Sweet & Sour (part 1)

Over the weekend of 8th to the 10th of November 2019 I was asked to join the other twenty finalists for the Pride Of Ownership awards in the centre of hall three. I was thrilled to be a part of the show. This show certainly hit the sweet spot for me – Part 1.

During my time there I had a great time and spoke to many fantastic people and lost my voice as a result. Some might say that is good thing though! I even let a could of people sit in my car.

The show attracted over 3000 cars, some on show & some for sale, all of which made for a spectacular show. I took around 400 photos way to many to put on my little ol’ blog so I decided to split the weekend event into two sections. As the title suggests a fantastic time was had by all and i totally enjoyed my time there and a wonderful experience I doubt could be bettered. However – it was badly tainted with a nasty twist and sting in the tail, I will explain all of that in part two in greater detail.

I will start with the events up to the opening. All entrants for the show needed to arrive on Thursday 7th from 10am onwards up until 8pm when the building was secured for the night. I set off from home just after 7am in the rain. Yep I got the car out and it rained. I didn’t stop raining ALL the way to Birmingham all be it in various intensities I should say. I eventually arrived at ten past ten a little over three hours later. There was a couple of us early birds, promptly followed by a few more a short while later. The organisers directed us to the parking positions on the stand, well a bit of carpet actually. This is view of the hall before it started to take shape, a few behind the scenes as it were. There was a long que to get us into the correct area locations.

I started cleaning from 10:15am until 7:45pm when the place was being shut down and us stragglers who were there got turfed out for the night – I was still cleaning at that point.

The car was the dirtiest it has ever been. Chrome looked like faded aluminium and the paint a shade of grey dirtier.

Some other cars arriving as I was cleaning, these guys took it super serious with ramps and all sorts with mirrors under the car, some even trailered in with plastic wraps on the wheels.

I decided to waterless wash the car twice very carefully, then i wanted to strip the old wax off and start again. That was done by 70/30% mix of isopropyl alcohol and water. With that done I could then start to add a couple of layers of clean wax to build it up again. I took my pre packed case that I thought I would need- I needed it all.

With the car pretty much where I wanted it to be I could cover it for the night and start early in the morning for the interior and finish the wheels.

Early on in the morning there was out info sheet that was to be put into the stand next to the cars, this was mine.

Here was the stand ready for the press and some public at 9am on the Friday morning. The Ferrari wasn’t completed as it turned up, but a few guys worked wonders on it ready for the show. then carried on with the work after the show, each day the parts boxes getting less and less.

At 7.45 we were not allowed in even a few minutes early as exhibitors, mainly down to ‘jobs worth’ security guards. So a few of us sat here looking at this for quarter of an hour.

Early and late evening I could wander around and take a few pictures without people in the way. So in no particular order because I can’t remember here are a number of pics.

So real nice old timers.

Something different, not everyday you get run over by a tank!

Once the day got busy I hardly left the stand. The other exhibitors were great looking after each others cars (except for a couple of owners).

The car got plenty of attention throught the day and weekend and was non stop.

So what got me so fired up? Read the next post and find out, it’s not pretty reading!

Part two will be at 2pm tomorrow!

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Not The Last Car Show After All!

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I had attended the last car show of the season, with a possibility of another if didn’t rain. Well, that was indeed the last car show for me as the next intended show did in fact rain so I didn’t go as my car has gotten wet enough this year already. However, earlier in the year I had applied to the Lancaster Insurance Classic Car Show to be considered for the “Pride Of Ownership” section of the show. The expectation was not to hear anything due to the standards of cars out there. Then I got an email to say that I had been selected as a finalist at this years show. That means I will be going to another show, hosted inside the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, UK.

The Birmingham NEC hosts and boasts the largest classic car show in the country with over 71,000 visitors across 7 show halls over a very busy weekend. This year the sights have been set even higher for even more visitors. The show is a full on Petrol Head event with over 3000 cars, many, many trade stands, autojumble, talks, live demonstrations and they are trying to build an E-Type Jag in a weekend!

There will be a total of 20 cars in the Pride of Ownership final, the winners will be decided by the visitors voting on the show days at the stand. The Lancaster Classic Car Show and the Birmingham NEC have been posting regularly now on social media and email shots. My car has been shown on a number of posts with this one taken at the Mustang Maniac yard;

This is the first press release on their website to show the first 10 cars selected for the category.

