Here's how the tank started out

Note healthy dose of scars, dents and scrapes in what is probably the original metallic red paint job from 1966. Sad to see all that history go in a way, but now she's ready for another 40 years.

A 650 quid paint job

Progress has been slow due to continued rotator cuff nonsense, but I've now got the tinware grit blasted by the excellent Peter Boonham at Summit Blast Cleaning in Easton (01480 891696), on the recommendation of motorcycle-friendly body shop AJ Cobb in Hilton (ajcobb.com).

Peter de-rusted and etch primered the mudguards, rear light unit, side panels, chain guard, fork legs and a few miscellaneous brackets for £65. Adrian Cobb agreed to paint it all, filling in the dents and scrapes, and refinishing the tank, for £650 plus VAT. It's a hell of a lot of money but this is top quality work, with painstaking use of filler, baking the undercoat on at 80C, much rubbing down, then painting and polishing (and more rubbing and baking).

The result is liquidly beautiful. This cameraphone snap hardly does it justice, but things should look better once the bike is rebuilt.