I was remembering an incident which happened 54years ago. It is still etched into my memory. I was a first year apprentice in a garage. I was working with an old panel beater who had a firey temper. You didn't know where you were with him. He didn't have any tools so I would have to see if I could borrow spanners from the mechanics who weren't always keen on lending them out.
One evening the panel beater said to me just as he was leaving that he wanted to see the holes for the front badges on a bonnet drilled by the morning. The the bonnet had been painted, it was a Ford MK3 Zodiac, the type that Z cars used. I wouldn't want to do the job now after all these years of experience. In those days there wasn't double sided tape. Badges had pins which fitted into holes using clips to secure them. Ford couldn't be bothered to drill the holes and left it for garages to do the job. The individual letters Z, O , D, I, A, C were used and the pins were bent. The spacing had to be correct and so was the alignment. I had a big electric drill and a small 1/8 drill. No dot punch and working on a curved surface. All set for a disaster. It was! I tried my best but drills wander, just a fraction but enough to make the letters wonky. They weren't too far out but not in a straight line.
The next morning I was in for it! I can remember my eyes watering. I thought I was going to get sacked but they kept me on. I don't know what happened to the bonnet whether they repaired it or painted a new bonnet. Even today with stick on letters it would be a difficult job spacing and lining up all those letters without it looking wonky, sloping downhill or ZO D IA C.
