Sportshatch Restoration

Vauxhall Sportshatch Restoration Project

In October 2008, I re-acquired this Sportshatch, which I had first owned back in the mid 1980s. It was my first "Droopsnoot" car, after a short line of standard Vivas and Firenzas. Back then it seemed like it was in good condition, but when it went off the road a couple of years later it was a little rusty.

After quite a few years awaiting restoration in my garage, I sold it to someone who promised to restore it but didn't, and then he passed it on to another enthusiast in Wales who ran out of time. In October 2008 I got it back, and started working on the bodywork to restore some basic strength into the shell.

Update May 2015 - I'm making steady progress with this restoration, but it's way too time-consuming to update this page, and the restoration thread on the Droopsnoot Group forum. As that's more widely-seen, for any more recent stuff please have a look on this thread - you'll need to join the forum (but not necessarily join the club) to post on there, but it should be possible to view the thread without doing so.

The photos, most recent at the top

So, off with the inner wing, to temporarily place the new one so I can make the front panel repairs.

Inner wing off

And the door pillar back in place, making sure it fits (I test fitted the wing and door to make sure) and making sure that both skins of the pillar are welded up properly.

All back again The inner skin of the pillar

New panel fitted after making it. The pressings aren't great, but roughly in the correct location.

New inner panel

Panel behind the door pillar is quite badly rusted, so the only way is to cut out the pillar, after a lot of careful measuring.

Door pillar removed

But managed to make and fit repairs to the rain channel, upper bulkhead and fusebox mount.

Bulkhead top

Removed the drivers side front wing, to find a little more rust.

Drivers inner wing

Some more work on the passenger side bulkhead lower sections.

Passenger side bulkhead

And a bit more of the passenger floor, showing the patch over the chassis rail repair.

Passenger centre floor

Some work on the passenger side floor at the rear:

Passenger rear floor

Drivers side almost finished:

Sportshatch floor

And some work to the floor pan:

Sportshatch floor pan

After some repairs to the chassis member:

Sportshatch chassis member

Additional ventilation:

Sportshatch floor issues

As retrieved:

Sportshatch before any work