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- 1947 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith Restoration
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The owner if this Silver Wraith has cared for this car since 1963.
In 1963 a college professor had this car shipped to Canada, as he would be teaching at a university there.
A change of plans required the professor to return to England and sell his Rolls to the current owner.
In 1963 this car was 16 years old, which would mean it probably showed little wear and was a nice car.
Our restoration on this relatively complete car will began with an exceptional amount of photo documentation and meticulous categorization of parts and hardware.
The body of our ’47 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith is constructed of a wood frame with an aluminum shell hammered, shaped and welded around it.
This may sound a bit unusual to you but if you think about transportation 50 years prior to the construction of this vehicle coach builders or buggy builders were using and had perfected this type of technology.
The craftsmen who built cars like this are now as scarce as coach and buggy builders.
We do have the privilege of knowing a group of craftsmen who produce and repair furniture from the last two centuries on a regular basis.
We contracted Glen at Glen Armand Louisiana Fine Furniture about reverse engineering the deteriorated endoskeleton in our Rolls Royce and were welcomed in their shop.
The craftsman assigned to our Rolls felt it would be wise to reconstruct the left side if the car first because it was more intact and he could make a mirror image of any missing or rotten parts on the right side.
The work began at the cowl area or windshield post on the left side as the suicide doors had to be latched there.
The running boards and rockers were next.
Our body shop manager is working with the furniture shop and removing panels as necessary to access the wood frame.
Some of the aluminum panels were actually hammered over shaped wood to create their contour.
Some of these aluminum panels are now being used as molds to take plaster recreations of the now missing wood to have a template to shape replacement wood.
As the craftsman made his way down the left side rotten and crumbling wood was replaced to the back of the car and around to the right side.
The worst of the deterioration will now be addressed from the solid right rear corner forward.
