Category: General

STANG Magazine

I have been in conversation with magazine publishers called ‘STANG Magazine’, and sent them a few photos of my car. They have added my car to their Special Edition, Editor’s Choice November 2026 latest publication of the magazine which is available online now.

The front and back covers of their magazine.

Front
Back

They sent me the article they was going to publish which I have added here with their permission.

I wanted to help the guys out, so I asked them for some details about their STANG Magazine and they responded with a few paragraphs for me:

“ The new King of Mustang Magazines: How STANG just made history.

For decades, the legendary Mustang Monthly held the ultimate crown in automotive publishing. Between 1978 and 2020, they produced a staggering 502 issues over 42 years of solid Mustang content. That record was considered unbeatable as there is a new record holder.

STANG Magazine has officially broken the record for the most issues ever published by any Mustang magazine in history.

While it took the previous record-holder 42 years to reach their milestone, STANG Magazine smashed past their milestone in just 12 years. With the release of Issue #503, the crown has officially changed hands. We give a massive nod of respect to the former king, but the throne now belongs to a new era.

Fun Facts: STANG Magazine by the Numbers

  • 1,000,000+ monthly global readers.
  • 503+ issues published and counting.
  • 12 years to break a 42-year-old record.
  • $0 spent on paid advertising.
  • 100% free to read online.

Built For the People, By the People

STANG Magazine was built on a simple promise: to give Mustang enthusiasts exactly what they asked for. Founder and Editor-in-Chief Daniel Ramey launched the publication to break the traditional media mold.

The philosophy is straightforward:

  • No Ads: Zero sales pitches or corporate fluff.
  • No Fillers: Just pure Mustang pictures and stories.
  • Real Rides: Focused on daily drivers, not just “trailer queens.”
  • Community First: Created by Mustang owners, for Mustang owners.

A Global Grassroots Phenomenon

STANG Magazine didn’t reach the top through massive corporate backing. It grew purely through grassroots, word-of-mouth popularity. What started with passionate owners using their phones and cameras to share adventures has evolved into a global powerhouse. Today, it stands as the first Mustang publication to be available worldwide in both print and digital formats. It has reached readers in almost every single country on Earth.

The Mustang legacy is alive, well, and officially rewritten. As Daniel Ramey says: “Enjoy the ride, and who you ride with!” “

I was previously unaware of STANG magazine to be honest, but found their home page online here:

stangmagazine Publisher Publications – Issuu

I’m not being paid for this post, I just wanted to give them a shout out and they deserve a little free exposure. After seeing the proposed article I wanted a hard copy of the magazine if it was possible and asked them for details how to go about getting one. They replied with, ‘Yes you can order one, we print them to order’, so I did two in fact. I paid via PayPal and they shipped it right to my door in just over a week. I was really impressed with the quality of the magazine, it wasn’t printed on flimsy paper, it wasn’t full of ads or random fluffiness, just high quality colour spreads front to back.

The inside cover and first leaf.

A random opening of the magazine to another article;

Towards the back a model posed with a Mustang.

The inside of the back over.

A little background from me; I used to be a printer. I served a four year apprenticeship in the city of London when I left school mid term to take the job when it came up. Once my apprenticeship was completed and signed off officially, I could be known as a ‘Master Craftsman’ for my trade. Unfortunately that trade died with the onslaught of Adobe Photoshop 3.0 (on floppy discs, remember those?) and the relentless progression of Cromalin proofing. My roots are still with the print and I still miss that job, I loved it. To this day I still enjoy printed material of books and magazines and collect special editions where I can. I don’t care what people say, nothing beats reading and holding a book, turning the pages and the smell for the experience of a good read.

Although I’m sad about Mustang Monthly no longer being in print, I can understand why. The internet has a lot to answer for with the death of many printed publications turning to online. Then on the other hand, no trees are being cut down for paper unnecessarily. I even had copies of Mustang Monthly shipped over to me in the UK and enjoyed reading them while learning a few things as well. Of course I can now read all that information online and STANG Magazine is now part of that revolution. It has to be noted that producing printed material was, and still is expensive and the printed publications (no mater what the subject) relied on advertising to make their money. Due to editing, proofing and press lead in times many publications were monthly, hence why it took so long to get the lofty numbers of Mustang Monthly, compared to online publications, which can be up for the world to see in a matter of hours. That being said, it takes nothing away from STANG Magazine and I’m personally pleased that they offer the option to have a printed copy if you wanted one. It wasn’t a cheap publication by the time it was shipped to me the UK, that isn’t STANG Magazine’s fault by any means, but when it comes to my car – it was worth it.

