Collected the Cobra body

Meena at GD Sports Cars had sent an email late last week to say that the body was ready for collection, along with the invoice for the parts that I had previously ordered. The bill was paid by bank transfer. Yikes! Have I spent that already?

A phone call to the van hire company and one to Andy at GD and the collection was arranged. I picked up the Mercedes Sprinter Luton (internal body size 13' x 6' 6" (6' rear door)) with a tail lift. I collected the van at the start of business on Wednesday, to avoid a two day rental. Ideally I would have taken it the night before, so that I could get an early start. I arrived at the Practical hire company's office in Ilkley at around 8.45am, where Chris handed over the van and then I set off to collect a body from the GD Sports Cars factory near Newark! Well to be precise, the body for my GD 427 Mk4 (Cobra), plus a few thousand pounds worth of GD parts for the car.

To the Luton van I had added gloves, straps, plenty of sheets and some cheap duvets from ASDA. And of course the camera. I wanted to protect my new toy from any scratches, hence the sheets and duvets - not for me to have a snooze! After a two and a half hour trip, I arrived at the factory and was greeted by the sight of my pure white (colour ref RAL 9010) GD427 Mk4 body. Wow! Excited? I was like a kid on Christmas morning.

The body outside GD Cars

After being welcomed by Andy and Meena and of course being offered a cup of real coffee, the body was loaded in to the Luton, with the help of a few willing hands and the assistance of the van's tail lift.

Body loaded in to the Luton van (that is Andy strapping it in!)

The other parts were checked off and loaded too. I had ordered - lights, hinges, locks, dash board, windscreen, heater, wiring loom etc. In total around a quarter of the cars total cost! Not much spare space in the van, especially once the other parts and plenty of soft packing was added.

While I was there I took the opportunity of picking Andy's brains. I had various questions on the body prep. and the next order. The next order questions mainly surrounded the rolling chassis. However, the immediate points covered the techniques for removing the flash lines and polishing the body.

Then it was a careful drive home, mainly up the A1. The body and parts were unloaded in to the garage, with the help of my wife Carol, Matthew (son in law) and my daughter Sarah, plus of course the youngsters, Cameron and Ava.