Link between Palaeontology and 356

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Vincent Gillespie
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Link between Palaeontology and 356

#1 Post by Vincent Gillespie »

Those of you who have read my various postings re. KCT, our '55 Bent screen, may remember it was bought by my wife, I freely admit at the time I thought she was mad, but in the fullness of time I did see the light!

Now, you might ask what's the connection with 'KCT' and palaeontology. She has worked at the Natural History Museum for many years and is a well renowned palaeontologist, particularly in the field of marine reptiles. Amongst many of the skills needed to be a palaeontologist one must have a good eye for detail, which is exactly what she did when she saw 'KCT''.

She is not one to blow her own trumpet I have to blow it for her and take great delight in telling people 'nope it's hers not mine, she bought it, thought she was mad etc '. So to follow the blowing her trumpet mode and, although she has many many academic publications to her name, she has co-authored a book to be published on Nov Ist which I personally think is superb but it had what I consider to be the finest accolade when, this morning I answered to a voice that was somewhat familiar voice:
VOP 'Hello, may I speak to Sandra'
Me Yes who is it?'
VOP 'David Attenborough, I just want to have a word with her about the book'
Se me leap up the stairs to pass the phone over with an enormous grin, turns out, having received a prepublication copy, he thinks it's great.

So there's the link between being a great Palaeontologist and 356s, attention to detail!

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Vincent Gillespie
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Re: Link between Palaeontology and 356

#2 Post by Vincent Gillespie »

These should have been in the post no idea why not, KCT as 1st bought, now and the publication.
V
PS she'll probably brain me when she finds out I've posted this!!
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Scott McAdams
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Re: Link between Palaeontology and 356

#3 Post by Scott McAdams »

Wow - great story. Thanks for posting. You both should be VERY proud!
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John Hearn
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Re: Link between Palaeontology and 356

#4 Post by John Hearn »

Love the before and after photo.
KTF
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Re: Link between Palaeontology and 356

#5 Post by Vincent Gillespie »

And would you believe in the before photo I was driving it sitting on a plank, obviously in a private area!
V
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James Rowe
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Re: Link between Palaeontology and 356

#6 Post by James Rowe »

Vincent Gillespie wrote: Sun Oct 30, 2022 7:44 am And would you believe in the before photo I was driving it sitting on a plank, obviously in a private area!
V
How many years did the restoration take? I have seen rough, but that is insane rough.

Did you do it or have it done?

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James Davies
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Re: Link between Palaeontology and 356

#7 Post by James Davies »

Fantastic Vincent! I really great to see the both of you in the now-restored car.

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Re: Link between Palaeontology and 356

#8 Post by Mike Smith »

Congratulations from the PRS Team - to you for keeping that one under your hat for so long and to Sandra for a GREAT achievement.

Of course! I always knew that we were dealing with a higher power
Mike Smith (Essex - UK)

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Re: Link between Palaeontology and 356

#9 Post by Vincent Gillespie »

Hello and thanks for your posts.

Scott; Beyond 'Proud'

James R; After 20+ years in protective 'mothballs', about 4 years from start to finish.
How it was done; Combination of us (dismantling and reassembly), Cliff Gregory, body work, (my welding is a bit agricultural!) Riverside Garage Uxbridge, Paint (thought a roller wouldn't do a decent enough job), Gordon Bond carpets and headliner and PR Services Essex recommissioning, with me as the labourer/tea maker/tool holder for all of them! We were very fortunate that we have known them for years, we can not rate highly enough, and were lucky to get Cliff and Gordon just before they finally retired.

John H; Thanks, I like it as well & I must give you a buzz about a tractor indicator switch.

James D; Thanks and also for all your amazing helpful knowledge.

Mike. S; Thanks to you and all at PR Services.
Also Sandra is well aware of all the amazing research you have done and sent a pre-publication copy of her book to Paul, she and I hope it encourages you on the final push to publish the book you have been working on!

V


and
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Rick Albro
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Re: Link between Palaeontology and 356

#10 Post by Rick Albro »

Congratulations on the book and the much hard work to get where you are to be able to publish a book... I would say another connection is the the long road and persistence needed to complete both projects... While not quite in the Jurassic period we have some local canyons near by with many petroglyphs. One of my favorites is a car glyph thought to have been etched into the stone sometime in the 1920's... shortly after the canyon was discovered.
car glyph.jpg
car glyph.jpg (65.04 KiB) Viewed 538 times

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James Davies
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Re: Link between Palaeontology and 356

#11 Post by James Davies »

Btw, would love to see more photos of the now-finished car! I know you used a lot (all?) the original upholstery, which is fantastic.

More photos of marine reptiles is fine too. My wife is an academic astronomer, and we both love Sir David and his documentaries as well. We know nothing about Icthyosaurs.

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Martin Benade
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Re: Link between Palaeontology and 356

#12 Post by Martin Benade »

Nice story, nice book. As the holder of a never-used geology degree, I appreciate paleontology too.
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Re: Link between Palaeontology and 356

#13 Post by Vincent Gillespie »

Hello James,

At the recent German Car Day a few videos were taken by A.N.Others and have been uploaded onto You tube, try www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAoWTgpOR44 and www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTiF8TaJDuI about 3.5mins and 24mins into the videos respectively you can see KCT

The front seats, rear seat back & cushion, firewall & door panels, rubber mats and about 50% of the engine sound deadening are original. The internal rear wheel arch upholstery, although intact, was too brittle to reuse, no matter what I did to them they just would not stretch back to be able to use, the carpets and headlining were also too fragile to reuse. However in true Palaeo style all have been retained and placed in safe storage (in a period correct suitcase in the back of the car) for reference!

I hope the videos show what you'd like to see but if there is anything specific on KCT you'd like to have see just let me know, more than happy to help after all you and the Registry members have done to help us.

V
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Re: Link between Palaeontology and 356

#14 Post by Vincent Gillespie »

Some photos that should have been attached to my last post, a marine reptile (Ophthalmosaurus) and a couple of other things!
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Re: Link between Palaeontology and 356

#15 Post by Martin Benade »

Just to add some confusion, at least in America Paleo now refers to a diet.
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