The car is back in Branford with a new top. CZ Upholstery did a great job.

Great job inside too.

Now we are in the last phase. We made a list of the remaining work in order to estimate a time frame and cost for the owner. The car seems to be finished but we still have a lot of work to do.
A suivre... (To be continued...)

Great news! As of today, the car is at the upholster, in Southington, CT, to received her new top (Black).

I will drive up to their shop either tomorrow or Monday to meet with the owner and explain the way the top was originally made and installed (I am lending them a blue print from Henri Chapron). This (white) top was redone but it was wrong and we could not open the doors if the widows were up.

Here are the first pictures outside:

Final installation of the hardware on the seats.

Buttoning up the front with the spare wheel tray...

The air duct is not there yet, but here is a pic with the spare wheel in place.

We are in the process of aligning the front fenders, hood and bumpers. We are almost done there. When the car comes back, we'll finish it. I've tried to loosen the brackets for the hood near the windshield. One screw out of two broke on both sides due to rust. So now we will have to open the hood really wide or remove it in order to drill and replace the welded nut with a self-crimped nut.

This is the story of this project. It is an exciting project but this car is fighting us to the end! Everything that could go wrong went wrong. For instance, Ken had a new window made for the passenger side and we discovered that it cracked inside the door. So, now we have to get a new widow made which will not be charged to the client, of course.

The chromed piece around the wheel was cracked and holding by a thread. Unfortunately, it finally broke. This is a rare piece and I cannot find another one. I have called a chromer in Massachusetts who said that he might be able to repair this (I am kind of sceptical but I hope I am wrong).

The air filter was rusted and looked really bad when we open the hood. So, I bead blasted it...

... and Kevin painted it.

Once the engine cleaned, it is going to be fairly consistent with the rest of the car.

The wheels are painted.

The original spare wheel.

New tire of the right dimension.

She is starting to look good.

Now working on the front...

I am putting the bumper together. You might be asking yourself why we did the front plate red. I found the red under the black paint when I worked on the front plate. I have also found the original French number. The car was registered in order to be exported. I don't know if Citroen or Henri Chapron has painted the plate red, but this is the was the car left France in 1967. We are going to reproduce the TTA number (Transite Temporaire) with the same font that I have traced before sand blasting the plate.

The lights are in place.

The passenger window was chipped on the top and scratched. Ken ordered a new glass and installed the new weather strips coming from Ivanoff in France.

The front is almost aligned; we just have to tight up the driver side and install the hood latches. This is the way the car is as of 6/26/09. The glass is supposed to be delivered on Saturday 6/27/09 and once installed, the car is going to be shipped to get the new custom convertible top made and installed.

The leather interior is ready to be installed. Looks new again.

I removed the wheels and they are gone to the tire place to put the black walls out on the front and installed new tires on the back (They were the wrong dimension and hard to remove due to the non removable fenders).

I bead blasted the lug nuts. The tires will mounted but not inflated; Ken will be able to paint the wheels "Gris AC141" with ease. Then the tires will be inflated.


I took advantage of the wheel being out to loosen the fuel hose and install correctly the new grommet.

The pod is ready.

The fenders are finished and ready to be installed.

June 16th 2009...

Ken stained the interior leather to make it uniform. The front seat were reupholstered at some point and the rest is original as well as stained. With new carpets, dash, repainted top frame and a new convertible top, the leather would have looked old and would also stand out. This car will look new all around.

The door panels ready to be stained.

The hood is finished! Notice the new insulation felt coming from Ivanoff in France.


The doors are ready to be installed.

Light colors don't shine very well, but this one does.

The fuel door is installed. Once the wheel is off, I have to center the hose to fit the new grommet better.

The dash should be done today...

Trunk lid lock and new Citroen logo.

The front fenders have been painted with "Chipguard" and the inside part will be painted with sating black.

It was a hole at the end of the left front bumper. We had to send it out to get a stainless steel weld.

After filing.

This bumper was really bad with deep scratches and a lot of bends and nicks.

After straighten the metal.

Prepping the metal by wet sanding with 100, 220, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500 and 2000 grid.

After hours of polishing...

That is the part that was all banged up:

Where the hole was: