So last Friday I helped Richard Chippendale (see Local Cobra Builders) take delivery of his AK chassis and body kit. Richard and I have been exchanging WhatApp messages quite regularly sharing progress and advice on stripping down of axles (he is way ahead of me!) but this was the first time we had actually met!
When Noel from AK pulled up with the car trailer I think I was almost as excited as Richard was!
First sight on arrival! |
Second Generation AK Chassis |
AK Body - even the bare shell looks fast! |
Unloading went (relatively) to plan. Richard has a nice big roof space in his garage and the idea was to place the body on a wooden frame to support the floor and then lift this up into the roof space with a couple of chain winches so he could work on the chassis below. The first attempt was reasonably successful although body was hanging a bit lower than hoped (and yours truly managed to clout his head on hit - so yes it was too low!!) - so future adjustment is planned.
We then carried the chassis into the garage and then went and had a well earned beer and talked cars for a bit!. It was good to put a face to the name and hopefully that was the first of many beers!!
Seeing Richard's kit arrive made me regret putting back my delivery date - but to be honest, although I've stripped the front axle, I have only just started tearing down the rear axle and I haven't even started cleaning or painting any of the parts yet so am a while away from being ready to start building, even if my kit had arrived (plus it would make life in the garage a bit cramped while trying to finish off all the other stuff as well). So i think I have made the right decision.
However it did give me a bit of impetus and I managed to spend the next couple of days in the garage cracking on with the rear axle disassembly.