If you click this picture it will take you to the home page of the LCCS so you can see what is going on if you want to make a day or two of it.

My car was last at this show just after the restoration was completed in 2015 on the Mustang Owners Club of Great Britain. That was a manic three days where I started to loose my voice at the end of the weekend talking so much.

I’m so excited this year about being there again as an exhibitor and hope to see lots of people all weekend. Please come over and say “Hello” to me and mention my blog so I can meet some of my readers with little luck. Of course if you then think I’m a proud enough owner of my car more so than the other car owners, then maybe drop in a vote for me.

There is going to be some amazing cars there on this stand as my competition, actually that’s a little unfair, they are all fellow enthusiasts just like me. Win or loose it’s a privilege to be selected to appear at this event regardless. In fact I already consider myself to have won, just because I’m taking part. Sounds corny right? Maybe, but its true. My car is for me to enjoy driving it about and is not some trailer queen just for show. If I don’t win then I can at least enjoy my trip back home again. As you probably know I also use and show the car for some good causes too.

The journey will take me a little over two hours according to my mate Tom (Tom Tom Sat Nav), so I can add another half hour to that as I wont be thrashing the ol’ girl up the motorway to do the 120 miles fast as possible. I will not doubt be travelling in the wind & rain to get there and spend a total day getting her cleaned up again after I get there. ‘Cause lets face it with my luck this year it will rain, won’t it?

Oh, just for the record I’m not on commission for the event, I just wanted to shout about it as I’m mega excited and just can’t wait to be there. There is even a countdown timer I added to the show opening.

I honestly hope to see you there. 🙂

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My Classic Car Debut

Wow, what a weekend, that’s all I can say. There are so many thanks to go out in this post and I will get to them all as the story unfolds. The car show that I am referring to is the biggest in the UK – “Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show” held at the Birmingham NEC 13 – 15th November 2015, hosting some two thousand odd cars as well as traders and motoring clubs. So if you are going to do a car show, jump straight into the deep end, just like I did with restoring the car in the first place. Although the show is a Friday to Sunday the hard work starts early Thursday Morning. Due to logistical nightmare I wouldn’t be able to drive up to Birmingham myself which is about 2 hour drive away from my home. So Adam being the top bloke that he is said “get down here Wednesday night and stop in the camper, then you can go up with the cars”. What he means by camper is the enormous American motor home that is so plush it makes some hotels I have stayed in look like derelict flats. So my good lady wife dropped me down the Mustang Maniac yard packed with everything that I would need. Clothing, food for a midnight Scooby snacks, kindle and my trusty Samsung Galaxy Tab 12.2 Pro. Adam had already got the heating on in the van by the time I arrived and was nice and warm. I read my kindle for a little while and fell asleep in the big comfy bed. Stupid o’clock I heard the dogs barking and few minutes later the familiar bark of a V8 Mustang starting up. The two tiered transporter truck sent by LAR Traffic Services was now being loaded with the Black ’66 GT Fastback. My car fired up and was sitting in the workshop waiting to come out and play. Thanks so much to LAR Traffic Services who transported my car and Ken’s car with no problems at all.

My biggest thanks has to be to Adam at Mustang Maniac who sponsored my trips there and back so I could get to the Show. All the guys at Mustang Maniac for making this dream possible.

The car was driven to the truck and Adam loaded my car onto the transporter and again tied it down to stop it moving. The sun started to come up now and burn some of the mist away and I started to get butterflies in my stomach from excitement.

Everything was loaded into the cars, overnight bag, Show Board, business cards and flyers etc. I climbed in and we set off for the few hours journey. The exhibition cars had to be checked in before mid day on the Thursday, we left a little before eight to give us plenty of time, I was too excited to remember to even have breakfast. The journey was pretty good and we made great time until we got near the NEC motorway turn off, then the traffic started to snarl up. The good thing was we could see the drivers taking pictures of the cars before they even got to the show. I’m not saying the traffic was bad, but…

We arrived at the NEC to the usual carnage at these sort of events where no clear signs about telling us where to go.

