April 2009 - Preparation

 
     

Due to the fact that there is no storage room in my garage I can't do very much at the moment. The car is full of parts and if I disassemble parts they can't be stored properly. On April 18th a loft was being made in my garage to assure ample storage room for parts during the restoration process. Of course the Giardinetta was always in the garage except for the 2 days the loft was created. Unfortunately the stalling front brakes caused a whole lot of trouble in moving the car out of the garage during these building activities. On April 18th I moved the car with the aid of my dad, but decided that this was the first and the last time. The amount of required force was ridiculously high.

The bonnet is closed and I can’t open it because the opening lever is gone therefore I couldn’t release the brakes. After disassembling some parts of the dashboard I found the cable for opening the bonnet and I pulled it. Releasing the front brakes was then the next hurdle to take. As Sud owners know the inboard front brakes are somehow a tad user unfriendly (understatement of the century). After some effort the brakes were released slightly. This was enough to move the vehicle without too much effort. So far I only read and heard about the infamous front brakes but never experienced it. This was a nice hands on introduction to the phenomenon. The loft was created on April 18th and finished on April 25th  The end result was a proper storage room to warrant enough space for the several stages of the restoration process in the garage itself. In the mean time the missing lever to open the bonnet was another item to add onto the list of things to do.

Giardinetta in garage without any storage place except for the floor.

 

Giardinetta on the driveway during garage loft construction.

 

Loft side beams attachment to the walls.

 

Attachment of the loft cross beams to ensure solid construction.

 

Cross beams completed and entry hatch created.

Loft floor seen from entry hatch.