Thread: Restoring the Colonel

Hi folks. I've been reading a few of the stories about others rebuilding/ restoring their vehicles and have found them most interesting. So I thought I'd do the same with the restoration of my 1978 series 3 station wagon. I picked up the Caron eBay for the princely sum of $800 which I thought was reasonable. The engine runs and the chassis is galvanised so I figured I was ahead already. I freely admit to having no real mechanical knowledge or metal fabrication ability. I see some of the stuff others are able to do in their workshop and I am amazed. The aim of this project is to teach myself some of these skills (with your help and advice) and have some fun with my two sons on an iconic vehicle.

I am planning to strip it back to the chassis and then start to put it all back into one piece, hopefully a running piece. Already I am loving the fact that these cars are really just giant Meccano sets. Step one is to remove the tropical roof, simple job of undoing the 20 or so bolts that hold it together. Simple until you realise the windows leak and the channel holding the nuts has been full of water and so half the nuts are rusted on. I managed to shear a few bolts but only needed the grinder on one nut that had all but disappeared.

Initial assessment is that the door tops will need replacing and the 2nd row doors and rear door also have rust. Whether this is repairable will be revealed once I start pulling them apart. Bulkhead seems ok apart from the drivers side footwell, will need a new door post welded in there.

I have attached a few photos of progress thus far. My plan is to document my journey and my learning as I go. Hopefully you find it interesting as well.

This one shows the same door at the latch end.