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Wallpapers

Everybody likes a customised wallpaper either on their home desktop PC, Laptop or mobile phone. With that in mind I have selected a few I use and decided to share them with you. I have and added to a new Menu option called “Downloads”, click on the link and you will be taken to a page where I intend to add more as I go along. Let me know what I should add or you would like to see on there.

Website navigation menu highlighting the 'Downloads' section.

Once you found what you like, from the Desktop options three so far, or the mobile device options (six so far) click on the ‘Download’ button. They are all free and I haven’t added any watermarks. Lets face it, even if I did, you could remove them with various tools available.

The desktop options are these at the moment, a manor house with a Mustang. Two AI generated scenes, sunset and evening with the cars lights on.

A classic blue Ford Mustang parked in front of a large historic mansion with intricate architecture, surrounded by a gravel driveway and lush greenery.
A vintage blue Mustang parked near an old gas station with a glowing 'GAS 'N GO' sign at sunset, beside an empty road.
A vintage blue car parked beside an abandoned gas station with a lit 'GAS 'N' GO' sign at sunset.

The mobile device options are varied, all high quality photos. They are a large sized images which should allow you to move them around and zoom in and out depending on you device. You could use them as your main screen or maybe just a lock screen.

A blue vintage 1966 Mustang parked on a dirt road surrounded by trees.
Interior view of a vintage car showing the steering wheel, dashboard controls, and air conditioning vents.
Interior view of a vintage car showing a wooden steering wheel, dashboard with gauges, and blue upholstery.
Side view of a blue classic Mustang car parked on a dirt road, surrounded by greenery.
A blue vintage car parked on a dirt road surrounded by trees.
A vintage blue Mustang parked on a dirt road surrounded by a grassy field and trees, with a cloudy sky in the background.

This a photo of my phone using the first image which is zoomed in to fill the width of the device (Samsung S26 Ultra).

There’s plenty of space at the top to add your favourite apps.

A smartphone displaying a blue vintage Ford Mustang parked on a gravel road, surrounded by greenery, with app icons visible on the screen.

Next month my pride and joy will be backed out the garage for a pre season clean and service. That’s tends to be a full weekend process. Oil change, air filter clean, fluids and tyres and brakes checked. Once all the dirty stuff has been done, I then remove the old wax, apply base sealer, coloured base wax (blue), first layer with a top quality wax which is allowed to cure for twenty four hours. The final top wax allowed to cure for a further two hours then buffed to a shine. Glass polished, seats, carpets and not forgetting the headliner all given an interior detail. The trunk are is emptied out, as more often than not the odd bit of grass creeps in when putting my chair away. Chrome is polished all over the car. After the service, the engine bay is cleaned out and the engine given a degrease and wipe down. While the car is draining the oil and the filter changed, it’s an ideal time to clean the oil pan, gearbox pan which is chrome, and the suspension a clean. I exhausts me just thinking about it, but it’s worth the effort.

With the current state of affairs around the world fuel has gone up stupid amounts here in the UK. So it will be painful to fill up with the premium fuel, my car only seems to like Shell V-Power, anything else and the car runs rough.

But, it’s all about the smiles per gallon, not the miles!

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Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

As this year draws to a close I can look back on great year of car shows. Time has flown buy so it seems, or is it that I’m just getting old? In fact don’t answer that!

I’m looking forward to more car shows next year where I can be out driving in my car and talking to some lovely people. I have to confess to that I’m suffering from PMS, ‘Parked Mustang Syndrome’. The car is in the warm climate controlled garage, winterised with all the chrome covered in Gibbs Brand Lubricant to protect it from the elements. It always takes a fair while to polish everything back up again, but I enjoy it.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas

& A Happy New Year!

Have a great Holidays.

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Pakenham Power Show

Another first time car show for me was the Pakenham Power show which was about twenty minutes drive away from where I live. There was two other car shows on the same day that I knew of so it was going to be a bit of a gamble if this local show was going to be any good or not. I studied the weather apps as I missed a show the previous week due to weather warning of thunderstorms that never took place. The weather apps all said hotter than Saturday so I packed the day bag ready for the morning; battery pack phone charger, sun screen, head ache pills, wallet etc.

