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. 😉

Share my Content

Smooth Lines

The weekend took an age to arrive be fore I could get down to Mustang Maniac. I have been kept up to date with the progress of my car via teaser emails from John. The car is now in a very strong position to be taken from the supporting jig and mounted onto the transporting dolly or trolley, a big moment for my car. This also frees up the panel shop and the jig for the next little lady who needs it. Now maneuverable, the car can be moved around as required, especially important when she comes to be being painted of course.

On a personal note this was a huge milestone for me as it seems to be less of a permanent fixture in the workshop and shows that the work so far is at an acceptable standard to move onto the next stage.

The car had the fenders attached and aligned up to the doors and the hood. The story as you are well aware by now is to strip down the panel(s) to see what lies beneath the paint and then make a decision on what needs to be done.

Last week I stripped down both fenders, things were looking pretty good. The left hand side fender was inspected for the filler prep the few dents were not to bad to look at, but the metal had stretched to a point that it would pop in and out just above the wheel arch with the filler removed, the same scenario as the left hand side door. So the the decision was to replace the wing unfortunately. The amount of filler and man hours to repair the fender was possible, but the man hours to make it paint ready was not going to be viable and the results could be questionable after paint. But, on the positive side this new fender will last the test of time. The new left fender fitting was good apart from the back sculpture of the fender to the door where the gap was a little out, so the MM boys being perfectionists that they are, made a little cutting and fabrication along a little metal work magic from Terry who gently refabricated the correct shape for the door – fender gap.

Terry made the repair to the bottom of the right side fender and welded the freshly fabricated new section as the bottom was a little peppered with rust holes. The repair was ground down and a light filler applied to protect the join. The headlight recess was repaired to make the rusted out odd shaped cable hole circular again via a new drilled out plate that was welded in its place.

The rear quarters were leaded up and rubbed down properly. The rusted parts of the windscreen were repaired with new lead work as the original lead had cracked. More of the same lead and ground out rust parts along the lower water channels to the windows frame at the rear. Once the lead had been rubbed down a final top coat of filler was applied.

lead for rear quarters

top screen lead

other side

top lead filled

bottom lead covered

With all the panels aligned and fitted the next job was the look and especially the feel of the panels, any minor imperfections were not going to be acceptable by the guys as it would show in the paint, so a little filler would be required which we knew would be the case. The leaded and brazed areas were now given a coating of filler and Terry worked to fill, rub down, add more filler and build it all up again in order to meet their high standards. A spray of dye coat or guide coat, was then applied to the first batch of filler. Later on this would be rubbed down to 500g ready for the fine paint prep work to begin.

first layers of rubbing

quarter leads filled

Yogi started some filler on the top of the right fender where there were a few minor dents, I was given another master class on smooth filling and rubbing down with the aid of dye coat. It’s really annoying when these guys make it look so easy. The filler was applied so smoothly the amount of waste and rubbing down was minimal. Yogi did get a bit dusty, for which I received some grief I might add, all because it was a Saturday! Sorry Yogi, but it was funny! 🙂

first layer

applying the filler

spray added

Once I had seen enough to realise that the pecking order had been reasserted when it came to filler work I got on with my job, to remove the last persons efforts of filler work on the hood and see what lies waiting for me under the red oxide primer. The hood was placed on their panel work frame ready to start work as I put on my gloves. I wanted to start on the leading edge of the hood where all the primer was, if it was beyond repair it would be here was it filler or holes? I was about to find out.

the start

As more paint came off and there was only a little filler that was found, the smile on my face got bigger. That was only half the story as the underside could be a big issue. The underside was unbelievably hard to get off, the heat of the engine maybe I don’t know but I was going through stripper like you wouldn’t believe. At 6pm Adam came to see how I was doing and helped me get the last bits of paint off. All was good, except for my back which was killing me.

