Mike's 1964 Elva Courier MkIV Build Thread!

[ELVA164]

I like that blue, its a good color. As far as the metallic goes, it doesn't have to be like a bass boat with huge flake, but a very fine flake could look stunning.

Will

Thanks for the input, I'll have to add that to my list of considerations for sure! By the way, I know someone with a '59 Giulietta Sprint road car that has sat unused for years, and I can't help but think about how cool that would be to drive around. Close to stock because it wouldn't matter one bit how fast it was. I like them a lot more than the convertibles aesthetically.

For any potential photoshoppers: I found a good amount of photos of the car online last night! Here are some, I can provide more if you would like!

[BlackbirdM3]

I like that blue, its a good color. As far as the metallic goes, it doesn't have to be like a bass boat with huge flake, but a very fine flake could look stunning.

Will

[ELVA164]

I like the blue with silver stripe. Perhaps run a metallic blue with a very bright silver?

Will

This is the current "official" blue,
Out of direct sun

and in direct sun.


The metallic is an interesting thought; I don't see it often on vintage racers!

[BlackbirdM3]

I like the blue with silver stripe. Perhaps run a metallic blue with a very bright silver?

Will

[ELVA164]

The bodywork is on hold until things warm up due to space constraints, so that leaves me some time to think about things way before I need to! :D As such, I've been putting a little thought into color choices and would love your opinions. Here is how the car looked before:

This is my (badly photoshopped) idea at the moment:


I went with this scheme to integrate the dark blue which is one of the shop colors (blue/yellow) with a bit of a change to differentiate the car as mine. I also thought the silver stripe would match the silver bumperettes on the four corners well.

Feel free to share/photoshop any ideas you have! I'd love to see what you guys come up with!

[ELVA164]

Small update. Got the gauges out of the dash and got it ready to return to the car:

I also unearthed an aluminum gauge pod that was made for the car before its demise:

I might need to see how it works! :D

Also, there were rumblings about some additional fiberglass work getting done over the weekend!

[ELVA164]

Mike......Joel here....

that is a fuggin awesome gift..u r one locky sob.......ur dad rox!!!!


how do u sleep at nite?....knowing u need to work on her?

is this 2014 season your goal?????


see ya soon!

Haha, it is very cool but definitely the most expensive gift I've ever recieved :p The deal is I'll do about 80% of the work and pay for about 20% of the parts. I wish the 2014 season could be possible, but I'll be lucky if 2015 is possible. I'll run out of time to work on it pretty quickly...

[frankenbeemer]

That's a great video, despite the crash. Knowing something bad was going to happen barely tempered the joy of watching her go, but when the music started I edged closer to the screen and an involuntary oooowww escaped me when it hit.

That thing really scoots! What a birthday gift, looking forward to updates.

[JRKOUPE]

Mike......Joel here....

that is a fuggin awesome gift..u r one locky sob.......ur dad rox!!!!


how do u sleep at nite?....knowing u need to work on her?

is this 2014 season your goal?????


see ya soon!

[rex]

You don't see those every day, well, I don't.

Cool car and ambitious project

[ELVA164]

Looks like a fun restoration project. Elva's can scoot right along. I guess the good news is that the body is fiberglass. Had it been metal, that would not have been a fun or easy fix.

I wish I had taken more pics of my Datsun while I was doing most of the rebuild. That was back in the days before digital cameras however so it wasn't exactly convenient. I've got pics of the car before, and some of it in primer, but none of the actual bodywork. I did document the paint job in 2012, and the engine build in 2011. Eh, perhaps I'll start a new thread on it. I could also do one on my '59 Alfa Sprint, but that project is kinda dead in the water till I have a lot more $ to get the nose section fixed, or find another nose section that will fit (mostly hand built bodies so its not that easy.)

Keep up the good work, building your own race car is both fun and rewarding. Its even more rewarding when you take your first race start in it knowing that you built the car and know every inch of it. That also pays off as the driver if you know and trust your own work.

Will

Thanks Will! I totally agree about the metal; that was the first "joke" I made when I started disassembling everything. I feel the same way about the Cortina you feel about the Datsun; I have some pictures just before and after paint, and some more as we started racing it, but there are a lot of gaps.

I am really looking forward to racing my own car that I've built. It's no fair that only our customers have gotten to drive the cars I've (helped) build so far! :razz:

Love build threads subscribed.

awesome

Thanks guys!

[ZM Blue Devil]

awesome

[graveshaker]

Love build threads subscribed.

[BlackbirdM3]

Looks like a fun restoration project. Elva's can scoot right along. I guess the good news is that the body is fiberglass. Had it been metal, that would not have been a fun or easy fix.

I wish I had taken more pics of my Datsun while I was doing most of the rebuild. That was back in the days before digital cameras however so it wasn't exactly convenient. I've got pics of the car before, and some of it in primer, but none of the actual bodywork. I did document the paint job in 2012, and the engine build in 2011. Eh, perhaps I'll start a new thread on it. I could also do one on my '59 Alfa Sprint, but that project is kinda dead in the water till I have a lot more $ to get the nose section fixed, or find another nose section that will fit (mostly hand built bodies so its not that easy.)

Keep up the good work, building your own race car is both fun and rewarding. Its even more rewarding when you take your first race start in it knowing that you built the car and know every inch of it. That also pays off as the driver if you know and trust your own work.

Will

[ELVA164]

Man there is a bunch of work there, save her!! Good luck, will be paying attention to this build.

There sure is a lot of work, but thanks for the encouragement! I hope to get as much done as possible before the race season gets into full swing. I'm really looking forward to learning how to do some fiberglass too!