Boys & Their Toys

I have started to venture into the very dangerous and addictive world of Ford Mustang Memorabilia. I ~~waste~~ research many hours on eBay looking for things to add to my collection. I am given things by Adam at Mustang Maniac and also a very good friend of mine Gary W. It’s his fault that I am now spending money to get these little golden nuggets of historic items where I can, instead of buying paint to decorate the house like I promised the wife I would over a year ago. I fact the wife has banned me from going there because I come home with all these ideas of what I can add to my ‘Man-Cave’ sanctuary or ‘garage’, or as my wife tends to call it ‘Garbage’, (a play on garage or trash), due to old collectible oil cans in there, old Mustang parts, memorabilia, books, signs, flags etc.

At the beginning of the year I was a lucky man to be given a AMF Wen-Mac 1966 Ford Mustang GT Dealer promo 1/12th scale model. There is very little information out there on these models such as how many were made, how many each dealer got etc etc. All I know is that I now have one.

The only information I could find by good ol’ Google is pretty common and a little insider knowledge from Gary who gave me my ‘toy’ as it was to be marketed back then, I of course prefer the term ‘model’.

At he launch of the new Mustang in 64, Ford Marketing decided on three promotional products to support the launch:
One: was a pretty familiar ‘dealer promo model’ much as other makers had done since the late 50s. Based on 1/25 scale, AMT produced nicely detailed models of both the coupe and fastback for dealers to put on sales men’s desks and to give to certain customers.

AMT went on to produce construction kits. Nowadays, dealer promo models in complete condition can fetch over $100 – even in worn condition.
Two: was a child’s pedal car – also made by AMF which sold very well. Original unrestored pedal cars can now fetch over $2000.

Three: was a larger scale model produced by the popular model maker Wen-Mac and featured either a ‘battery electric’ or ‘gas powered (glow plug petrol)’ 1/12 scale model of the 66 Mustang coupe – available in one single colour of red. Featuring in many Mustang media ads, it was a nicely detailed model that a child could use on the lounge carpet with fixable steering and with working headlights. There was a conversion kit for $2.50 to run from ‘electric’ battery power to ‘gas’ for racing buffs that included a tiny gasoline engine and slicks. A pic of a complete model from the net as it would have been then.

A remote-control throttle could also be added. It was $10 extra for all of this in 1966. The model was on sale for $6 at the time or $4.95 during the Christmas season.

In 1967 Wen-Mac also introduced this ’67 fastback model – in light blue.

Both of the models are now very collectable with hard to find complete models in good condition and boxes fetching $150-$200.

My car is in great condition so I can’t complain what so ever. I may look out for a motor one day if I ever see one for sale or take it from a damaged donor model as it were.

The model had a little electric motor (unfortunately mine is missing) that allowed the car to run forwards or backwards. The steering could be set to left or right.

The front and rear headlights were also working when the car ran. Many of the cars have the model engine missing and or the motor for that provides drive to the wheels, sometimes it’s the hood missing too.

If anybody can give any additional information I would appreciate it and will update this page with it.

Of course, if you have any early Mustang memorabilia you want to ‘donate’ to a good home and increase a fledgling collection, – contact me and we can sort something out. 😉

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Back To Base

Yesterday was a car show that I was quite looking forward to for a couple of reasons. The first was that I was going to meet up with Lance and Paul in their Coupes so it would be an unofficial Mustang Maniac day out as it were. The second was that my car was imported into the UK from the USA and was home here to my car before she was sold, then neglected. RAF Lakenheath is the venue in Suffolk located not far away from Mildenhall Airbase. The area has a heavy American presence and as I love the Americans I couldn’t wait to get there. In fact I would love to live in America. There are always lots of American cars driving around the area, more so the modern cars than the classics.

Yesterday “we” was being composed of Lance and his fiancée Sam, Paul had brought along his son Mason, and billy no mates me, had all arranged to meet up at a McDonald’s just a few short miles away from the base itself. Lance and Paul are not far from each other and came up together and caught up with me there. We all parked up together and enjoyed a quick bite of breakfast.

Mine obviously the the blue one, Paul with his red ’66 Coupe and Lance with his ’65 Coupe. it made a great sight and already attracted a few glances with the odd photo before we got to the air base. After a quick freshen up we all started up our cars, all three of us had Flowmaster exhausts who all accidentally might have given a few more revs than normal. OMG! it sounded awesome and three grown up kids had a smile as big as the grill on their cars. A few short miles later we pulled into Lakenheath and there we waited, and waited some more.

