Stage 4: Second step in reassembly  
In mid July 2007, we journeyed to Myrtle Beach to start putting Chitty together again. Not all the parts were ready yet – Like the fenders, bonnet, doors, grill and front splash pan. It's been a long wait, but this guy's work is great and he is particular. The doors were done, but he said he saw some whorls in one of them and tried to point them out to me. I couldn’t see them but he insisted on re-sanding and repainting. So here's what we got done.
  

Left: Taken in the paint booth where I first started putting things back on the car. Right: Also in the paint booth. Look close and you can see the first things I started putting on. I felt that the car deserved her ID plates back before she suffered an identity crisis.
Left: That afternoon we moved the car from the paint booth to our son’s garage under his house (it’s a low-country style house and the first floor is garage; the second floor is the 1st floor, etc). this shows a pretty correct color – far better than the previous ones.
Right: Pat’s shining the brass and copper (again) and this time coating with clear fingernail polish rather than spray enamel which hadn’t held up well

 

                 

Left: All the ID plates are on.
Right, top: Good color in this one too; all new wiring is in.
Right, lower: Son Chuck, on the right, and a friend, Joe King from Maryland, and I are putting in the windscreen with the new pads and bolts. Dash is in, but will have to come out to have the chrome and piping added. I just wanted to add strength to the top of the tub.

 
 
We waited until Sunday morning to decide whether to bring it home or leave it in Myrtle Beach awaiting the rest of the parts. Bringing it home would allow us to hook up all the wiring, try to tune it up and get it running and put in some of the interior. We also discovered when mounting the gas tank that there was something in it, sand or rust flakes, so we need to take it off and clean it out. The weather forecast gave a 30% chance of rain on our route, so we lodaed it on the trailer. Here's son Chuck and his wife Karen (with me) pushing it on the trailer. Note the temp doors. We tell folks that was all that was left after they removed the old paint.
 
The car's loaded, we put on the old tonneau cover and helped hold it down with one of those spider web bungee cords. At no time did any bungee touch the new paint. As you can see we're both please to be bring Chitty home. We did run into some rain around Asheville, pretty heavy at times, but no water got inside the car. And the engine compartment dried off quickly at 70 miles per hour.
    
     
  Back home at least, Chitty basks in her "stall" complete with soft rubber matting. Actually that's more for my benefit when I have to lay under her to fix one thing or another.    

MG TD opening page
Stage 1 is the dismemberment of little Chitty Bang.
Stage 2 is the clean-up, restoration, and parts ordering to prepare her for her "make-over."
Stage 3 is the first step in the reassembly: installation of the engine and tranny.
Stage 5 is The Coming Together. When all the parts are put on and the test drive is taken
Stage 6 is the 2008 -2009 shows and drives that Chitty-Bang participated in.