The alarm woke me up to an already warm day, I let the dogs out and got ready to go. I packed plenty of drinks into the cool bag, I was going to need them. The factor fifty was moved inside the cool bag so it was cool and soothing to put on on. The show started at eleven according to the flyers, but I didn’t know if that was for the public entry or when the cars were to start turning up. I left at quarter to ten so I would miss the rush to get in that I had played out in my mind. The drive there was super relaxed windows down and an easy cruise at fifty mph.

I pulled into the gates and nobody was there. I think the noise of me turning up triggered them to appear from the other side of a wall. I was asked what year my car was and my response qualified me to park in the lower section for fifty year old cars or more, which sounded much grander than it was. I was told to park in front of a bank of four other cars already there, which I think belonged to the marshals.

An ideal photo opportunity for a minute or two before they changed their mind and asked me to move the car backing it up to wall. I was pleased about that as the stones could easily fly up from tyres onto paintwork.

It wasn’t until I got home and downloaded the photos from my phone that my car was the same colour as the sky! The Samsung S23 Ultra did quite well in the strong light conditions considering.

Once I was parked up there was plenty of shade from the fairly high wall. I wasted no time in getting the chair our to grab a can of cold drink.

The sun was hot already and I decided not to wipe over the car with a quick detailer as the paint was already hot, sitting in the chair I could see the heat haze from the roof. Applying products to hot paint will cause them streak and make it look worse. So for a vary rare change, I didn’t wipe the car over once I parked up at a car show.

I had a wander over to the bus and some fond memories flooded back from being a kid. Looking at the back of the bus health and safety wasn’t a thing then as people jumped on and off the moving buses.

This vehicle is one of one made in 1897, it can reach speeds up to 30mph even back then.

It was now getting closer to eleven and some more cars started to arrive and park in the area I was.

The field by the side of the barn was slightly elevated and was for anything less than fifty years old. The little walkway on the left had some mini steam engines, just chugging away barely making a noise. I stood for ages looking at the intricate engineering that is still running seamlessly today.

There was a modern take on an old school fair ground wind instrument which was fed by punch cards. That was the musical entertainment for most of the day.

There was more cars coming in that were older than fifty years old so they got to park up on the other field.

There was this little mini rod that was buzzing around now and again. I think it had a lawnmower engine or something in there. The woman driving it was of a slender build and just about fitted in it. I doubt I could have got one leg in it!

Then we move to to the opposite end of the scale, this huge Bedford ‘Drifter’ 1969 motorhome. It was quite basic, but pretty cool to see. I didn’t even know Bedford made a motorhome.

Making my way back to the wall there was some local goods for sale, there was a proper BBQ, refreshment caravan, cakes and even bread that was made from the mill itself an hour or so earlier. We even had a brass band playing a couple of slots too, not sure what they were playing, but it was entertaining.

Having some lunch and copious amounts of cool drinks, the sun was creeping over the other side of the wall. Now there was no shade at all, I stuck it out till about two thirty then I had enough.

Some other cars were starting to go, so I joined them for another gentle drive home. It was a good show for very old cars, but it was small. Will I go again? Probably not as it was a bit to small for me. It was a nice day out and wasn’t far away. All windows were down on the way home and the sound of a V8 was flooding into the car. I was thinking, compared to the brass band – the sound of American iron sounded so much better!

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Car Show Call Out

Last weekend we were promised a another bright sunny day at Stonham Barns for another car show. This time is was just for American cars and always surprises me on the numbers that turn up. There was a clash of other shows on the same day, so it would be a choice of shows for most people.

As it was an early start the night before I had already uncovered the car and unplugged the battery’s trickle charger. I placed the cool bag in the trunk which was primarily full of cold drinks, closed it and jumped into the car. Sunglasses on at eight in the morning was a bit of novelty, but a welcome one it has to be said. The drive to Stonham was one of the best yet on the way there; not much traffic and nobody tailgating me as I set my own pace and just enjoyed my drive. There was a newer Mustang that went passed me at a rate of notes with a Pontiac following close behind, we exchanged the obligatory wave and continued on. Stonham also has a car boot sale on most Sunday mornings, so there is always a little bit of a queue to get in. Not this time as I almost drove straight in without stopping.

Once through the entrance I was directed to the hard standing area of the field where the Mustangs would be parked. I turned up and parked next to Racoon Red ’65 Fastback with two older gentlemen setting up their chairs. I gave my car a little wipe down with some quick detailer to remove the road I had accumulated on the way to the show. As I was finishing up and taking the first couple pictures of the day, a much newer style red S197 Mustang parked up the other side of me. Cars were now arriving in thick and fast just half an hour before the public was allowed into the event. It was going to be a good day.