This was going to be the first Wings & Wheels event, as last years was cancelled due to a known IS sympathiser vermin was seen cruising up and down stopping by the base boundaries. This year no such happenings, but the security was tight. Armed guards were checking registrations against the previously provided photo IDs. There was an undercover area where cars were called into a shed and we had to open the doors, hood and truck and then stand in an office/cabin that had the windows blacked out so you couldn’t see what was going on to your car. We were then allowed to go free and had to wait for a sufficient number of cars to be escorted around the base to an allocated area where the cars were going to be for the afternoon. The area was fenced off and more security checking in the visitors. We were not allowed to leave before five thirty in the evening where you would be again escorted from the base to the exit. During my drive around the base I wondered where my car was driven and stored while the original US owner lived and worked here. My car was back home, technically back on USA soil, all be it for a few hours, also where she was first shipped over to in the UK.

We got parked up in make shift parking spaces and I cleaned my car while the others gave be some verbal “encouragement” to hurry up and get on with it. Paul had to park in the row behind us which was more of luck than anything else so at least we were together of sorts. Lance was next to me and we were in turn next to a load of newish BMW’s that are common on the road as tarmac is.

We hand a wander around and pretty much saw everything we needed to see within an hour or so. Many of the promised cars didn’t turn up and there was a lot of empty spaces in our oversized pen, i would say around no more than two hundred cars and that would be generous, most of those newer cars. There was some lovely local food offering all things American, hotdogs, sausages and took both Dollars and Pounds as payment.

I hate to say it but the show wasn’t that good. There was plenty of stuff for the kids to do with lots of fun fair rides and they had obviously gone out of their way to make it work. The fact we couldn’t explore, which I do fully understand for security reasons, but the lack of things going on made it a very long afternoon to be honest. No vendors, no trade stalls for the adults unless you were hungry that is. The “Wings” representation was promised to be a Spitfire which suddenly appeared at half two and then was gone, later the Vulcan bomber was promised at half five. Alas the later never happened and I was pretty sad about that. A number of the fabulous aircraft were parked up around the perimeter and again guarded.

The heavens opened just after the Spitfire flew over and it was tropical downpour. There was a rush to the cars to sit back in them as there was no other shelter. We watched as some poor people with their old classic convertibles struggled to get the cars covered up for the first minute or so.

The rain didn’t last long and we then all tentatively emerged to dry the pride and joys. Perhaps that’s why there was a shortage of cars because of the weather forecast which said – light showers, not torrential rain. As it was an airfield the sun soon dried up the water within a short space of time and the wind helped dry the cars too. A few cars left early under escort and that allowed Paul to move his car the other side to Lance so the Three Amigos were together in the evening sun.

At five thirty what seemed like the entire car park joined a que to leave the event. Only a few die-hard enthusiasts remained. It was a great day with the guys & and Sam where we had a laugh. Not so sure that I will be there again next year though.

If you spot some of these photo’s also on the Mustang Maniac blog, that’s because we shared the best of the photo’s.

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Four Years later

I can’t believe that it has been four years since I bought (well the wife did actually), took possession of my ’66 Mustang Coupe, 17th September 2011 to be exact. Two of those last four years have been down at Mustang Maniac getting the best attention to detail that any Mustang could ask for. I was looking forward to the day ahead to get things done, I wasn’t too sure what it was going to be, but I was about to find out. I arrived to see sitting on the side where I put my tools was a nice new super shiny gas gap. Adam smiled and said “There’s your first job”. The old gas cap was from a 1970 model, I didn’t mind it but it was starting to wind Adam up as we hadn’t changed it yet. There is a larger hole at the bottom of the filler where the retaining wire is held. This is a multi purpose idea, one you don’t lose it and two, it stops trophy hunters trying to steal it. Undo the bottom screw and slightly drill out the hole in the body panel. Screw in the cable and attach the locking bolt inside the panel. The difference was instant, and looks so much better now.

side by side

remove the screw

attach the cable and bolt

tighten the nut

The next job was now at the front, mounting the front bumper. The irons had already been bolted into place and through the stone guard. The bumper was a two-man job to avoid scratching my nice paint job. Yogi and me laid the bumper in place and the collapsible washers were placed on top of the irons. The bolts were lightly placed through the bumper and not tightened up just yet. The side mountings to the fender needed to be jiggled around a bit to make it fit on the driver’s side by pushing the bumper into place to meet the fender hole. Once they were all in place the tightening could be done. Yogi tells me I’m a lucky guy again as these can be a real pain to fit if the car is slightly out of alignment after an accident or similar. A job that makes a total transformation of the car. I even managed to get a reflection of the Corral in the bumper too.

