Lancer Evolution VII GTA

[scratcher]

I had this pretty rare example in recently for a boarder line restoration.
It's an Evo 7 GTA, being one of 22 imported from Japan.

It was stolen from the owner 6 years ago.
The thieves painted it red to disguise it, abused it round a field, ruining the gear box, suspension, brakes, various other parts, before destroying the interior.

Auto Torque replaced the gear box and all mechanical work and servicing.
A replacement interior was sourced.
2 companies tried and failed to restore the exterior and a few others said it just couldn't be done...

This is how the car arrived.
Some areas had been rattle canned over the remaining red paint.
The rubber and plastic trims are all being replaced.
















Someone had struck thorough to the primer



After a lot of cleaning up, I tried a small test spot to see how well the original paint would respond to machine polishing.




Then re-washed before we started to remove a few parts.




More to come later
Photobucket is on the go slow, haha.

 

[scratcher]

Part 2.



After removing as much of the rattle can black as possible, more and more red was coming through!



Some parts were salvageable.







A few parts were not

The bonnet, roof and boot were readied for the paint shop.







When it came back, the painted panels looked great. But I aim for perfect











Onto the doors.







After the initial cutting stage.







And refined to bring back the gloss and flake.







Clarity on the bootlid.







The headlights were refreshed too.







Looking better already.







Washed down to remove all the dust from hours of polishing.







The spoiler was polished off of the car, inside, out and upside down.

Here's a before and after on the fin.











The interior was vacuumed, scrubbed and steamed to kill any bacteria.



















While cleaning out the boot I discovered a replacement window trim.







So it got swapped over.







The wheels came off to clean them properly.

ODK Momentum wheel wax was used to protect them.

 

[scratcher]

Finished up with Auto Finesse Spirit for protection.
Exhaust polished with Mercury.
Tyres with Gyeon Tire.
Plastic and rubbers with Auto Finesse Revive.










Thanks for reading

 

[B6lee]

Looks mint [emoji1303]