We asked a couple of herberts who were directing traffic, they told us to follow the road round. About a mile later of stop start traffic jams and drooling over the cars being unloaded, we eventually found the Pavilion Hall. Now it was our turn to unload. We were given our wrist bands for the “Build Up” day as they call it, cars are moved around and the stands set up for business. Yellow band for Thursday, then the other colour bands were given out by the Club stands where you were exhibiting or showing stands as the case may be. I was now officially an “Exhibitor” for the weekend. I have been to so many of these car shows in the past where I have been envious of the cars on show. I have often wondered what it would be like to be part of the classic car show scene. Now I know; it’s such a buzz to be part of something where everybody there had one thing in common, the love of cars. No animosity towards any car and everybody just looked at all the other cars in appreciation as they went passed you. I have never understood why people only like Ford, or Chevy or Fiat etc. and they refuse to like any other cars, I just don’t get it. I love Mustangs obviously, but I also like so many other makes such as Chevy, Pontiac, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Audi, TVR etc. etc.

The rest of the day was all about getting the cars on the stands to arrange them in their final positions. The fabulous ’66 GT was on the Classic American stand and they made a cracking job of making her look factory fresh.

My car was on the Mustang Owners Club Of Great Britain (MOCGB), position P1-320. Many of the carpets still had the plastic covers over them and all the exhibitors had to wear high vis jackets for health & safety reasons. A lot of the carpets were still being laid and furniture was being built all around the cars. My car was parked on the end just for now next to a very rare Shelby Super Snake. I gave a hand to help set up the stand and put out the bunting, I even bought a polo shirt before the show started.

The rest of the cars for our stand soon turned up, then we were able to position them properly ready for their three-day pampering session.

Thank the MOCGB for making me feel welcome and we had such a good laugh with a very nice bunch of people on the stand this year. The cars were cleaned, and I checked the Show Plates and decided where I was going to put my car’s Show Board.

A big thanks to Lance at Linards Design & Print Solutions for the Show Plates and the Show Board.

We got to work cleaning the cars, but not before we all had a look at each others cars. I didn’t realise just how much time and effort goes into making these cars shine the way they do. I cleaned mine, looked at the others on the stand and cleaned it again! Thursday was over and it was time to go back to the hotels. The performance at the hotel to check in was made worse by one receptionist and bloke asking stupid questions, like “what do press on the phone for reception?”I was like thinking – Go to the room and it will be on the phone man. Once in my room, I got my green wrist band ready and got the clothes out ready for the next day, then went out looking for some food, I was getting hungry now, perhaps that was why I was intolerant of the bloke earlier.

What did my car look like after the cleaning? This was her first day out;

Friday, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Friday. I put on my Green exhibitor band, I knew it was going to be busy, but I wasn’t sure what it would be like from a Club stand point of view. The announcements over the tannoy warned us of half an hour to open with a ten minute count down in between. We were busy cleaning the cars when the announcement that the “show was now open”. The sweat from frantic polishing was starting to run of my head with the pressure and the physical exertion. I’m sure I cleaned the car yesterday though! I swapped my manky old t-shirt for a MOCGB black polo shirt trying to cool down as I stood wondering what was going to happen, what would I say? The public came in after a few minutes and wandered around the stands. I had my first visitors ask me about my car, how long had I had it? What colour is it? I didn’t need to worry, I just stood there and answered their questions. Then more questions from more visitors, it was like that all day. I was asked what was under the hood, so I opened it up and it stayed open virtually all weekend long. The questions never stopped. There were people with cameras taking pictures of the engine, the fender badges, inside and they even wanted to look inside the trunk, so theat stayed open all weekend as well. The crowds got quite large around the MOCGB stand as they had Bullitt, Gone in 60 Seconds, Transformers, Getaway etc car chases all on a loop at the front of the stand on a big LCD television. It was funny to see the crowds watching Steve McQueen in his car chase, when the chase scene was over the crowds will filter away. When it came back on again the crowds were back. It was like watching the tide coming in and going, but only on shorter time scales with people.

I know I have some great people who follow my blog and the first to find me just like they said they would was the fantastic Triumph “Stag Owners Club” ; https://stagownersclub.wordpress.com/ It was fantastic to put their faces to the names and we had a great chat. I made a promise to go and see them a bit later, but before they went they took a photo of the man with a Mustang, so I dutifully posed, the secret was out who the man was now.

