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One of the most difficult areas - the trunk (boot)
getting the "boot"
One of the toughest areas to repair
I was quite surprised to find that the inside of the trunk, or 'boot' as the Brits call it, turned out to be one of the hardest areas to repair, because of its inaccessibility and contours, not to mention hidden areas that would have been nearly impossible to reach without the aid of my rotisserie. The floor and package shelf was severely pitted and needed attention, but some areas were just not reachable with any type of sanding tool so I resorted to sandblasting the entire area which made a great big mess, but it was the only logical option to access those inaccessible areas. During the process, a conversation arose among the Austin collectors group which I am a member of, as to whether the inside of the boot was supposed to be black or body color. Since my uncle had painted the car black inside and out, I had no way of knowing. After many hours of searching the internet for photos of original cars, I determined that the inside of the trunk was painted body color, while the package tray was painted black and installed after the body was painted. I real nice fellow who was selling an original Mist Green 1949 on eBay, sent me some pictures of the trunk . I also confirmed that the package tray was installed later down the line as evidenced by some welds at several points that were clearly done by hand.
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hidden damage
Both rear corners had rust damage, the left side was the worst of the two. With my rotisserie, I was able to rotate the body onto its side to access this area without having to stand on my head. I sprayed a healthy coat of rust transformer into the corner which will be sealed up behind the patch panel once finished.
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New patch welded in
This is the new patch piece welded in. I covered the top seam with fiberglass filler but left the right edge exposed to match the original appearance.
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