Postée par Erik Staes"02 Septembre 2008 "

Erik: Hello Didier,

I wanted to get the car on the road for a while before starting the restoration but unfortunatelly I received less car than hoped for. So the restoration has started now. I ordered all the chassis parts and panels and, after a long wait, receiving most of them ..... and promptly I had to return half of them because they don't fit the very early 100's (my car is N°130). I am lucky now to have found a source for these very early parts and I am once again waiting for the new parts to arrive. Seems it will take longer than expected to drive the 100!

Didier:

Thank you Erik.
Good luck for this restoration.
 Erik does not forget to prepare a beautiful file, I would be happy to show has our visitor’s worldwide the work carried out.
Thank you for your participation.

Erik:The numbers are:

Chassis 140281
Engine 1B139145
Bodywork 4327-130
The aluminum cockpit surround is also stamped with N°130.

This should make it one of the earliest 100's (N°130) that came off the production which is why I was very interested in getting this car. I contacted the heritage center but unfortunately the original paperwork for my car got lost. The numbers, though, seem to correspond, with the engine being N° 145 out of the first batch 139001-140000, the body being N°130 and the chassis also being from the Aug-Sept 1953 period. This was also confirmed by the heritage center.

The car was purchased via eBay in Texas after missing out on the first bidding round (my very first eBay bidding) but getting a second chance when the original winner bailed out. Reason for bailing out was a salvage notion which the car obtained in Oklahoma. 

The car was quite complete but in no condition to be put on the road (as hoped for) on short notice. Usual holes in the boot floor, wheel arches, footwells, etc...  and especially the cockpit floor where someone made a repair with zinc plating finished off by cheap, thick carpeting. An ideal rust trap which also damaged both chassis rails.

Didier:

 

Erik:

We ordered all the necessary chassis and bodywork parts for the repairs and, after a long wait for them to arrive, we had to send back most of the parts. The car being an early 100 most of the commonly available parts do not fit. Luckily  we found a company making and selling exact copies of the early panels and actually, at the time of writing this, the boot is being repaired correctly for the first time since the car was build 55 years ago.
Next on the list is the repair of the chassis rails and the floors but once again we will have to wait for the arrival of the repair panels.
Also the main chassis cruciform will be replaced as one of the rails was completely round as if it had been blown up. We think water got in the rail and got frozen which expanded the metal to a perfect round section  but if someone has a better idea please tell us because we have been breaking our heads about this for months.
Since the rebuild is turning out to be a lot more extensive than originally planned we decided to take the transmission, gearbox and engine out of the car and they will be sent away for overhaul the coming week.

Didier:

Merci Erik pour votre participation