start at the front underside

cleaned underside

We flipped the hood over and the surface had started to get a little surface rust very quickly, so we went back at the surface again with wire wool and washed it all down with a good dose of thinners and a light coating of WD40, just for now. If you look closely at the front edge just to the right of the sculpt line there is a dent, this just happens to be the size of a palm print, common when the hood gets shut apparently over the course of time. But in general I am pleased to say the hood is in good shape. it will need some mastic to bond the frame and the skin together on the underside, but that wont take to long. Chris was back with me for a little while who kindly cleaned up the headlight doors which were in a good condition, so I was happy with that. Thanks to Adam, Yogi and Chris who all helped me out today.

palm print

The last couple of bits they had done was the dash and door. As the dash will fit the ’64 – ’66 Mustangs the gauge recess was generic. But, for the five gauge GT dash from ’65 (as an option) to ’66 it would not fit so the small cut out was made to accommodate the larger speedo. I have circled it so you can see it a bit clearer.

The right hand door was lightly shot blasted back to bare metal in order for the light contours around the door cards to be painted properly.

Sunday was a day of dusting things off, degreasing the metalwork that had been stored in the man cave and spraying them in them in red oxide, over the top of the anti-rust paint of course. These bumper irons will match the chassis when they are bolted into place.

Yes it’s another big post, but a lot happens in a few days when the MM guys get going. Once the car gets to paint then things may slow down a little and mechanical things will need to be done! quite what that will be I will wait and see.

Note:

McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes and Hob Nob biscuits are a popular choice with the guys, so I am looking for sponsorship from McVitie’s as they go through the stash of supplies I take down every weekend! How much are the McVitie’s shares???

Share my Content

A Spot Of Welding

Weekend came and I was ready to go on Friday night, the bag was packed with a change of clothes and my new angle grinder ready to rock. Saturday morning and with Mustang Maniac just over the hour away, the aircon was on, the shades were on and I was on my way. The trip was peaceful for a change and I seemed to go all the way there without stopping. I got out the car and the heat was getting hotter. Adam was being escorted by a couple of his dogs as usual, no sooner had he opened up the steady stream of customers arrived. I saw myself to my car and got straight to work. Yogi (Al) had been busy again welding up the last parts of the underside and the front right shock tower. He had again done some nice welding with the spot welds that I decided to keep them. The top of the shock tower needs to be flat ready for the export brace to be fitted so they were ground down, a little filler applied and painted.

welds ground down

cleaned up and red oxide

New spots

cleaned up and painted

The underside had been exposed since the day I removed everything I could of the under seal. There was a little surface rust still and the odd bit of under seal. I started rubbing down with the angle grinder and wire wheel to nice a bare metal ready for the red oxide primer.

Before final Clean up

cleaned up

This last little section was taking a lot longer due to the complex shapes for the rear shocks and suspension mounts. The tufts of wire wool ( if that is the technical term for it) was difficult to work with, trying to get in all the corners that the grinder wouldn’t fit. The manual work had made my fingers and wrists ache. But it was worth it. This time I took a part way picture.

With all the red oxide primer done for now the difference is amazing. I finished at the point where some of the thin metal will be removed and replaced at a later date. You will notice a couple of little spots haven’t been painted as they need a couple of spot welds. With a little luck and man power available, the car should be taken off the spit and clamped on the jig getting ready for some upper body work. Then I suspect there will be more under body painting before she goes to the proper paint shop.

Sunday was a day tidying up in the man cave, the localised tornado that hit my shed on Saturday while I was out just happened to have the same name as my wife! I also cleaned a little more on the steering rack, and the photos looked no different to the previous pictures unfortunately. So I didn’t post those ones for wanting to look like duplicates.

I am planning on doing a review of my new Makita GA4530KD if anybody is interested.