I moved to the interior now and a piece of equipment I have been moving around to avoid damage is the aircon unit. The car is a genuine factory option aircon car, but i didn’t want all that under the hood. But, I do love the blower unit. I decided to use the blower unit in the car and make it work as a fan, if that makes sense. Yes there are going to be people who moan that’s not a aircon car as there is no “this, that or the other” under the hood. Well, all I can say is that if I want it, I still have the brackets to put it all on if I wanted too, but I don’t. These aircon units are held under the dash by two brackets, and held on the tunnel in the middle by an adjustable bolt. This looked pretty basic and I wanted something with a little more finesse should we say. I had kept the old hood stops and I was going to take the rubber of the top of that of and weld it to the bottom of the bolt. As it turned out the trunk bump stop is exactly the same thread as the support bolt for the aircon. I screwed in the bump stop and it looked like it was menat to be there. Next up the unit was carefully offered up the to the dash for a dry fit.

The power feed cable had been cut, this meant that there was no wire long enough to power the unit. So I had to extend the wire. There is never any crimping to extend a wire at Mustang Maniac, ever! I would have been thrown in the scrap bin if I had of done. The wires were stripped back about twenty millimeters and twisted together, heat shrink placed over the cable, flux applied to the cables. The (gas-powered) soldering iron was fired up and after thirty seconds it was ready to use. A lot of old cloth was placed under the solder area to avoid dropping any hot solder on the carpet. Once the soldering was completed and allowed to cool, the end of the soldering iron attachment was swapped to the hot air nozzle that shrank the heat shrink to the soldered area.

twisted wires

heat shrink and secured

The aircon unit was now able to be connected to the power. The brackets were padded out with a little foam pad to stop any vibration or rattles. The bolts were threaded through the dash and bolted from the inside.

I could then adjust the bottom stop to take the pressure of the bottom of the dash and equalise the weight distribution out. The end result was brilliant and I am glad that I made the choice to keep it in the car. The centre console will complement the aircon unit down the length of the tunnel.

Four years later and the car is not completed just yet. There is the trim for the seats, steering wheel, centre console, dash trim, gauges, rear quarter window rain felts etc all to be done. I can’t see it being ready just yet. but it’s oh so close now, I can almost taste the petrol! 🙂 Hurry up next week I have work to do.

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Wiring Puzzle

This week I have an update, but to be honest although I spend the whole day doing things I don’t seem to have got very far. When I arrived at Mustang Maniac it was its usual busy self, with people waiting for the Adam. As Adam was not around, I had a word with Yogi (who incidentally has a fan club thing going on at Mustang Maniac blog). Anyway not sure what that is all about, but I digress, we decided that wiring again this week was the priority due to the fact that my transmission was in a storage bay right by some temporary cover being errected, this was to house Chris’ Coupe so it didn’t get wet while the body shop was being used.

The wires still looked as bad when I last saw the mess that I left myself, I was kinda hoping that they would all jump into place, but no. So I had to decide where and what I wanted to do. Starting from the rear I sleeved the cables and run the cable along the door sill up to the dash, this helped in keeping it a single neat line.

For the engine I decided that the main loom was going to run the traditional route inside the engine bay around the left side shock tower, the engine loom would be almost stock maybe with a slight difference for the solenoid wires.

The worst part of this job is to work out what holes will be used for what loom, you are better of starting with the long wires and working back towards the fuse box where the wiring becomes more intense. As the wires are being threaded through the firewall you have to be extremely careful not to slice the wires or tear the shielding of that will cause a bad connection or failure. So it’s a case of put some through from the inside of the car and then coil the slack, go to the engine bay and pull the slack through and repeat. As the wires has connectors on them I protected all the paint work with a fitted sheet. This turned out to be a good choice as the neutral colours showed up exactly what I was doing. With the wires pulled through I sleeved up the cables and left the sleeve tight up to the firewall as to not get in the way. I looped up the cables I would not be using just yet. So although it looks unsightly it will be made neater later on. The American Autowire loom has the wires labelled up but I don’t want to see them. Although the new fuse box will give the game away from the first glance I want it to remain as stock as possible.

The main loom to the lights was again feed the traditonal route and sleeved as the wires went through the front support. The braided sleave looks nice and neat and not intrusive to the eye. The main loom hangs helpless for now until we are sure everything works fine before we tidy and finalise it all.

The engine loom was threaded out and again braid sleeve slipped over. Once the wires had been laid out I wrapped them up just for now.

The inside has gone from a complete nightmare to a headache, so I take that as big step forward.

What I am amazed about is the amount of wire loom tape I have used. I ordered a roll of 19mm and 25m long and I have all but a few feet left. Where did it all go as I have no idea. I have ordered some more this week ready for another session next week where I hope to mount the fuse box and tidy the wires up.

