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(4-20-07) I came across another Herald 948 Convertible for sale near by. The car reportedly is a 1960 that was being restored. The body work is reasonably sound but one of the prior owners loaded it up with body putty in a few spots. I looked it over and it will become a donor for Y20797LCV's rebuild. I'll blast the putty out of the rear wings and replace the rotted out sections with replacement panels, then put the rear tub on my freshly restored chassis. The dash in the 'new car' is in exceptional condition and will also find it's way into Y20797LCV. The 1960 had no title, and no commission plate, both are probably alive and well on some other early Herald. The bonnet doesn't have all the extraneous holes that Y20797LCV's had, the doors are sound with good glass and the windscreen isn't cracked so they will all get used too. The only original body sections that will remain on Y20797LCV will be the bulkhead, front valence and grill.
Here's some pictures of the donor body:
Hiding the rust or molded in sills?
(5-8-07) The donor body does not have much of the brightwork included but an inventory of the rusted hulk of a Sport 6, that is in the shed, finds all but one door trim piece present and in good condition! The Sport 6 hood (convertible top) frame is also in quite good condition and along with the pieces from the donor hood frame I can get a complete assembly! One of these days I need to finish stripping the salvagable bits off the Sport 6 chassis and drag the remaining pile of rust out of the shed. It will take the big tractor to drag it out with no diff, no rear axles and no front suspension. The biggest job will be getting what is left of the engine and gearbox out of the chassis. I suppose if I just rolled it on it's side they would just fall out.
(05-16-07) The finished chassis is out of the shop and the donor body will be moving in. I received the repair panels for the rear wings and that will be the first order of business, removing the sills and repairing the wings before I remove the rear tub from the donor chassis. The bonnet and doors will need a few dings worked out but otherwise they are sound. All panels will get stripped, etch primed and sealed. Then I will test my HVLP skills and see if I can put a decent color coat on the panels.
(5-27-07) I started on the body work today. Cut out the rotten rear wing front corners and replaced with repair panels. I found quite a bit of rotten metal hidden under all the body filler that was in the car.
Started cutting the left wing: 
The hidden rot cut out: 
Interior panels getting fabbed and welded in place: 
New panel installed and mudded: 
The right wing cutout and exposing the hidden rot: 
(5-28-07) Took the rear tub off the donor car and after finding it just a bit too tall to roll into the shop, I got the wife to help maneuver it in. Note to self: If the opportunity arises to build new shop; minimum dimensions should be 16 ft wide, 28 ft deep, 10 ft ceiling, with door 10 ft wide by 9 ft tall.
Too tall to fit. 
Everything back in the shop. 
(7-4-07) I stripped the rest of the bits I will be using from the donor car today and pulled the head off the engine. As I suspected, holes 2 and 3 were full of water and rusted pretty solid. I scraped most of the rust out, put some thin oil in the cylinders and put the head back on and will see if it loosens up while it's sitting in the shed. I may put that one back together some day, but not until after I finish my wife's GT6, which will be the next project.
Here's the stripped donor car. 
(9-14-07) Back to work on the Herald this weekend painting the floors and underside of the rear tub and bulkhead. I used a very durable polyurethane finish intended for use as a pick up bed liner. The stuff takes 4 to 6 days to setup completely but bonds extremely well, seals the surface and is very chip and scratch resistant. I selected the smooth finish instead of the one containing grit and the color very closely matches the powder coat on the chassis. I painted both the top and bottom surfaces of the tub and floor pans and the front of the bulkhead. I'll let it setup for a week and after I put the engine and drivetrain back in the chassis, which I hope to complete this week, I'll remount and align the body sections and begin the external bodywork refinish process.
(10-17-07) Set the Bulkhead in place today.
(11-10-07) The body work started getting refit today. The bonnet is set and the rear tub will be refit as soon as I can get some mates to stop by and give me a hand.
(11-22-07) Finally able to refit the rear tub today. That's when I noticed the hand brake lever bracket is missing. I will either cut one off the donor car or buy a new piece.
What's wrong with this picture. 