February 7th 2012: The friendly Giardinetta owner "John" who kindly made the jack bracket mould had some parts on stock which are missing on my vehicle. He sold them to me at a very low price. I guess he is purely interested in seeing another Giardinetta on the road in the future instead of making money. Firstly he had a stick to keep the bonnet open complete with bracket which should be riveted to the right hand side inner wing. That's a part you can't do without. He also had a first series Alfasud gear knob in stock for a 5-gear gearbox. This part has been on my list to obtain for quite some time now but they are relatively hard to come by. Someone in the former Eastern Europe is remaking these parts and offering them on E-Bay, but the pictures I've seen of this remade part don't convince me so I'm happy with this original one. Additionally he provided me with 2 clamps for the windshield wiper bag. Since my car had a completely rotten right hand side inner wing these clamps must have fallen on the road at some point in time. I didn't have any clamps therefore and now I do. Last but not least he also supplied hard plastic mud flaps which are apparently supposed to be attached to the inner wings to protect the claxons which are supposed to be located on these outboard sides of the inner wings. I was completely unaware of the existence of these parts so far and I guess that will be  a future task to see how to get them attached in the original way. Thanks to John for the parts, the very fair (low) prices and the informational help throughout the project.

Bonnet stick, gearlever knob, clamps for windshield washer bag & mudflaps.

Hard plastic mudflaps attached to inner wing of John's Giardinetta.

February 13th 2012: The mould for the jack bracket made by John will be put to use. The material used for this particular bracket is 1.5mm. That's quite unusual material for body related items. The welder therefore didn't have this on stock and had to order it especially for the bracket. This higher thickness reduces the formability significantly. Cutting this material like normal thickness body material sheets is impossible. A portable grinding machine has to be used. The bracket is made out of 3 separate parts. The 2 relatively vertical brackets and the big horizontal bracket. The original geometry is recreated with the aid of the mould. Also the small holes most probably used to attach the rubber glove type sleeves are incorporated. I don't have these 2 rubber parts, but I won't be using the jack bracket anyway. The bracket needs to be there because it is a Giardinetta unique feature, but I won't be using it. I will put the jack with the spare wheel somehow. If I can ever find the 2 rubber parts I will definitely purchase them, but I won't be very sad if I never find them. It takes quite some hard work to resemble the original shape. After welding the newly made bracket to the right hand side inner front wing the orange coloured corrolles coating is applied for anti-corrosion purpose. 4 hours of hard work give a very nice end result. Those were the last activities to the body. Thanks a lot to the "surgeon" for his patience, craftsmanship and perseverance with the extensive project.

1.5mm steel material to recreate the jack bracket.	Top part of jack bracket after a lot of hard work in same shape as mould.
Top part of jack bracket seen from below.	Jack bracket welded to right hand side inner wing.
Artistic picture by the welder with 1:43 Polistil Alfasud and Alfa logo.	Jack bracket checked for functionality. Nice fit!

Now it's just a matter of waiting for dry weather. The welder is finished with the body so it can be picked up. The weather needs to be dry to carry the body back home on a trailer due to the lack of protection on the car. Currently unfortunately the weather is quite poor and it's more or less raining continuously for some time. Once it will be dry the body will be picked up and the welder can finally use the space in his garage for himself or a new challenging project.

February 23rd 2012: Finally a dry day which means that today the car can be picked up. Since I'm not in the Netherlands at the moment my dad and my very friendly neighbour Toon are picking up the car. I'm lucky that they are willing to spend their free time to pick up the car. First the twin axle trailer will be collected at the rental company. The Kia Sorento towing vehicle from Toon has no problem at all to tow a double axle trailer with car on oy. The pick-up goes smooth. After that my spare boot has to be picked up. I am happy I took this part down from the attic in the garage in August 2011 when I was back home for the summer holiday. It is a big part and quite unhandy to grab so I don't want to bother my dad or Toon with getting it from the attic. The state of this boot is definitely not mint, but it is salvage-able. The boot available at the welder at the moment which came with my car is beyond repair so that's why this part has to be carried along to the welder. Toon is a very handy guy so he quickly finds a good way to fasten the boot securely to the trailer. Then the journey to the welder starts. The navigation systems of these days are magnificent, they save a lot of searching in unknown areas. The trip to the welder is therefore an easy one.

Kia Sorento towing vehicle ready for take-off.	Double axle trailer pick up at rental company.
Spare boot taken out of the garage and fastened to trailer.	Arrival with trailer at welder (Giardinetta waiting in the garage).
Toon towing Giardinetta onto trailer.	Giardinetta towed completely onto trailer.
Giardinetta on its way home on the highway.	Arrived back home, dad untying the tensioner straps.
After an absence since June 2010 back home in the garage.

Great thanks go out to Toon and my dad for spending their time to pick up the car!!!!