I saw the car at Stonleigh and immediately fell in love with its lines and design . I am not an engineer but rather a keen amateur who's only experience was building an Austin 7 special when I was 12, so the process  of building a Pembleton seemed right up my street. What's more my wife could get in and out which clinched the project! (we all seem to need that same tick in the box. Konrod)

I managed to find a donor car which had been standing for about 7 years and done about 50k .To my surprise after fitting a new coil and putting in some petrol it started and ran like a little sewing machine.  I managed to strip down the relevant bits and set about cleaning  and checking .

I collected my space frame from Phil early in October together with my exchange suspension arms. The only problem to that time being the removal of the kingpins.   I managed these with the help of some heat from a small garage opposite.  The reverse was the case when I came to fit new pins.  I was able to get the help of a chap called Geoff Hodgetts who lives about a mile away and who I discovered is building a 3 wheeler.  He had the ECAS kingpin drive kit and I have to say I would recommend anyone with little experience like myself to get one . It really makes life easier for this particular task.

Bolting on the suspension arms and shocks has gone OK as has the fitting of new brake pipes
(though don't do as I did and connect everything up and find you had a packet of small rubber tubes left over!  New insert seals, so I had to disconnect and refit.)
I purchased the whole set which is cut to fit the Brooklands , from Bonapart Products, who were most helpful and put me in touch with Geoff Hodgetts.

I have had a puzzle fitting the fuel tank because after removing 50mm as suggested; when fitting it does not seem to lend itself to easily modifying to be filled from on top of the rear of the body .  Unfortunately Phil's build manual does not explain very clearly it's fitting or such things as the position and fitting of the oil breather and the use of the existing carburettor set up.  In fact I gained the most knowledge from downloading other builders photos from the web site .

I now have rolling chassis and are waiting for the aluminium sheet to start the body .I have had the sheet and the cutting  supplied by a friend who has been able to get it at Trade.  Because of the way the the patterns are supplied ( ie. one drawn inside another ) it means destroying some of them in the process of putting them out for cutting.

I found Phil most helpful in supplying me a duplicate set FOC .

I hope to have the body completed by the new year, I'll let you know how it's going.

Tony Platts

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