1947 Jowett Bradford Utility: 'The Power of Retro Rides'

Also, you're not using metric fasteners are you?

Not likely it's all 'Whitworth BSF'

Onwards with the front offside door





Which is rust perforated along the bottom edge



Rotten section removed, flanged edge to original door skin and repair section made up



In place and ready for tacking up



Duly tacked up - bottom edge is simply nailed to the ash frame and the edges are folded / flanged over



Cleaned / dressed back



Very minor rust perforation to a mid point on the door skin which I opted to lead load rather than attempt to weld a piece into which would create quite a lot of panel distortion at this point



Repairs completed







Turned my attention to the offside rear wheel arch which is slightly ratty on the bottom edges





Completed this then did the nearside







Done so on with the nearside front door which was a virtually identical repair to the offside front door







Again a minor perforation on the nearside door identical to the offside - this where rain water soaks the window felt channel which is in direct contact with the inside of the door skin which in turn over a long period rots through (I will obviously have to prevent the water / window channel contact when I refit the door)



Again I shall lead load this repair area

Meanwhile a couple of coats of strong paint stripper had the paint off the rear doors and down to the filler





I wanted the filler off has I assumed that it was probably plastered over the top of rust & dubious repairs



30 minutes with 80's disc on the DA got the filler removed from one door



My assumption was correct this is someone's idea of shrinking damage on a panel - just whack it in with a hammer to an inch deep and throw a bucketful of filler in to it - rust around the window edge was also just plastered over with filler

Loving the workmanship here. It's funny because I came across this lovely van in a local pub car park around a month ago. Couldn't say if it's a Bradford or not. Looking forward to that engine being dissected.

E83w

Not a problem at all with the questions (I would like to think that my restoration threads act as a tutorial for some readers that are wanting to understand / learn the methods employed) - firstly it's all mig - but very careful mig at that - used in short sharp well spaced out bursts in order to avoid heat build up within the panel - the less distortion the less you have to reshape - you can just keep joining the tacks up until you have a solid line of weld - but just take your time - if there is a lot to do keep alternating between two repairs that are well spaced apart - I tend to mainly cold shape with a hammer & dolly - care is also required to be taken with the dressing / grinding back has this can also generate large areas of heat build up - gas welding is easier to work back / dress and the weld bead can be kept much smaller / flatter than that of a mig bead - however gas welding simply generates far too much heat within thin car panels and can result in major panel distortion

I will attempt to take some more close up / detailed images of the welding repairs next time I do a panel repair and post them up for you - Chris

So need to press on with this one a bit - still waiting for the offside wing & few other bits to come back from the blasters - I needed to trial fit the bonnet panels









Its a four panel bonnet retained by piano hinges - one to the centre and one to each side





Like every other panel on the van it's well battered - the centre edge at the rear has split at some stage - probably due to the hinge being heavily rusted - it's been rejoined by gas welding at some stage hence the panel is heavily distorted













After fitting the side panels I refitted the bonnet catches to see how it held it's shape when closed - answer was not very good





Much tweaking, adjustment, alteration, packing I started to get there



The rear bulkhead needs to be packed higher than originally to prevent the bonnet panels from contacting the bulkhead once they are painted - I will have to source a thicker packer of a woven / webbing type material









The vans were never perfectly panelled if anything they are nearer to a agricultural fit than anything - I just have to get to a point so that it looks original enough whilst ensuring that the panels don't spoil the paintwork with poor fitting / apertures etc

In the photos it looks like the front-top of the bonnet is too wide for the van and looks like it's at a different angle to the top of the grille shell. I can't begin to imagine how you're going to rectify that.

The club registrar found me a pair of chassis end caps and stuck them in the post - the original ones were tissue thin and were not worth repairing



Needed to sort the metal inner trim frames for the glass - there is nine of them - I have had them blasted - the ones for the front doors are fine







Sorted the easy one first - this just required a corner plate replacing





Next one required a few sections welding in and a couple of corner plates



Next one required all 4 corner pates - once done and with the frame strong & rigid I needed to do something about all the minor perforations - it's not a structural part and really don't warrant having new frames made up - they are bevelled edge section with return flanges and would not be easy to replicate by hand - the only reason that have perforated in the first place is that the window rubbers have been leaking over an extensive period - I just don't want to load them up with filler - I took the option to lead load them







It will need dressing back / shaping and a fine skim of filler to obtain the correct profile - I will complete this one in the morning