I decided to sit in my new chair, have a cold drink and watch the cars park up and perform the rituals I had just finished. I need to get some pics so I started a wander round as the public were allowed in as pretty much all the cars were now in place.

There was quite a few truck at the show so I thought I would group them together for this gallery.

Back to the cars at this point I wandered into the dark side of the Chevy guys with the odd Dodge thrown into the mix. Only joking, Some real nice cars in their own little area like the Mustangs.

There was some more Mustang owners parked up that didn’t want to come and play with the rest of us and parked the other side of the main ring.

The rest of the cars that I liked the look of.

Can somebody explain this to me please?

There was four cars which I spotted and in my opinion, shouldn’t have been there. Yes they can turn up where they want, but surely they should have been turned away from an “Americana Show” by the show’s marshals! German cars, a standard VW Golf with a set of wheels on it and a bog standard BMW Z3.

The Triumph Stag is British classic, and they have V8’s under the hood, this one looks to have some thing nice under there, but I couldn’t be sure. Most of the time they had the Triumph engine, occasionally they were swapped out for a Rover V8. Did this Stag have some American iron under there, I wanted to find the owner and ask, but sadly I couldn’t find them. Besides, I like Stags.

Then there is this example below. A new Volvo that hadn’t even been cleaned. Why on earth this was deemed as acceptable I have no idea. Perhaps he got lost on the way to the general public car park? The owner was quite happy sitting in his deckchair looking pleased with himself. Yes, it’s a nice car and all that, but I can and often do see a car park full of them at the local supermarket. There was plenty of space for all the cars, but this car is not American and it certainly didn’t belong there on the day.

Am I being too harsh?

It was another great day out with lots of fabulous sunshine, although there was the odd cloud that turned up to spoil the day! 😉

I met some really nice people, my new chair was comfortable and I managed to chilled out in it for a few hours while looking at the back of my car. I even had an ice cream and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I left a little early to avoid the inevitable line of cars trying to leave at the end of the show. I managed to drive straight out of the venue this time and had a perfectly chilled cruise home. Awesome day out.

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Culford Classic Car Show 2022

Sunday 10th July was a show that I look forward to each year which is held at Culford in Suffolk. The venue is held within the Culford School grounds. This prestigious private school warrants full boarding fees in excess of £30k a year. This is a stunning school and from what I understand, wants for nothing.

The school opens their grounds once a year to allow a car show in aid of various charities. The show is well organised and always booked up well in advance.

On the day of the show the sun was out bright and early so I packed plenty of cold drinks in the cooler bag. The drive there was tranquil and I saw lots of cars on their way and for some reason we all seemed to wave or acknowledge each other, perhaps it was the sun that put everybody in a good mood. I certainly wasn’t going to complain at that. I arrived early at the school main gates just after eight. The Bury Retro Car Club had set up their area with a flag. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see the flag at the time when the marshal asked me where I was going. He tried to tell me to park my Mustang on the Ford Capri stand, I just agreed with him and ignored him heading for area “C” where the club was supposed to be. I found them pretty much straight away and looked for a place to park amongst the allocated spaces. I had a choice, in the shade under a huge tree, or in the sun. Although the tree option would be great, it took me a fair while to remove the tree sap from the last tree I was parked under. Reluctantly I parked up and the factor fifty sun cream was applied even at that early time of the day before I started the gentle wipe over of my car to remove the road dust.

During the day I took over four hundred photos, but I whittled it down to just under a couple of hundred on this post. I take my pictures on my phone which is now a Samsung S22 Ultra.The photos are normally spot on, but with the bright sun, reflections, contrast and exposures etc. I did the best I could to make them presentable.

There was a great selection of cars, some of which I have photographed a few times before. The first batch of cars are starting with the club stand or area.

I wandered around in no particular order aimlessly taking pictures enjoying the sun and cars.

Although there were Mustangs scattered around all over the show, I collated them here.

There was a section near the school of super cars so I have grouped those together as well. Although the Lamborghinis weren’t in the line of Ferraris, I added them in, just because I can.

There was a BMW sales stand there which sort of goes against the classic car show ethos. There was also some cars for sale from the sponsors of the show, they were allowed in my opinion.

Back to wondering around again.

A very nice GT40, not real obviously.

A couple of nice Alpine BMWs that you don’t see many around these days.

These two cars I have seen around a few times, but never seen them driven anywhere tho.