Share my Content

Looking Good

A long week and the weekend couldn’t get here fast enough so I can get down to Mustang Maniac. I arrived with change of clothes and a packed lunch. The dogs were in high spirits and enjoying the sun running around the now spacious yard. Adam looked over the car with me and gave me my instructions for the day. Final clean up of the left side and remove the shock tower bracket that had been badly welded on. I wanted to replace the brakes with a nice smart export brace so they needed to come of anyway. I have seen some were the export brace sits over the top of the brackets and it looks a poor job. So while I was at this stage it was an ideal time to remove the first one. It was a case of the angle grinder to reduce the weld to as thin as possible then lever the old bracket off the shock tower. With the bracket off I was able to grind down the weld almost flat. I have become a lot better at using the angle grinder with finesse and can grind away quite accurately now with only the bits I want removed.

Bracket in place

Bracket removed to leave the old welds

Cleaning up the metal to make sure no rust was about and wire wool the tight spaces to leave a fresh bare surface.

With my ears still ringing from the whine of the angle grinder it was time for some peace and quiet and start the stipple of the red oxide. This was to continue to edges where I didn’t need welding and again stop about an inch in to allow welding to be done. Of course there will be some bits that I may have to go over again when the repair welds start, but that can’t be helped. I completed the complete left hand side inner fenders and the fire wall now. Adam came to give me a hand a little later so we could roll the car over ready for next week’s more of the same all be it on he other side. What a difference it makes to see the red oxide on there. The pictures here were taken as soon as I had finished, so it was a little wet in some places.

Sunday the wife wanted me to give her a hand with the garden as she wanted to get our lovely bamboos out the garden, as they were start in to go a bit mental. I came home Saturday evening to find the big bushes cut down but the stumps or shoots still in the ground. The ground was soaked by the rain in the morning so it wasn’t to bad to dig. What I wasn’t expecting was the shoots to travel as far sideways as they did. Under the loose laid patio in the corner, and to the fences. We lifted the slabs up to find a find a complex web of infiltration from the roots that was more complex than a cold war spy drama, it was everywhere. We eventually got it all up but it was a pain. Tip: Don’t plant bamboo in the ground unless you have a couple of giant pandas coming to stay to keep it under control.

In case you are wondering, I did manage to sneak a couple of hours in at the man cave while she was out. I started to clean up and strip down down the steering setup. But shoosh, don’t tell the wife! I will create a step by step process and add it soon. I can’t do a Sunday without a little tinkering on the car or car bits now can I?

Share my Content

Classic Car Show Enfield ’14

Enfield 24 – 26th May 2014

This weekend I was not down at he garages of Mustang Maniac but I made a visit to the Enfield Pageant where I went along to see the set of cars they had there. I was surprised that they took the UBB (ultimate Bad Boy) 1000bhp Mustang there, it was raining and they told me it was quite a handful in the wet! I wanted to get some spray paints and look for anything unusual for the garage or man cave. There was some metal garage signs that I liked the look off but my wallet had very stressful time while I was thinking about it, needless to say the purchase was not made. It seems that the these shows are becoming more of a family thing with fun fairs, garden stalls, toy stalls etc. Obviously they are there in case the rest of the family get board while the petrol head of the family has a fix on all the stalls there. Everything from engines and gear boxes to bulbs individually laid out in trays. Due to the weather the waterproof clothing stall done a few brisk sales for some reason. The down side was there wasn’t a huge amount of cars there to start with due to the rain. As it brightened up there were more cars to see as they were nursed out of the warm garages. The theme this year was the First and Second World Wars. The exhibits proved popular, at one point it was difficult to get into, I suspect that had a lot to do with the weather. The war tent had a rare Vauxhall war car and was the first time I have seen the Vauxhall emblem in 3d as it were.

The tent next to the War Exhibition was an American themed idea, there was a great Rock & Roll group there banging out some hits as well as some classic American icons. The Oldsmobile even had a propeller on the back, not sure what that was all about. anybody in the USA help with that one?

Outside there was a lot more cars and lined up made a good looking row.

