Build Battle Episode 12

Harry Pitcher • Apr 22, 2022

A long time ago, in a bodyshop far far away...

It's back! The Celica is almost ready for primer and paint. The guys have been working late nights and weekends to get the Celica to this stage. Later in this post we will go into more detail about the reasons why this has taken so long, until then enjoy the episode and some exclusive photos from our recent time at the bodyshop.

Other than the rear arches, the entire car has seen some love and much needed attention and we will go through some of the key areas now

We will start with the front bumper. Going by the images and video, you would think the car had covered hundreds of thousands of miles by the amount of stone chips. But in fact the car had only covered a couple thousand miles since the kit was installed, all the damage you see is from water getting in and lifting the lacquer and paint.

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The side skirts were quite the surprise as we was not expecting to carry out the amount of repairs we did. There was one area that obviously needed addressing but sadly so much more attention was required. After many hours correcting and essentially refitting both side skirts, Luke managed to get them fitted properly and looking perfect.

The interior had already been stripped so this gave us the perfect opportunity to lay down some Dynamat Xtreme. This material stops any unwanted road noise entering the interior of the car, such as stones pinging off the inner arches, tyre noise and any squeaks that Japanese cars of this era are known for.

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Now for the Elephant in the room, why did the Celica take so long to get going?

We dropped the Celica to the bodyshop way back in April 2021. Sadly, behind the scenes the owner was planning to fold the business and was taking on jobs with no intention of finishing them. This came to an end in December 2021 when the bodyshop finally admitted they were planning to close, leaving months of rent and bills in arrears and worse still; Luke to find a new employer! This resulted in the company folding in January 2022 and leaving the unit completely empty, with just our innocent Celica looking sorry for itself in the corner! The future was uncertain for our #dclassbuildbattle but luckily, we were rescued by Luke, as seen in this episode.

Stoner Motor Group, who own the building and used to rent the unit to the bodyshop, have now decided to use this as their very own crash repair centre. So now the bodyshop is reborn as “Stoner Accident Repair Centre” with Luke being employed at the helm to run the facility. We are extremely thankful for Luke as he continues to work tirelessly on the Celica with Andy, at evenings and weekends. He has essentially saved this series and we look forward to seeing him in action painting our Celica.

So, from everyone at d:class, thank you Luke!

Be sure to get in touch with him via social media: @L7UEW if you have any bodywork requirements