Ticket Costs

My last post I mentioned that I would be doing more reviews and I have started that by adding a few more products to the Detailing Menus at the top. I had the option to use a couple of products that I hadn’t actually purchased. This is a first for me as I always by my products with my own money, that way my reviews are totally impartial as I don’t have to please any sponsors because they gave their products to me free.

The first review I did was a sponge that costs £22! Now that’s a lot of money for a sponge regardless of what is called, in this case Ultra Black Sponge made by the very respectable ‘Rag Company’ who make some awesome products. Their latest sponge is a very dense foam with a series of parallel cuts as part of the ergonomic design. The sponge is getting plenty of hype on a few detailing websites as being the next best thing for car wash detailing. Click the image below or here to be taken to my review of this rather unique sponge.

I used the sponge in conjunction with a product made by P & S. Their (new product to me), Absolute Rinseless Wash which is designed to be a just that. Wash the car and dry it off. If you are looking to reduce the amount of water used to clean your pride and joy, then this is for that ‘gap’ between a full wet wash or a totally waterless wash. Again for a full review of their product click here or click the image below.

A little spoiler alert, I only liked one of them!

A couple of years ago I exhibited my car at the Classic Car show at the Birmingham NEC, for the Pride of Ownership category. I enjoyed the show over three days, I meet some great people and also meet a few cheats as well for the voting. As I was with my car I didn’t get to see much of the show itself. I fancied going along this year as a spectator to have a proper look round at the cars and any reason to part with some of my hard earned cash. That was until I looked at the prices! I think somebody is smoking some plant extracts to come up with these prices.

How can they charge this amount? Quite easily so it seems. Yes, I get the insurance, and venue has to be paid for. The vendors will pay even more for their pitches. The cost of food up there is super stupid, (I always took my own for that reason). My question is are we, that being the classic car owners or enthusiasts, being taken for a ride to go to these types of shows? I believe so, and as a result I won’t be going this year sadly or any other years until the prices are more reasonable. The prices shown above are just the cost of the tickets to get in. On top of that the cost to travel there and back, oh plus parking of course which means I have to sell a kidney to fund. I appreciate the cost of living is going up, but now rather than this being a nice day out to look at cars, it becomes a bit of a luxury event. That makes me sad to be honest.

Am I being a bit tight with money or is this a general opinion? I have also noticed a trend for this year’s car shows; the exhibitors are being asked to pay £10 for a ‘ticket’ to attend the show. The public get in free to see the cars! It has to be said that I honestly don’t mind paying a bit for charity from the entrance fee, but without the cars – there is no show. I know a couple of people who have voted with their wallets and not gone to some of the shows this year where high entrance fees are charged. Perhaps charging just a couple of pound for the public and exhibitors is the way to go? What do you think?

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For A Good Cause

Earlier in the year I submitted a photo to ‘Frost Restoration’ Who were running a competition for a calendar. Frost is a company who offer all sorts of tools and sundries for car restoration projects and maintenance. Before you ask; no I’m not on any sort of commission or retainer. Yes, I have used their services a number of times in the past where they have provided me with excellent service. Anyway back to the photo I submitted. The mini competition was for a charity calendar that Frost produce in aid of a good cause ‘Rosemere Cancer Foundation’. If you win – the prize was to be in the calendar, simple as that. I’d forgotten about it until I was contacted a few weeks ago about winning a place in the calendar. I’ve been waiting for the calendar to be released before I actually got too excited about it. Well it’s now available here if you wanted to by one, or click on the top image.

I made it into the calendar for the month of September 2022

I have bought two copies of the calendar to help support a worthwhile cause. A great present for a classic car fan and helps a good cause in the process. (No I’m not selling them.)

This picture was taken a couple of years ago before I swapped my registration plate over to 1966 OX.

For Sale..

When it rains at a car show I often get asked a question, where did you get that cowl cover?

This got me to thinking; could I even get to sell some for a little pocket money?

I looked into sourcing the materials and got to work on the design.

A few months later, I’ve now just had my first small batch of some rather cool covers. These covers provide an answer for the age old ’64 – ’66 classic Mustangs problem; rusting cowls!

The vents under the windscreen are responsible for a fresh air feed into the cabin. Unfortunately it’s also a place where water can pool up if the drain points are blocked. Eventually you will get a foot shower of leaks when it rains.

How do I know? Simple, this was my car!

There are various fixes on the market like solid screw on covers which are expensive, can crack and they can even leak when the foam seals fail. The most common sort are the screw in Scott Drake style plastic covers. I personally think that they spoil the clean lines of these cars and they also say; ‘I have a leaky cowl.’

My solution is simple and different; it’s a magnetic cowl cover. I currently have a few of both styles in stock; black carbon and plain gloss white. The white style you can add your own stickers or vinyl wraps.

