Once the body is ready, the shaping department begins the process of mating the panels to its corresponding position on the chassis. Most of the build time is spent here, ensuring a millimeter-perfect body fit.
After sign off, body shaping and custom upgrades, such as ‘Gurney Bubbles’ or snorkels can be fitted. Finally, the body is carefully gapped before preparing for paint.
The colour above isn’t just any blue hue – it’s the base for what will end up being a Gulf-liveried car. This is an extremely popular exterior scheme for these cars, but CAV offers the world’s only officially licensed Gulf Oil replica GT40. Having a spray booth in-house allows the team to keep a close eye on every stage of the painting process and address any concerns as and when they happen, allowing for the best possible finish.
In the booth, the body undergoes a rigorous priming and surface preparation process to ensure every last imperfection is eliminated. Paint is then applied in any standard or special colour option, as requested by the customer. Current standard colours are limited to Racing Red, Wimbledon White, Le Mans Blue, Viper Yellow, Deep Black, Guardsman Blue Metallic, Polar Silver Metallic, Titanium Silver Metallic and the aforementioned Gulf Oil livery.
For painted stripes and Gulf liveries, everything is meticulously measured and masked by hand. This intricate process ensures that after the final layers of paint are sprayed and the body has been polished, striping is undetectable by touch.