I visited their wonderful stand only they were not there to return the favour for a photo session, but like ships in the night we passed messages. The Stag Owners Club web site was even nominated for an award! Well done for that guys.

I knew that the Triumph Stag had an overheating problem when they came out. Funny thing is that it wasn’t anything to do with the design or the engineering, it was the rather rubbish quality control that caused the issues. On a recent Rally the Stag was leading 17 days out of the whole Trans America Challenge 2015, all through the deserts where other cars were melting in the sun (literally), the car never experienced an over heating issue at all. The car suffered a rather unheard of rear diff giving up which was replaced and the car was nursed to the finish line. The car did finish and now it has been proved beyond doubt that the engineering design was not at fault. These cars are amazing, they look great, sound great and are certainly a very desirable collectors car. In fact they would be my number one affordable UK Classic car choice.

I came in the next day to find this placed on my seat: Oops, now how did that happen? Looks like I have only gone and accidentally left the wrist band over it! Sorry, but does that mean the secret is safe still? 😉

Thank you so much guys for the photo, it means a lot to me and it will be up in my garage very soon. Thanks for your time answering what must have been daft questions coming from me.

Another visitor from the blog scene was a Nigel from https://nigelhamlinwright.wordpress.com/ “A Special Builder’s Notes”. He arrived with his good lady and we had a nice chat and found out that the small world we live in is even smaller than I thought. It turns out that we only live a couple of villages apart, so I will be going to visit Nigel soon to have a look at his projects he has on the go. Thanks for coming to see me Nigel, again much appreciated.

Gary W – an ex Ford UK Director, who regularly contributes to Mustang Maniacs own blog with his knowledge and his photo’s was next. Gary came to find me among the sea of people who were around me and my car, I believe my expression was like a rabbit in car headlights. We had an all to brief chat as it was the first time he had seen my completed car, and not just in the workshops. Thank You Gary, I feel a bit bad that I wasn’t able to speak to you longer though.

The Friday’s show drew to an end. I had three offers to buy my car from people who liked what I had done. One guys wanted to take it home that day and offered me some seriously good cash! But my little lady is not for sale. But, this is a big but, me and wife decided that the only time it will ever be parted with is if I could swap it for a genuine Shelby shell to start it all again. The chances of that happening is not very good at all, the car is of a massive sentimental value to me now.

The hotel room has the aircon on full blast and I collapsed on the bed to catch my breath and let my throat rest from all the talking. Was I all Mustanged out? Nope!

Saturday, the alarm woke me at an early time so I could get some breakfast and shower in before the day started. By the time I had got to the entrance I had put on my dark blue wrist band. I walked round to the show hall the long way round so I could look at the other cars early before it got to busy to see them. I didn’t manage to walk away from my car all day on Friday except for a a couple of toilet breaks of a few minutes and came straight back. I took some photo’s of some cars this time and then realised the time. I rushed back to the stand to see the other guys cleaning. I looked at my car and see a small layer of dust from the overnight stay. Out came all the cleaning stuff again and I got to work.

The MOCGB were going to have a special guest appear on their stand at 9am just before the main public came in to the hall; Edd China from the very popular TV show “Wheeler Dealers” was going to be with us. Edd is seen on the right here next to Mike Brewer his co presenter.

Edd came over and was speaking to Chris York from the MOCGB and had his photo taken with all of us at Club stand. The club gave him a cordinated blue MOCGB polo shirt so he didn’t feel left out of course, that we were all wearing that day. Edd sat in a gold Coupe in the Club stand and then came over to sit in mine too posing for some photos, which he seemed to like just as the public started to notice who and where he was.

