Bitten by the Bison (7)

Gladly, I am not the only person who'd been messing around with plaster over the last few weeks. In fact our own handyman, better known as 'Buffalo Bill', made some great progress on the CJC Bison project car (click here for his earlier adventures). He worked as hard as always to turn the former garden ornament into the 'Lamborghini Mini' that it was before. This time, he wrote: "The front spoiler of the Bison was pissing me big style. I'd repaired/improved it once, only to rip the damm thing off the first time I drove out the garage. So I jacked it up, drew a line from the front of the tyre level with the anti-roll bar and onto the front spoiler, marked it, and chopped the lower bit off. I could maybe go a little more, but have to allow space for the funnel thing that the air hoses attach to. I fired it up and drove up and down the bumpy drive, it didn’t catch and I managed to snatch second gear once, so that’s a big improvement!"

"Next, I made a steel frame that picks up on the bumper mounts, so the bumpers are stronger - the metal bit bolts to the chassis, but isn't removable, but would still (if you wanted) allow the body to be removed of the chassis. The lower point was fixed (so that the front anti roll bar was hidden and to protect it as its more of a square edge to hit) and it looked rubbish if the whole thing tapered up, so I angled the edge parts to give a lot more space (it tends to be the outer corners that get the damage anyway). It still needs a final sand and a couple of little bits extra, but I'm quite pleased with it, the whole front is a lot stronger now. I also removed the lights (for access) and roughly swopped them left to right as it looked rubbish before as the lamps where too far in board - I think the maker made an error as there is no reason to have put the lights more in than out (if you see the pictures, you will see what I mean - it looks miles better) I then discovered that one of the lamps was broken, and seen late 1970's square Cibie lights are not exactly 10 a penny, I have filled the holes up, so will have to look for something better - I'm thinks a pair of twin round ones, to fill the box shape more and maybe not have to open as far. Happy days..."

Step 1: Mark a line onto the 'snow plough' before chopping the lower bit off

Step 2: After the actual chopping, make a steel frame to improve bumper mounting

Step 3: Angle the edges in fresh fibreglass. Well done! Now look for new head lights