Retrofuturism: Here we go again

Great, I'll just sit back and see your magic happen

I’m going to do my best to convert you to the marmite side sciclone.- shooting brake you say. Mmmm

Cheers rblote

Today I started with giving the new PT2 a once over. I haven’t settled on a name yet but I guess that’ll reveal itself as I progress - as will my ultimate intention with this build. Not knowing exactly is kinda exciting....oer.

So besides the obvious welded up doors and inserted panels what exactly did I have? I unpacked everything that was loaded into the back of the PT and took an inventory of sorts.



That revealed some interesting facts. One, I had the wheel bolt key for the wheels nuts which was a relief. I also had two broken rear tail lights and a diesel instrument cluster. I had noticed when I drove this PT onto the flatbed trailer that it didn’t have the diesel coil light, so it appears the cluster has been changed. Ok. At least I know that the airbag & abs lights work for mot.

All the interior trim appears to be there, no rear seats as they were junked, and all the door seals & trim along with wiring harnesses.

So I then set about reconnecting the rear light harnesses to ensure I had the looms. All good.

One thing I did notice when i unloaded all the stuff was that the rear foot well carpets were damp...now that could be because, like Preston, the rear wiper seal fails and allows ingress over time, or it was because neither the rear hatch nor now welded shut rear doors had their respective door seals installed. No seals equals ingress at some point. As I wasn’t certain the first to go back on was the hatch seal.



Now you might be wondering why I’d want to put the rear passenger door seals back on with the doors welded shut...well. The previous fabricator hadn’t closed off the top of the door gap like we did on Preston. Consequently there was daylight looking upwards between the door & body. Not good and a recipe for cascades of water, which if they didnt make their way into the cabin would accumulate in the lower part of the door and rust it to hell over time.





Not knowing if I could actually refit them it was time to give it a go...



Thankfully I got both inner door seals fitted back in nicely with the help of a rubber mallet.



Whether I keep the seals in there or not over the long term remains to be seen but I’m happier now knowing it’s water tight. I’ll be needing a vapour barrier probably too.

It’s quite cavernous in there.



Interior up front looks good but that’ll be coming out I think. I have a complete interior in my shed that I think is destined for this PT.

For those of you not fortunate enough to live in New Zealand or Australia.



Proudly made in Australia since 1923.

Then you are truly blessed brother.

Nice.

Looking forward as with your other builds.

Kind of works as an insect repellent too. It seems that if you eat enough of it you taste/smell bad to sandflies etc and they'll go bother someone else. Worked for me surveying in the bush.

These cars make me barf a bit in mouth but i will gladly follow this to see how its turns out . Intriguing .

Hmmm, they seem to hold money reasonably well.... sort of. That convertible PT caused a tea/keyboard moment - no, just NO!

Now that you've replaced the rear door seals how does the water get out? Obviously you'll fully weld the top edge too eventually but in the meantime can the water run out at the front of the rear doors adjacent to the front doors or is it ponding in there?