What a buzz that was, and a genuinely nice guy. I was told by Chris that Saturday and Sunday was a different ball game. I wasn’t sure what he meant but I was about to find out. The Saturday crowd was more family orientated and out to look at some nice cars. It turns out that Friday is for the more hard core motor enthusiast, Petrol Heads or Gear Heads as they are known in different places around the world. Again the questions came thick and fast, people wanting to “Do a project just like that” pointing to mine and the other cars. Lots of questions around the origins of the car, how long did it take, would you do it again etc. One bloke even had a moan at my aerial. My aerial is slightly smaller than the average Mustang aerial for a simple reason. I wanted mine to retract out-of-the-way. This will mean that the aerial will not be damaged by selfish yobs, and the fact that a car cover will not have to have a hole made in it to fit. However as the aerial wasn’t original he took great delight in telling me. I tried to find out what car he had, unfortunately he didn’t answer and walked off. What was that all about? The car is done to how “I” want it, not a “Concours d’Elegance” exhibit that will never be driven. But the rest of the day was great and had many, many photo’s taken of the car. Again the hood was up, the trunk was open and the drivers window down so people could see. I didn’t have time to eat, had a very quick toilet break and it was back to the great public and questions. I now realised that I didn’t need to worry about what to say, I was being asked and I just had to answer. The tannoy announced the show was over and about half hour later the crowds had gone. All that could be heard was the Bullitt car chase for the umpteenth time that day. Then it fell silent. I cleaned my car from finger prints yet again. The yellow microfiber cloth was a permanent extension of my arm and has replaced my hand. The walk back to the hotel took longer than yesterday, perhaps they made the road longer during the day. More offers to buy the car today and I was feeling good mentally. The room invited me in and the bed just screamed “collapse on me”, I definitely heard it. I took time to send some pics of my day to guys at Mustang Maniac and few friends who would be interested. Was I all Mustanged out? Nope!

The photo’s I took that day? No, I don’t have a thing about red cars, it’s just that I have never seen the full house of Ferrari’s like this before. Cobra replicas a plenty, Jaguar E-Types and Aston Martins, and of course the big boys GT40’s, all just incredible cars.

There was a another photo I took specially for a another blog I follow all about his Land Rovers; http://mud4fun.com/ I just thought was quite unusual. Needs must I suppose, it wasn’t the toilet that made me smile, it was the toilet roll holder, attention to detail there then.

Sunday the alarm sounded like a V8 had started up next to my head, I don’t think I moved in the night at all. I put on my light blue wrist band and felt that ominous tickle of a sore throat. I hope my voice would last the day as I walked down to breakfast, I felt a little guilty about grunting to the waitress who had a very polite “Good Morning Sir”. Sorry to the little waitress, but my voice needed to be saved. It was raining again and I was glad that I only had a little way to walk. Walking to the show hall seemed to me that that road had just got a longer over night as well. Once inside the halls I knew the routine now, clean the car, change top and get ready. I was looking forward to the day and I was now confident that I wasn’t going to make myself look stupid in front of anybody. I managed to have few conversations with the other guys on the stand and we had a few great laughs between us during the day. Around lunch time I had two younger girls who came up to me asking about the car for their dad. Apparently he told them to find a Mustang car that they liked. They choose mine, I let them both sit in the car and answered all their quite grown up and mature questions. I spotted their “Press” passes as they told me that they would bring their dad over. I was absolutely fine with that and said “of course”, and thought no more of it.

A little while later another “Celeb” walked over to me and he didn’t need any introductions; Tim Shaw with his two daughters whom I had been speaking to earlier. Tim is from the TV program “Car SOS” and wanted to know all about my car. We had a lengthy chat about parts, restoration and what his next project is going to be for the TV show. I was incredibly excited when he told what the show was going to do soon. So make sure you watch it, I know definitely will be. I know exactly what they are going to be restoring, but I don’t think I can say publicly yet. Anyway another great guy who kindly posed for photos sitting in my car. He attracted a nice crowd around my car before he had a chat with Chris from the Club at the back of the stand.

There was a lot of interest from people and some even took their interest up close and personal. One guy had a ’66 Mustang with large exhaust headers like mine which was causing issues with his steering. He wanted to know how I got round it, once he had seen what I had done he was a happy chap I think.

Around about mid day John from MM turned up on his way back from Yorkshire and helped answer some of the questions with me. Adam turned up a little later in the afternoon to see how things were going. Adam had bought back the LAR truck which we were going to load onto at the end of the show. The final announcement came that signalled the show was closing, the simultaneous sound of hundreds of car horns sounding together made a spectacular finale. Adam was telling me about the drama he had trying to get the truck parked close to the hall, now it was literally miles away in another car park. We decided to help pack the Club regalia away, then when the doors were opened, we would be first out to get to the truck. The plan was floored, as the organisers opened our hall doors everybody else had the same idea, crucially before us, it was wedged as far as the eye could see. One guy said to Adam “You can go the other way you know.” So we turned left when everybody was going right. It turns out after three miles and few police detours we found the truck more by luck and parked up behind the truck.