These covers aren’t designed to be a permanent fix for the problem, they are there to protect your car from water or other undesirable debris like leaves entering into the cowl space. Once in this space it’s almost impossible to clean them out. These magnetic covers are placed on the vents in seconds and removed when protection is no longer required. This allows the fresh air back into the car. The magnetic backing conforms to the contours of the cowl forming a nice seal. I always use my magnetic cowl cover when washing my car, just to be on the safe side.

When you have finished with the magnetic cowl cover, just dry them with a wipe over, then stick them somewhere flat. I store mine inside the truck, stuck on the inside of the rear quarter where it’s a flat surface. It’s out of the way and easy to grab when you need it also keeping the magnetic material working too.

Other covers can be square cut with no cut out for the wiper arm as it’s cheaper obviously. My covers are cut to the contour of the cowl’s sweeping lines along with the wiper cut out. If you want to move the cover, lift up and reposition, don’t drag it!

For more information on the product click on the for sale menu or click here for the link. Or email me on the “Contact Me” menu on the mail heading.

Ideal for simply washing the car, or for getting caught out in the rain at a car show, like me – many a time. These covers make great presents for the ’64 to ’66 Mustang owners from £21.50 to £24.00 (inc P&P), for the standard UK postcodes. Ask for details on other regions.

My Webpage

My menu heading on the webpage have been a bit of a pain recently and causes errors when I try to save them for increasing the drop down list for ease of browsing. After more calls to WordPress they advised I list the heading and make a submenu page. I have taken that a step further to make it easier on the eye.

I have started to list the pages for the sub menus which is now an on going project. I will slowly work my way through most of them to make them all similar.

When you click on the new worded sub menu, it will take you to a page where all the pages are now shown with a picture and description. I think it works, but any feedback would for the new style would be a help to me whether it’s good or bad.

Hope you are looking forward to the Holidays, I know I’m looking forward to the time off more than anything else.

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Drag Racing & A Local Fête.

The weekend has been very busy for me and it turned out to be all car related which all started on Friday. The “A602 Street and Strip Rods” had hired out Santa Pod Raceway 1/4 mile drag strip for a private day of racing. Mustang Maniac were invited along with some friends if they wanted to come along and watch or race. I got a phone call to ask if I wanted to go, pretty stupid question really, so I booked the day off work and arranged to meet some of the Mustang Maniac guys and follow them up to the “Pod” early in the morning. I had deliberated whether to take my Mustang and thrash it down the strip or not. You only needed to pay a single fee of £50 and you could go race as many times as you liked for the day. In the end I thought better of it and decided against it and settled for watching the others race. The reason was simple in a way, I didn’t want to blow something up that I had spent years restoring, just to see how fast it goes.

Yogi had his car there a sweet ’69 that has all sorts of things done to it and he achieved his personal best of 11.4 for the day, he was not happy as he messed up a gear change on that run. Other runs he was just playing around with tyre pressures to see if he could get better times. which were all pretty much the same time.

Yogi’s best friend Spence had his “Green Grinch” running just a second and a little bit behind Yogi.

Adam had taken up his 1000bhp UBB (Ultimate Bad Boy as it was officially named by the guys who built it). Adam’s first attempt was a cracking 12.4 with no burn-outs and just pulled it up to the line and nailed it when the tree turned green.

Back in the paddock there were some pretty serious cars from the Pro Mod class.

There was a huge assortment of cars running, from Toyota Prius and a Land rover medical van to Ford Kugas and Porsches. The Porsches couldn’t beat Yogi’s best of the day and they seemed to be a little disgruntled that a fifty year old car blitzed the best they could rustle up, even with their launch control, paddle shift gear boxes and aero styling.

In a wat I sort of wished that I had taken my car for a blast down the quarter, but after seeing a well tuned car crack an engine block, I was glad I didn’t run in the end.

What a great day was had by all, great atmosphere and everybody was just amazing, and it’s honestly not as easy as some of the guys make it look!

Saturday on the other hand was a completely different day in terms of pace. The Bury Retro Car Club that I am a member of had asked for thirty cars to be available for a mini show. I offered my car as I knew the sun was going to be out. There was going to be a Fête in a little village called Risby, about twenty miles away from me. A senior club official lives in the village and knew they were holding the Fête for a local hospice charity. The cars were to be there as an added attraction to the usual village fête antics, there was the tombola’s, tug of war, Morris dancers (that I find pretty unnerving), book stalls, cake stalls, bouncy castle, kiddies face painting, a very popular BBQ and bar etc. The only racing during the day was the children’s races where all the children won a little something, a light-hearted dog show with categories like; dog with the waggiest tale, the curliest tale, best biscuit catcher, cutest dog, softest coat, floppiest ears, the dog that the judges want to take home etc. Again all of which was great fun to see, especially when the dogs ignore the owners and started chasing the biscuits that wasn’t even for them! 😀

Anyway the cars were allocated a roped of area of the car park so the visitors could see the cars as an added attraction to the day. The down side? The car park area was a large stoned gravel area, in the hot sun moving the dried and baking hot stones cause clouds of dust that all seemed to settle on my car. My beloved blue car was sort of grey by the end of the day. So I had to wash it very carefully when I got home to get the dust and sand of the paint work.

