Page 18: The Rear Clip
December 2006

With the chassis 90% complete, work has started on the body. The doors and front are in very good shape, but the rear clip had been banged up a bit and needs surgery. Fortunately, it's not too bad, and already starting to look good. The left side of the tail needs work above the wheel well. Also the top corners above both taillights have been slightly dented. It's not clear how this happened since if the tail had hit the ground when opened (possible on high ground or if the restraining cables broke) there should be more damage to the tail and possibly the trunk lid. Strange.

	From this angle it's easier to see the uneven gap between the frame and the tail.
	The right side is in good shape with a nice, even gap that will be closed when the rear is positioned properly.

After some major adjustments, the tail was sent off to the media blasters for a good cleaning. The rear (and front) body is aluminum skin over a steel frame. I'm very pleased at the overall condition. There is no rust at all and you can see the trunk lines from underneath are very straight.

The shiny spots on the tops of the rear fenders are where two antena holes were welded up. One hole was very small (maybe 5/8") and the other was about an inch. I haven't decided what to do about a sound system in the car. It would be nice to find a period radio, but maybe I won't install any. The car makes its own music. :-)

Clean and straight. You can see the lightening holes in the steel frame, and the rivets holding the aluminum pieces to the frame. Bobileff has done so many Miuras (he has about 10 in the shop at the moment) that they have built jigs to hold all of the body components, like this stand for the rear body. It's on wheels and can be pivoted to position the body at any angle.

The wheel wells have been blasted clean. Notice all of the rivets bonding the aluminum wells to the steel frame.

More body work, and a bit of frame work to come!