We got in the truck and headed out back to the yard. We had a great chat about the three days and what had happened. We saw a number of cars going past us from the show, obviously being driven home. A couple of hours later we were back at the yard, the sound that greeted me at the start of all this greeted me again, the dogs. We drove the cars to the workshop and covered them up. Adam’s first on job Monday was to move them about again.

Was I all Mustanged out on Sunday night? Just a little, but I enjoyed every moment of it. The comments from the people who looked at my car made it all worth while. The fact that people said to me that they always a car “exactly like that” made my day. Actually, that’s wrong – it made my THREE days. Honestly it did.

Additional Thanks:

Chris from Classic American Magazine who was taking photo’s of the Club stand and the cars.

All the guys from the Mustang Owners Club of GB.

Samantha from http://www.motorverso.com & Samathamowels.com

Thanks to EVERYBODY who popped by to say hello to me and spend your time with me talking about cars, most of the time my car.

After four years I had made it to a Classic Car Show, it just happened to be the biggest in the UK. I’m looking forward to the next one now. 🙂

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Restoration Finished?

This weekend was the last weekend at Mustang Maniac before the Birmingham NEC Classic Car Show. There was lots of tiny little jobs to do and tweak but priorities have to be played. Yogi was getting parts ordered up for me that I would need to fit the cards so I could get them from the stores. On my return I was given my instructions on how to fit them. The door cards cover the inner workings of the door and finish the interior, they are a notorious pain in the butt to fit and look good. Although my interior is a Pony spec I didn’t like the Pony door cards. So Adam ordered mine up as a special order for what I wanted. Hopefully just something very subtle different to the standard ones you see out there. The cards a dry fitted to the door to see where the mechanisms need to come through. This was fairly simple as I just got a little dirty dust and put it on the tops of the mechanism. This left a mark on the white underside so I knew exactly where to punch the holes out. John came up trumps with a set of punches to cut the holes, that way the holes are clean and shouldn’t run. The little clips on the back of these door cards slot into cut outs in the card itself, and the metal legs press into the metal of the door frame. Simple so it sounds, but the reality is every clip (around thirty in total) has to be aligned to the holes and pressed in until it snaps into place. Press in the wrong place and may damage the cards. There is a wax sheet that is held in place same principle as the rear quarters were. On top of that was two springs, these keep the door car pressed against the door handles to avoid any bow or sag in the card. The handles for the door opening and the window winders are a single screw secure. The arm rest comes in two parts; the chrome base and the coloured arm pad on top of that which in turn is held in place with two screws underneath.

The cards in place.

At his point Paul who originally sprayed my car came back to “Mop” the paint work, “Glaze” it and then a final “Wax”. This was a professional detail going on here now and was being made to look her best for the show. The rubber parts were masked over as was the vent to avoid any debris going down there.

The process was the roof, trunk, hood, then the sides. The was repeated for the glaze and the waxing.

After each process had been done I just stood there in disbelief looking at how good it was. Paul took great delight in telling me “Don’t worry, it will get better”. OMG was he right. the depth of gloss on this car staggering. Paul said he doesn’t often get to shine them up after he has painted them as the customer takes them away and that’s it. So after one year Paul is back finishing his beautiful work of art he has created for me.

Glaze going on.

Then the last step was the wax to be hand applied and ;eft for twenty minutes and hand buffed off.

I can’t begin to tell you just how delighted I am with the paint and finish. The reflection in the poor light and rain in a workshop is still nothing short of incredible. Now I know how much time and effort these Concours cars are prepped. Paul spent four hours doing my car, and that’s a professional detailing.

Paul (a different Paul this time) was down during the week and said he would kindly fit the badges up for me. These take a little time to get right and in the correct places. Why? Because these were going to be stuck in place and no holes drilled in the fenders to take the clips on the back of the badges. The process involved in a lot of measuring and patience. Due to the timescales involved I wouldn’t have had time to do it all on Saturday. So a big Thank You to Paul & Yogi on their help.