The day was a great success with virtually all the village showing up at some point. From what I understand they made a fair amount of money for hospice charity as well.

For once I was a nice change to be able to use my car for a good cause and charity. Sunday (today) I was at another event which I shall post probably tomorrow as it deserves a post of its own.

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Brake Booster Removal & Charity

Well that’s Monday over with, and now sitting here wondering where the weekend went and will I make it through the week? Yeah, it was a manic and frustrating weekend but I did get lots done. The brake booster is off and so is the wheel. I have posted pics of the booster under the photos section – engine bay, or click here for the fast link.

The next task is to treat the booster and get it back in.

Charity

On another note, I would like to say well done to Will who gave up drinking beer for the whole of January for charity, that’s a great achievement. Your money is waiting for you at your garage. Oh, don’t forget to drink the next few beers slowly. 🙂

A little while ago I had an idea about my car. Once I get my Mustang back on the road I was thinking of taking it to a children’s hospice and take the children for a ride around the block as it were, they would be able to wave to their friends as it growls down the road. Hopefully they would enjoy it and give them something to talk about and remember. I bet the dads would enjoy it and want a ride too. Lol. But, will I be allowed to do it or not remains to be seen with our child protection laws as they are. What a sad world we live in if you can’t even do that now days.

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Moving Home

My car comes home!

This a wordy looking post but I think it’s worth the read for the fun and games we had!

My car has been down the drive just round the corner from me, where it has remained for the last year and a bit, I can work as and when I wanted to on it so there was no real issues.

As I normally do, I lifted the bonnet to make sure everything was OK and I noticed that the Tuff Stuff chrome alternator is not so Tuff after all! The Chrome has a little pitting on it and I ‘aint happy about it to be honest. I am going to review this alternator soon, and I’m not convinced it going to get full marks, or great marks come to that somehow! The damp has started to cause a few issues so we decided that the will have to go in our garage. There wasn’t a great deal in there to be honest just my old stuff from years of collecting rubbish. The charities had a great day as they got books, pictures and old clothes etc. Hopefully they can get some money in for their causes. Anyway, the car was taken of the axle stands and lowered down, left side tyre has a slow puncture that I will have to sort out. A friend of mine Pete came round in his new car which he has only had for a few days and offered to tow her round to my garage. The reason we decided that it should be towed is because the drive is on a slope and there was no way that with me in the car doing the hard work of driving, (OK, steering the car) that the two hired hands were going to push it without booking a visit to the hospital emergency unit to have a couple of hernias sorted out. Mark was playing lookout to start with to make sure that any would be Nigel Mansell wouldn’t meet two and half ton of American Muscle in the middle of the road. After pulling her to the top there is a slight dip down to the road, bearing in mind I have no brakes at the moment so everything had to be done with care and be legal to push it the rest of the way. We managed to stop the Mustang quite well by using the back of Pete’s nice new shiny new car. Oops! Sorry about that Pete I reckon a bottle of your favourite tipple could be arranged for the trouble. Before you ask yes the car is fully comprehensive insured even though it doesn’t go on the road. I think the fact that I got out to check that there was no damage to my car first was like rubbing salt & vinegar into the wound at the time. The car was not to bad weight wise once we got her rolling of course. As the road is a no-through road we weren’t expecting any traffic, but you can never be too sure. A couple of minutes later we were pushing her onto my drive and into the garage, or so we thought. The garage was wide enough by about 3 inches each side, it will even tighter once the mirrors go on. We managed to push the car in inch by inch, Pete was directing the car to the front, Mark was doin’ the donkey at the back pushing and I was on the wheel now and again sweating buckets panicking that I may just have measured up wrong. Pete found out that car was cold as we pinned him to the wall with the bonnet while trying to clear the trunk into the garage. The garage door was lowered down, very carefully and I have about 4 inches to spare with the door shut. It was close if it was going to go in. There is no way a ’67 on would fit in there. But I was happy, she fits and she is tucked up each night now. Just need to get a nice cloth cover and a heater now to make her snug. Perhaps I should ask the wife if I can have some, perhaps not!! 🙁

So there you have it, my car is at her rightful home at long last, gentlemen I thank you for your help. Ooh, I nearly forgot Staci who collected Mark to take him home before his next shift!

The car was in the garage, so the next thing was to rig up an extension to the solar trickle charger for my battery. (A review for that bit of equipment can be found here.) Hole through the garage wall and it was job done, that’s after we spent after we spent the best part of half an hour looking for the clips to the battery so that we could use a length of good quality speaker cable to extend the wire.

A big day for the man and his Mustang it has to be said. I was out there today having a little fiddle around, as you do of course, to see what the next job is going to be. I have a feeling it will be to revisit some of the work I have already done. Such is life, but she is home!

The next installment I doubt will be as long.