A great looking Cobra

I eventually got back to my car after a much needed detour via the hot sausage in a roll van I might add, and got my chair and show board out. A little while later I was greated with a friend of mine Steve Armon from Trig Point Pictures, he brought along a signed Limited Edition “Mates Mustang” print for me. I stood it up against my show board with a few of his business cards to show case his work. I had a few questions asked about it and said that they really needed to speak to Steve for prices and availability of a shoot as I know he’s a busy bloke.

As the sun was out the reflections just don’t do the print justice. When I got home I stood it on our fireplace to take a better picture. My wife isn’t really into cars, but she likes it so much it has stayed on the mantle piece since I put it there. I’m in no rush to move it.

Steve had messaged me to ask if I was going to be at the show and he said he would catch up with me there sometime during the day.

The picture was one that was taken from the Cambridge shoot we did together early in the morning. I even use one of the pictures from that session as my header photo!

Thank You Steve for the print.

I’m not on a commission (before you ask), but if you want some real nice pictures of your car or anything else for that matter he has some really good rates.

I was up and down from chair throughout the day speaking to many people and enjoying myself. I returned to my chair to plant my butt down when the chair decided it was going to eat me. A plastic fitting had broken which bent a tube which allowed the arms to move inward and clamp me in place.

To the amusement of some it was comical trying to see me getting out of a chair intent on not allowing me to move. As the show drew to a close I left a little early and took my chair to it’s final resting place.

A new chair has been ordered and will arrive early this week. Anyway, the exit wasn’t as smooth as getting in a and had to queue up. I left plenty of gap to allow cool air to the car as much as possible. It also allowed for a final pic.

I got home and again had to wipe wipe road dust of the car before I tucked her up in the garage. A great day, plenty of sunshine and I bought home a fantastic pic of my car too.

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Facebook test upload

Will it work?

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Merry Christmas

I just wanted to wish all my followers and contributors a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

(Note: My car would never go out in the snow, but it looks kinda cool though.)

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A Refreshing Look?

Yesterday I had tried to add a couple of items to my menu bar and I ended up breaking it. 🙁 I managed to get it back again to a normal state but’s not how it was. I was getting constant ‘gateway errors’ and the menus wouldn’t update. I have since been in contact with WordPress Help a couple of times, and they informed me that the theme that I had been using is now eleven years old. I nearly fell out of my comfy office chair when that flashed up on my little chat window.

The task for today was to hunt through all the themes that are out there to see if I could get one to work. I had a priority list of must haves; the image header, custom text colours, post options and of course how it looks and feels.

I found a few but settled on this one. I have been able to edit everything I needed with a the help of a couple of plugins that I need in order to make it all work. So far so good.

Except the header image which is playing me around. 😡

The image I’m trying to use is this one from the pro shoot in Cambridge, which has my blog title and tag line on the picture. The heading space wouldn’t allow both a picture and site tittle for some reason.

The heading looks fine on a couple of browsers Chrome/Firefox and the occasionally on Edge. It works on the mobile phone with the menus via a drop down so it’s much cleaner look too.

If you look at the new design can you please let me know if you have any issues with it, either half showing or heavily cropped like this;

I got a nasty feeling I may have to change this all again. I hope not.

Why did I mess with it? Well, I wanted to add a little ‘For Sale’ heading as I have a little supply of some parts. The addition of the extra menu tab was just to much and the theme had a bit of a frothy fit and wouldn’t play ball anymore.

What I have for sale is a little supply of the genuine Summit Racing Universal Engine Lift Plates. These are aimed at the carburettor guys on any make of engine. at £14.00 + P&P its a right steal. Click here for more pics and details.

In the very near future I will be selling something quite unique for classic Mustang owners. The prototype works and I’m now in collaboration with Mustang Maniac to get them made in volume. It’s all very exciting so watch this space!

Back to this post, I think this is much needed update and clean modern look now. The menu bar should be at the top on a PC so it’s easier to navigate around. There area few little tweaks to the side bar and social media buttons to like and follow.

If ANYTHING doesn’t work or looks rubbish let me know and I will amend it. I’m still playing with some of the settings and I may need to change bits around.

Please let me know if you like it or you want the old back. I can take criticism and take it like a man.

I do have two car shows to post and I haven’t forgotten them, it’s just that I have been busy trying to sort the theme mess out. Funny how a hour or so has turned into nine hours already!

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Merry Christmas

Just wanted to say to all my readers and visitors:

Merry Christmas & much better New Year.

Keep safe everybody and lets look forward to a 2021 being a normal year. But the way things are looking at the moment – that could be wishful thinking!

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