After the acid dip stage was completed, it was time for the car to go to the body shop to work on the now visible problem areas. We use Alexander Autobody Limited, a one man show. The owner/operator is Neville. He's been in the hobby for 30 odd years or more and was a metal work instructor at one of Wellington's polytechs for many years. Like Bristols or Tim Banning @ FHO, Neville is a very picky guy with an eye for detail. His meticulous nature is something Dad and I look for in this hobby. You want someone who knows what they are doing and someone who only has one style: doing it once, doing it right.

He works alone and usually picks the work he does. He isn't a mainstream shop so this allows him to work on the custom, classic and muscle cars leaving the normal crash repairs and small ding repair work of daily drivers to other shops, giving Neville all the time in the world to do the cars properly, no rush jobs at this shop. What I like best is Neville is one of the old-school guys who use lead, elbow grease and all the other specialised metal work machines they used back in the day. He truly is a real steel fabricator. You can contact Neville on 021 139-7374 or email him at; nevalex@paradise.net.nz tell him Carl sent you.

The body was in really good shape for a car of it's age but it still needed many hours of work to take it from average to show stopper. It was a little worse than Lucy's body and Lucy's body was very solid. The worst parts were the 1/4 panels. As you'll see in the photos, Neville's work is outstanding. There were several spots on the car that needed attention, like lower sills, front drivers floor pan, hood hinges, LH door hinge and on the outer left & right firewall. Neville got to work and completed all the necessary body work and then some. I can't say enough about the guy or his work. Down to earth too, not some over the top hero who brags about his work which is all too common in this hobby. Next, paint. Neville's left the paint shop with a very easy preparation job indeed. As the paint shop said, "The work Neville has done is far and beyond the cars we get from other body shops leaving us with little prep work to do".