1957 Mk2 Zephyr Restoration

by Geoff Stokes
(Essex)

My car is an April 1957 Mk2 Zephyr.

I bought it 14 years ago as a very tidy but mildly customised example. As the years have gone by it started looking a bit tired so I decided that the time had come for a total refurb back to it’s original Hereford Green.

I had my own garage and MoT business in an area 30 miles from home that was making it difficult for me to cope with. I decided to sell the garage and move nearer home to get my life back and move away from the modern car world.

I started with a small workshop on a farm repairing classic cars - the same types of car I was working on when I started in the early seventies.

Next to me on the farm was a paintshop with a spray booth and they looked to be turning out good work so I entrusted them with my Zephyr.

They spent a week stripping it and then left it outside for a month despite me complaining and nagging. It soon became clear that all was not well with them and they went out of business leaving my now deteriorating Zephyr sitting outside in all weathers.

To cut a very long story short, I with two friends took over the paintshop and the restoration of my Zephyr.

We have a rotisserie and using Mk2 owners club repair panels (that were excellent) the bodyshell is nearly done.

I have taken a lot of photos of the work, here are the links - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1072977488&ref=nf#!/album.php?aid=43166&id=1072977488
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1072977488&ref=nf#!/album.php?aid=49606&id=1072977488

I want to put the trim back to original, could you please tell me what the original trim colour scheme was bearing in mind the body is Hereford Green and where I can get some photos of the pattern for my trimmer to work from.

Many thanks
Geoff Stokes