LHL 948cab

Graham Mander 1958 Borgward Isabella TS

Graham Mander. graham@wbury.orangehome.co.uk

Converting an Isabella saloon into an Isabella Deutsch Cabriolet.

This is LHL 948 in Daganham where it had been parked for many year having moved around London

Since 1979 when last used.

Now off to its new home in Wednesbury.

LHL was garaged then the hubcaps light housing and bumpers were removed for re-chroming.

I then set about removing the seats, interior, engine and gearbox for overhaul

The sills and floor could have been repaired but I decided to replace with new.

It took 2 days and 6 bags of sand to clean the body shell then all 4 wings were removed

There was corrosion around the nearside rear wing around the light fitting and a few pinholes around the bottoms

of the front wings but other than that the main structure was excellent.

LHL was now ready to have the corroded floor removed and new floor

pressings welded in. It was now time to get everything ready as time was

running out and I was due back to work. A local garage said he would weld in the

floors and do minor repairs to the inner sills.

This is where the problems started.

In April 2000 I was put in contact with a garage in Walsall and having shown them the Cabrio pictures they agreed to do the

conversion. In the mean time welding was progressing very slowly and on return from holiday in July I discovered the company

had ceased trading so as the welding had not been completed either so search started again for someone to do the conversion

Months past and the welding had still not been done by the original garage and I had thoughts of packing it all in.

It was October now and a friend put me in touch with Kelvin Gadd again after showing him the photos he decided to do the

conversion starting in November. Again November passed and due to work Kelvin was unable to start the project and guess what the

welding was still not completed.

In January I was in contact with Uwe Vogel via the internet in Germany.

He has been fantastic in helping me with picture and measurements

I know I would have been in trouble without his help an I thank him.

Finally in March 2001 the work got underway and within a week the body shell was reinforced and roof removed. Now it was my turn to be under pressure as I had to collect bits and pieces for Kelvin. thankfully due to an insurance repair on my Big 6 I had time to arrange for windows and reinforcing panels to be made. The roof frame had been bought form Lars-Erik in Sweden who I met on a Borgward trip.