turbo gauges and housing. Unfortunately they were never removed when 502 was sold, but thankfully under a different owner they were returned for when it was time to restore Vin 530 and to 502's owner we owe a big thank you!!
After Stainless steel had been completed, the turbo air scoops were in need of refinishing, as noted already at this point a mistake was made installing aluminium black quarter panel sections, which has now been corrected. Below are some images
The drivers door proved to be a big problem with the car. Being a typical 500 series car their were many stainless steel imperfections throughout the sheet metal, most notably along the length of the bottom, middle, and top sections.
Unfortunately the metal was to thin to repair at the very top of the door and a new section was needed. In many ways a new door would have been the best option, however inside the door were signatures throughout the middle to lower sections we assume from many of the factory workers. We decided that the door needed to remain on the car after repair.
With the drivers door completed. We quickly discovered that the passenger door had been replaced with a much later door. Thankfully Robert Grady had in stock an early 500 series door. After refurbishment of the door and roof box section/brackets we were ready to finish that part of the restoartion.
The Image below, is a meeting of the only two Legend Twin Turbo cars. On the left is Vin 502 ready for her new fascia to be fitted. On the right is Vin 530 after stainless restoration. This was the last time these cars were to be together in 2003. Before this the last time the cars were together was 1983 at the Legend auction which at that point was 20 years ago. With 502 now located in New Zealand, and 530 in the United kingdom, the chances of these cars being together again are not great, at this point in time (2018) the cars have been apart for 15 years, who knows in 5 years?!
Before the new Fascia's were fitted to the car Robert Grady stripped down the upper half of the engine and preformed maintenance were needed.
With Most of the hard work out of the way, we realized we were running out of time to debut the car at the Pigeon Forge show in 2004. Thankfully we had the car pretty much completed (with the exception of side moldings and door trim) and after fitting a new washer motor pump, and fitting the exhaust, we were ready to trailer up and head on the road for the world to see 502 again.
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