The messy part got saved until later which was the wheels. The “Raised White Lettering” is coated in a blue protective film which needs to be cleaned off. Yogi gave me a pot of his road film cleaner (the last he had) and told be to just rub it till the protective film starts to come of. Plenty of elbow grease later the results are awesome. The before during and after pics. Before you say the wheels don’t look shiny – I know, they have a coating of Gibbs Brand Lubricant on them to protect from any moisture. They will be buffed up at the show.

The tyres were then treated to some tyre dressing to give them back that nice new look, what am I on about? They are new!

1966 Ford Mustang Restoration is FINISHED!

How long has it taken (time wise so far) from purchase to restoration completion?

4 years 1 months 21 days
or 49 months 21 days
or 216 weeks 0 days
or 1512 days

I could work it out as man hours (I hate to think just how many, but at least a couple of thousand hours), perhaps I will work it out one day. I have spent at least one full day a weekend on the car and sometimes the other day too, cleaning, prepping, painting, making the bits for the car etc. I even spent hours in the shed after work in the summer months, working into the darkness preparing bits that would be needed for fitting to the car.

That was the all main jobs done, so technically that that’s the restoration finished. But there are some small things I need to do still, technically it’s ready for MOT all important road worthy test, then the full road testing for final set ups. I expect there will be the odd problem running in and settling down after sixteen years of nothing, such as carb, timing, first few quick oil changes, antifreeze etc. Then it will be onto the full Registration and her UK plates to be fitted.

Speaking of number plates – I pretty much think this says it all, they say a picture speaks a thousand words. These plates have been made specially for the Car Show as Mustang Maniac and LAR will be transporting my car to the show for me. Thanks to Lance for the great looking plates.

I owe a huge debt of thanks to all the guys at Mustang Maniac and the associated people who helped me with my project.

Adam – Inspiration, mentor, Owner, restorer, mechanic, body work, fitter, parts, advice, storage, help, banter, forum and everything else in between. Without whom none of this would have been possible.

Yogi – Inspiration, mechanic, panel beater, body work, fitter, paint sprayer, advice, help, banter, forum and giving me the nick name “Sat Nav” . Thanks Mate!!

John – Mechanic, bodywork, advice, help, banter, cooking great stews in the depth of winter.

Terry – Mechanic, panel beater, body work, fitter, paint sprayer, advice, help, banter.

Paul the Paint – Paint sprayer, body work, fitter, advice, help, banter.

Chris – Advice, fitter, banter, help, forum, Jaffa cakes and goodies.

(BT) Paul – Mechanic, fitter, advice, banter, help, forum, cakes and goodies.

Lance (OCD) – Advice, printing requirements, help, banter, keep an eye out for my OCD, forum, cakes and goodies.

Sam – Helping hand and banter.

As you can see there are a couple of common themes going on here, the first is “help”; whenever I have a question I am not just answered, but shown as well. The guys time and patience spent with me as well as my sometimes (what must seem like) daft questions goes way above their call of duty.

The second is “banter”; the non stop ribbing for who ever is the chosen poor soul at the time makes it just a fun place to be and work in. The guys are all just brilliant and such a pleasure to work with and long may it continue. 🙂 On my next car????

Then of course there is my Wife who bought the car for me in the first place. For four years she has put up with me working on the car away from home, working on the car at home. Writing about my car on the blog. Buying things for the car using my new best friend, Mr Credit Card. She has supported me, shouted at me for cleaning parts on the kitchen table, had frothy fit when I was spraying parts in the utility room (it was in the winter and needed to be warm). Put up with me storing parts in the house ready to go down the workshops next morning. Through it all she has supported me regardless, and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. Well, maybe a 1969 fastback for my next milestone birthday perhaps? 🙂 My “hobby” you started me on has turned into a way of life now.

Thank you Darling I honestly appreciate it.

I would like to point out that is not the end of the blog though – oh no!

There will be many more posts to come and there will be pictures of the other little jobs that need doing. So you see, it’s still going to be business as usual for me, maybe just not as often being posted each week.

I will of course take some photos of the car at the NEC Show this coming weekend with the car in its completed state, that way you can see the full effect, as indeed will I for the first time. I really hope to see you there, if you are there at the show, please come and say hello.

