Help Bodyshop needed

[RobHomewood]

Coming back from a succesful if wet rally in Normandy we broke down on the ferry. Having been pushed off, the rescue people came and transported us home. It feels like the fuel pump has packed up. The rescue driver wouldnt turn into our back lane (too tight) and offloaded us on the hill at the end with a view to rolling the car along the lane to our garage. Unfortunatley as he pulled the truck away from the front of the car the car rolled forward the door swung open (rear hinged) and jammed on the stone wall at the side of the road. As I had just got into the drivers seat I could not blame the driver for this. The door took the whole weight of the car on impact and I was not quick enough to forestall it. The result is a well mashed up drivers door. I am hoping the damage doesnt extend further back into the body. I was devastated as you can imagine.
The insurers have said get a quote from a specialist body shop but I dont have any at my finger tips because I have never had to use one. Can anyone recommend a suitable body shop? We are in Falmouth Cornwall, the car has been deemed unroadworthy so it will need to the transported for the work so in some ways the distance doesn't matter but I would like to be able to get there to check on work in progress etc.
The assessor suggested a replacement door but I doubt anyone knows the whereabouts of such an essential part and these doors were individually crafted. This is for a 1939 Rover 14 Salmons Tickford DHC so hen's teeth are easy in comparison I suspect.
Any help appreciated

[RobHomewood]

Photos

20240918_154726redux.jpg (53.64 KiB) Viewed 2515 times

20240918_154416redux2.jpg (37.98 KiB) Viewed 2515 times

20240918_154051redux.jpg (32.98 KiB) Viewed 2515 times

[TonyG]

Rob,

Bad luck on that. It must be every Classic owners worst nightmare to suffer body damage like you have. However, while I don’t have any experience of similar repairs, a quick look on the Internet reveals a number of expert places to get ash frame and aluminium bodywork rebuilt.

Sowerby Ash Framing in Wiltshire and Clanfield Coachbuilding in Oxfordshire look like good places to sound out. There are a number of others. The good thing is that your insurance company seem to have an agreeable attitude.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Tony.

[RobHomewood]

Thanks Tony for your sympathy and your bodyshop suggestions. I have been in touch with both and as I expected Sowerby Ash Framing only does the timber framing in-house but says he has some good contacts who could do the metal and painting etc. The other shop Clanfield Coachbuilding has a lead-in time of 14 months! That with the distance is a significant problem. I await more news from Sowerby and also 1 other which another member has put me on to
Any further ideas closer to Cornwall gratefully received from anyone
regards
Rob

[luli]

Sorry to hear that, Rob. I wish you could have used Tino's services....

[RobHomewood]

Thanks for that Luli
It is interesting to see the structure of the door exposed although the tourer is a different shape to the DHC. I have never opened mine up but dont think it has the diagonal metal stay and corner plate. Is that original or Tino's repair?
Did you have a problem getting the correct curve where the bottom of the leading edge curves into the body? I am guessing the frame was originally steamed into shape but mine had straightened slightly over the years so the bottom corner no longer truly met the body opening. It was quite draughty and indeed wet at times!
Rob

[luli]

Hi Rob,
It is original, and the metal is Aluminum, Which was corroded. Tino has both the equipment and the skills to deal with wood and metals. He replaced the corroded metal and welded it, and adjusted the doors to fit their space and the body lines, verifying that the sound of shunting them is nice. The frame of the doors is all wood - no metal. Later Daphna and Alon finished it, rebuilding the sophisticated stopper.

See here: https://lulis.org/2018/10/01/51-%d7%92% ... %95%d7%9f/

[David2021]

The diagonal strip is what pulls the bottom front part of the door in, so that there is no gap (often a problem on suicide doors). It can be tightened to pull the door in by moving the screws, or as I did on one car, by making the strip into a pair of brackets and joining them with a short length of allthread with lock nuts so that could be used like a rigging screw to adjust the set of the door. I saw that system on a Jaguar XK120 Coupe door. Quite a lot of effort can be needed to get the door back into its correct place and the “rigging screw “ method is relatively easy to apply that force. It can be done single handed.

[RobHomewood]

Thanks David and Luli
I did wonder whether the diagonal on the tourer was meant to hold the curve to the bottom of the leading edge of the door. To encourage the frame to curve I think that not only would the metal need to be bent but also have a fulcrum behind it to make the wood frame conform also? Or maybe a t-bar (rebated around the timber) would be stronger?
My DHC definitely does not have any metal work that I can see but maybe I should suggest to the (eventual) bodyshop that this is needed. I guess the flat plate may need letting in to the woodframe also... I can see I am going to struggle with this
Rob