1966 Cannara Restoration Continues – January 2021 to June 2021


Hi Gang…

We rounded the corner into 2021 and came out fighting.

That is, Rob Hernandez our restorer for the 1966 Cannara came out fighting and has been making great progress since.  And that’s good news for all of us here at “Team Cannara” because we were just informed that the car was accepted and will be making its debut at the 2022 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.  It’s an exciting time for all of us down here at Undiscovered Classics in Tampa, Florida.  Let’s check out the progress we’ve made on the restoration so far this year thru June, 2021.

Rob started working on the hood in early 2021. The basic structure was in good shape but over the years it had deformed slightly and the wood used to strengthen the hood had to be replace if bad.

Here you can see some of the wood had been stripped out with more to be removed. The space is then filled with a liquid glass which allows strength with some flexibitlity.

Rob added additional strengthening under the hood to keep it from flattening again. Then, he filled in the centerline hole/space in center of hood and went to work smoothing the surface.

Here we were checking to make sure the offset of the wheels from the body was identical from front to rear.

Here a happy Guy Dirkin jumped in the car so Rob could take some preliminary measurements for the spacing of the dashboard and the inner wall of the engine compartment. This photo was taken on April 2, 2021.

The initial work to fill in spaces/holes in the cockpit is coming along nicely. Once done, everything will be smoothed out perfectly. Here some of the roughwork is seen but will soon be gone.

Rob is fitting the hood to the chassis again and we’re beginning to test emblems for the front of the car.

Here’s a strong candidate we’re considering for the Cannara logo. When the final one is chosen, it will be embedded into the body inside a polished stainless steel ring.

Close-up of the logo we are considering for the Cannara Concept Car

Other logos and sizes are shown here for comparison. Location on the body is also being tested.

We’re also testing a small Chevrolet logo for the rear of the car. During our restorations in the past several years, we have been recreating original logos or creating new name badges for cars to make sure the identify of the car is known by those looking at the car.

Here we are testing the proposed Cannara logo on the wheel centers. If we choose this logo, the centers will be more “gloss” than flat as they appear in this photo.

Here you can see the preliminary work on the inner fire wall and the shape of the dash being formed around the steering wheel. The final work will be right as rain…

Inner firewall work for driver’s side of car. The engine is so close to the fire wall that we had to create an opening to allow us to check the oil via the driver’s footwell.

You can see a bit of the passenger firewall here.

Rob Hernandez and Guy Dirkin take a break for a moment as they are discussing the lower valence for the rear of the Cannara. Rob and Guy have been shaping and re-shaping this and are now getting close to the final design.

The final work on the lower valance will smooth out all corners and be smooth and ready for paint soon.

Summary:

So that catches you up to the end of June – the beginning of summer – for the restoration of the Cannara.  Since then Rob and Guy have made great progress and this becomes even more important given that the car will make its debut at the 2022 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance which is just a bit over 5 months away from today.  But you know gang….it wouldn’t be an Undiscovered Classics car unless there were some stressful timeframes at hand – would it?

Stay tuned for the next story on the Cannara restoration which will bring you up to date on the restoration and show you how much we have to go.  In the meantime, for those of you wanting to learn more about the Cannara and its restoration, click on the link below:

Click Here to Learn More About the Cannara Concept Sports Car

Hope you enjoyed the story, and remember…

The adventure continues here at Undiscovered Classics.

Geoff


Comments

1966 Cannara Restoration Continues – January 2021 to June 2021 — 2 Comments

  1. Nice job on the restoration efforts. If not for the recent article in Classic Motorsports, I would not have been aware of this corner of the automotive collector world. The design of the Cannara reminds me a bit of an AMT model kit I built as a kid called the “Piranha”. It was a mid-engine drag car, I assume it was based on an actual drag car.

    Bob
    Sebring, Florida

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.