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His & Hers

This weekend was a chillaxing weekend for a change and I decided to look at some Classic Cars at a Show in the town of Buntingford (UK), each year the organisers manage close the main street and get the cars all parked up along the narrow road. It was my first time there and I doubt it will be my last either as everybody was quite friendly when talking to them about their cars. It was nice to see families out and not just the petrol heads who needed their octane fix! There were hundreds of different cars there from every era. The war years, modern-day cars, hot rods, trucks, kit cars & bike all gleaming in the sun. While I was at the show I meet Adam from Mustang Maniac who was there with one of their new additions to the garage, a lovely 1965 v8 Coupe. I have taken quite a few pictures but these were the better photo’s from all the cars. What took my eye at the car show? A couple of Cobra replicas that were identical except for under the hood area. One was red the other blue. I could only assume (and would like to think) that they were his and hers!

There were some classic Jaguars

D Type

E Type

XK140

Pre War(s) Cars (I think)

War Years (not so sure about the machine gun though!)

Hot Rods & Trucks

Muscle and Mustangs

Classic UK Cars

Jensen

Jensen engine

Some Of The rest

Review:

I have also completed my TomTom Go 600 SatNav Review which can be found under the accessories menu. I have managed to get the main information together and user guide that most of the other reviews seem to miss out with some photos of it in use. Most reviewers seem to want to trash this SatNav for some reason. But I want something that works and not just have the function to change colours or the shape of an icon for the car – but these people never they never moan when it takes them down a dirt track because it don’t work properly.

My car:

Most of what I have done on the car today has been in man cave, I have been rubbing down some filler trying to achieve that perfect finish for the paint.

Quick Link: TomTom Go 600 review click here

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A little R & R

The weekend is almost over and that is the last Bank Holiday before Christmas I am sad to say, an extra day for a weekend now and again makes all the difference.

Rest. A little bit of relaxing was the order of the weekend. There was a little shopping Saturday and me pottering around in the man cave rearranging my tool chest and just trying to make it a working space again instead of my cave becoming a storage area for garden tools and rubber boots. Sunday was a day out with the wife at a big hall near us, each year they wear period costumes with role play for the Tudor era. All the characters were brilliant, sewing, weaving, making felt, cooking, archery, hand making wooden beams for a roof etc. I tried my hardest to break their characters into the modern-day English, they weren’t having none of it, instead I was greeted with things like “Master, I know not this word”, Did they really speak like that? My wife reliably informs me they did.

The car, today was all about the other “R”, Rust. I pushed the car out the garage on such a nice day and pulled the carpets up, pulled the old sound proofing out and cleaned the floor pan. The was a little light surface rust on the bulk head so I decided to treat that little bit, then another little bit, before I knew it I had gone back to the seat mounts with the anti-rust agent. It was not bad at all, just a few little surface patches here and there. The replacement floor pan still looked like new. I also replaced my original plenum today and put new pipes in too for the demister. The old plenum had an issue with the flap not working properly inside to divert the air around, but I was going to put up with it. That was until I moved the lever and the flap inside made a cracking noise and nothing moved, the air direction plate had broke off completely. I got a replacement from Mustang Maniac of course and it’s now a much stronger version. A bit of a pain job to get in and out, but worth the hassle. Nothing looks any different in the car apart from being dark patches where the rust used to be. With that in mind the photo’s I took you couldn’t see the difference, so I didn’t post any today.

But, to make up for it I was sent this little funny via Twitter, it did make made me laugh and I shared it with the wife. My better half just gave me “That” look again. But I have just got to share it!

I have had a request for the blog layout, I was asked to do a little something with the menus of mine. I thought they looked OK, but I will move them about and make them a little more user-friendly. Let me know if they are any better or go back to how it was.

(Thanks for the feedback Sam.)

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It all hinges on…

…hinges on the weather.