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Exciting News…

The car is tantalising close to being finished. The weekly trip to Mustang Maniac seemed to be an age away, but soon came round. There is a little bit of urgency in the air now to get my car finished or as close to finished as we can possibly get it. The car needs to have a road test, once the guys are happy with that then we can get the door cards on and handles put on.

Why the rush? Simple reason – my car will be on show in the Birmingham NEC Exhibition Halls at the “Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show”, 13th – 15th November 2015. For more details about the show click here or cut and paste the link below.

http://www.necclassicmotorshow.com/

I am so excited I can’t begin to tell you just how much. This show IS the biggest Classic Car show in the UK, and I will debut my car there. Over four years of hard work and I get to show my little lady off to the public there. I will be there for all of the three days with the car, so please pop by and say hello, I may even give you one of my little business cards, if you’re lucky. After all, I really don’t want to be there on my own Billy “No Mates” style as they say! The Birmingham NEC exhibition site is a huge place and there will be hundreds of stands, auto jumble and Car Clubs with their cars on show. (Did I mention how excited I am?) But, I must say I’m not expecting to be judged and I’m not expecting any recognition for my car at all, it’s not going there for that reason. I will be using this car for my enjoyment and not be a “trailer queen” as so many of these old cars from all makes tend to be these days. Oh, the only time I won’t be with my car is when I have a look around at the other cars myself. I shall be there with a mate of mine to keep me company.

The car:

It was time to put some of the missing bling back on the car now. I had help to do this bit as you need an extra pair of hands to hold and guide the sill mouldings in place. We, that’s Paul, Sam and myself made a good team to fit them in place and no damage reported either as so often is the case with these mouldings. The mouldings are clipped over the riveted brackets from last week and it all snapped into place. We had to drill my last brackets onto the front fenders and aligned up correctly, I won’t deny it, beads of sweat were running down my face as I started to drill my nice fresh metal and paint job. What if I slipped? I was carefull, very carefull should we say!

placing the rivet

There is a threaded stud at each end that goes through the rear quarter and the front wing to stop the moulding slipping out sideways. The mouldings are delicate and subject to being bent so you have to take great care when fitting these.

Around the door is a rail along the roof line for the rain drip rail. This is covered by a stainless steel moulding which again snaps into place, another delicate procedure that Yogi took the lead on and fitted for me. If fitted incorrectly and you have to remove them, you will take large chunks of your precious paint job with you. Yogi did wind me up by getting out an excessively large hammer with a little comment; “You need this!” 🙂

The end of the day left Paul and myself to fit the seat belts. These are dead simple and is a single bolt each side of the side of the seat. The only trouble was the carpet, Dynamat and sound proofing material all covered the holes, we knew roughly where they should be, but not the exact points. So we had to what can only be described as excavating with our fingers and tiny awls to locate the correct positions of the bolt holes. We carefully cut the carpet and used a cone cutter to make the hole big enough to get the seat belt anchor bolts correctly and safely in place. It took time as we didn’t want to leave marks all over the carpet. Now I had choices of colours of belts, dark blue, light blue, white, red etc. But I went for the standard push button black to match the centre console. Now some of the consoles are coloured the same as the interior seats. The gauges are in black as is the glove box, aircon unit and centre console. I didn’t want near enough shades of colour and not quite matching the seats effect, I think that would have looked a little odd and better going for the contrast. I tried the white belts and they were a very clean white and not the dulled down cream look of the centre of the seats and the head liner. The other choice was the style of buckle, I didn’t fancy the real blingy “Pony” logo on the belts and they just didn’t seem to look right, if that makes sense. So I went for the more correct (understated) period look for the time.

Below you can see the bolts in place and a close up of the belt.

Did I make the right choice? I think I did as I still like them looking at the photo’s again today.

On another note, a while ago I posted about my radio that had been updated to use modern technology that still looks retro and old. I had somebody email me a question if I knew anybody who could help with modern Fords and SYNC apps? I didn’t know, so as I was intrigued I started searching around and found this good little site called “Sync My Ride” with Ford App Sync instructions. This is a site where you can create an account for your Ford SYNC and keep your apps updated. There is all sorts of support and help on there. Hope that helps a bit for you modern Ford guys out there.