Page 44 - Oct 2022

A Quick Tour through the Slayden Gallery
1986-2022
Once Upon a Time there was no I nternet; there was
no Y ouTube. Back in those days of yore when Bob
began his project, people still communicated by
letter, by phone call, and by seeing each other in
person. They learned how to do things that they
didn't know how to do in the same way.

Back in the old days people formed real friendships
based on common interests, rather than being
friended on Facebook with a friend request and a
click for acceptance. Bob was lucky to have come
upon the Italia back in the old days because he soon
discovered, not only the history of Italian motor car
manufacturing from real magazines that he could
keep to hand, but the band of brothers who owned
Triumph Italia 2000s. It was a very small circle of
international friends.

Bob knew he had a lot to learn as he undertook the
work. He hadn't been born wealthy and earned a
comfortable but not magnificent salary. The help
from his friends was invaluable. He knew that he
was going to have to learn how to do the work
himself and to do it to his own exactlng standard,
using many of the tools that were in use in the hand
made workshops of Italy. while rebuilding, making
or finding parts that were no longer available.
"From 1986 to 1991, I spent 1,500 to 2,000
concentrated hours on the car. Then from 2017
until now I've spent about 2,000 more, " Bob
estimates. In between those years, the time spent
was more sporadic because work and family
commitments was Bob's real life but he never
stopped thinking about the car, learning about the
cor, or improving his skill set to work on it.

"Through this process, I taught myself to weld with
MIG, TIG and torch. I taught myself to panel beat
compound curves and butt weld patch panels into
the car. My metal fabrication skills have grown
immensely," he explains. " I learned to spray
paint, do regular body work (straighten panels) and
sand blast. I learned to rebuild the engine,
transmission and overdrive and to set up testing
rigs. Before this project I'd rebuilt only one V8
engine back in the 1960s but I've worked on
mechanical things all my adult life."

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