Another good weekend on the car and I managed to dodge the household jobs. Or as the women out there know, I was let of doing some jobs around the house! This weekend has been a bit of a gamble with the weather. Saturday I was looking at the sky trying to predict if it would rain, so I put of the job I wanted to do on hold until today. Why am I banging on about the weather? Well, the job I had in mind was to replace the door hinges as they have play in them and you can feel the movement, plus the door doesn’t line up properly. As the garage is narrow for a Classic American Muscle car I would need to push the car out of the garage ope nthe door wide and then take the door off. If it rains it will get the inside wet and it would could end up with a wet puddle on the floor under the carpets. I did manage to get the left hand side (drivers) door off and replace the hinges at least. I will post pictures on a guide a bit later once I have done the other door, but I was pleased with the results. Again the parts were from Mustang Maniac, which were the replacement pins and the brass cups for the guides. I was treating things a little bit to gentle to start with and the pins were not moving at all. I got the Gibbs Brand on it, got the club hammer out and give it some therapy. A few beatings with that soon got the pin out and job done. The top hinge pin was the worst to get out of the two, it took a fair bit longer to get the whole thing clear as the top brass cup had split in it. All I can say is that when I put the door back on to my previous markings of the hinges, I was a little bit out, OK they were a lot out. The door would not shut at all. In fact the bottom of the door caught the sill about two-thirds away along the bottom of the door. It looked like clowns car if I am to be honest. Not good, but it did show me the level of adjustment that I could achieve. The next two hours made sure I knew what adjustment did what to the alignment. That door got progressively heavier and heavier with each adjustment. Now the door lines up fine with the rear quarter panel. I am happy the back muscles aren’t.

Saturday was spent in the man cave rubbing down the valance with very fine wet and dry paper on the primer. I had to refill a couple of tiny blemishes again but it all looks good now though and smooth. In the afternoon I decided to finish my review of the Gibbs Brand Lubricant. I have posted the review under the Reviews Menu – Consumables – Gibbs Brand Lubricant, or click here for the quick link. Again supplied by Mustang Maniac, If you have not tried this stuff, you need too! You just got to read the review and buy some. Buy it for the wife around the house, then pinch it back! 😉 (No I am not on commission before you ask! It’s just really good gear.)

full branding

Quick Links:

Gibbs Brand Lubricant Review click here

Mustang Maniac Blog click here

Mustang Maniac Main Website click here

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Snowed in (again)

Losing valuable Mustang time.

Another weekend with rubbish weather. It’s snowing pretty hard today so there is no way I was going to get to do any thing either on the car or in the man cave. I wanted to get that wheel off and get the slow puncture fixed. I could push her out to get access to the wheel, the problem would be trying to push her back in again in the snow. One false slip and the trunk would have a new rear spoiler in the shape of my two front teeth. Not good!

I did get out to the man cave for a little while to have a tidy up again. I decided to have a rearrangement of my tool chest with the new tools I got for Christmas. They all have a new home now and lined up like soldiers. Am I the only sad person that does this to make their tool box nice and neat, or do I need help? While in my man cave I noticed some birds looking for food and not having much luck. I must admit I tend to spoil my little feathered friends, I do an extra slice of toast in the mornings and break it up for them if I have toast before I go to work. Given the choice of plain bread or toasted, the toasted bits always goes first. As it was so cold I came in and done a couple of slices of toast, broke it up and put it on the bird table for them. It soon went, I do worry about them, as we have this little understanding, I feed them and they don’t try and use my cars for the local avian cesspit, sometimes they breach this understanding, so the next day they go hungry, they know the rules!

As I couldn’t do much I decided to finish up my heater plenum work write-up. I had taken some photos but that was before I decided that I was going to do this blog. The pictures still shows what a bad way it was in and then the finished results. You can see the process and why I had to do it all under the “Photos, Heater Core Issues & Repairs” or click here for a quick link. There is also a mini review in there for the heater case seal kit.

Lets hope the weather improves so I can get out there and do some worthwhile work on my car again. If I hadn’t of got my Coupe in the garage when I did it may have looked something like this!

The fact I have posted for the third time this weekend shows just how frustrated I am, in an automotive way of course.

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Fantastic American Autowire review is here

At long last I have uploaded my review of the fantastic American Autowire 64 – 66 Mustang Classic Update wiring kit. Click here or go to the parts review button.

I have tried to keep the review factual, and explain my pretty good experience with the kit itself, along with the brilliant after sales service that went above and beyond anything I had experienced at the time. If you are thinking of rewiring you classic this is worth the read and see if you agree.

This weekend I hope to add another book review along with some more pictures of my Autowire close up installation work.

Don’t forget to leave a comment or rate what you read.

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Revised Site

Can you tell I have been sitting here trying to make the site look a little better? I have been asked if the site would look better in a darker theme. I looked into it and agreed. I have changed the header, the title a little and added rating stars. Let me know if it should stay or go back. The public is to decide this one. The other advantage of a darker theme is that on a mobile not having to show the lighter colours wont take up as much battery juice. Thinking of my followers all the time!

I have also added some more pictures to the “Day the Coupe arrived” set of photos. Go to the button or click here. The extra photos are of the trunk where stuff was just thrown in there. You can see the original wiring how it was found by me. Go to the button or click here.

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