There was a rare car there that I had never heard of before,”Murena”. So the story goes, there was a couple of very rich guys who got together to make a sports estate car, no rear seats required as it was just so they could go fishing and hunting with space for their equipment. It was said they liked sports cars but they weren’t practical. So they built their own. Oh to be rich!

Mustang Maniac’s cars were out in force, and I can see they have lots more of their own cars on their blog page. I sat with the guys for a while during the rain storms and enjoyed the company. Thanks Guys.

The British cars were there too but in limited numbers at one point. Even took a picture of the only Stag I could see there for Stag Owners Club, who have a blog here http://stagownersclub.wordpress.com/ Why do I mention these guys? If I hadn’t of bought a Mustang I would have gone for a Triumph Stag as a restoration project. But, it turned out I have Mustang Muscle cars burning in my veins.

More American cars splattered around the field, This huge Greyhound Truck was bigger than I had ever dreamed of, the brown rat rod was painted like that and was quite sound metal wise.

TV Stars; The hugely popular “Only Fools and Horses” comedy show had one of the original Reliant (3 wheelers) there.

The other classic is the original 1966 Batmobile, there were three fibreglass models made of the original and I believe this is one of those from the London Transport Museum. I have added an article on this car as it was Ford based Lincoln Futura concept car with a 390Cid Ford v8 engine.

The whole day was summed up for me in this one photo. The guy has a classic rover estate which was the first one I had seen, he was walking back to his car carrying another rear wing for the one that has gone rotten beyond repair so he was saying. The classic car got a badly needed part. For me that is what these shows are all about. I was really pleased for this guy.

My final thoughts for the day was little disappointing as it was wet at times and the owners of the classic cars looked like they didn’t want to get them wet. that itself did mean that cars were little limited for choice. I did hear that Saturday was a better day and Sunday was not so good. It was a shame there was not more, but I would think twice about taking mine down there in the wet I must admit.

Quick Links:

Articles – The Original Batmobile 1966 or click here

Share my Content

Home Made Oven

For various reasons I couldn’t get down to Mustang Maniac this weekend, so I was a Mr Grumpy big time, so the wife was telling me. I’m not so sure she was correct in her statement, but I was at a loose end with myself. OK I was little tiny bit grumpy and that’s all I will admit to. There I have said it and it’s the only part admission I am gonna make. Ahem, moving swiftly on. I decided it was clean up time and spray for a few bits of the car. All day on Saturday I was de-rusting the rear shock absorber mounts that were in a bad way. This was the usual POR15, primer and spray. This is usually a three to four hour gap between the two coats of the paint. I managed to get it done in a single day as my home-made oven was at full temperature. OK, my oven is in fact my man cave, and I didn’t make an oven after all, but it felt like it. I have a temperature gun some readings I took inside the man cave were 25deg to 33deg Celsius. So I painted outside and moved them inside the shed and left them to bake. It certainly done the trick alright. The spraying inside the man cave was just as effective as the spray coats were going of in around ten minutes between coats. Why no pictures? Well the plates are just squares with a hole on the ends at an angle that the bottom of the shock bolts into under the leaf springs. It really is a boring bit of metal to look at, and I don’t say that about too much stuff on a Mustang!

Today was little different though, again the oven was hot as the sun was shinning down and not a cloud in the sky, a beautiful day in fact. Perfect for plonking my stuff in the middle of the lawn and start wire brushing, degreasing, cleaning & painting. For some reason the wife was Mrs Grumpy at this point! I decided to finish the gas pedal spray and add the silver strip at the top of the pedal arm to match the brake pedal assembly. It was sprayed and left inside the oven and it dried pretty quickly. The idea is for the silver to start just after the firewall inside, I think I got it right, I don’t want it to show from the outside. There is no need for the silver edges at all on the pedals, in fact you won’t see them unless you look underneath the dash. I only put them on there for a little detail, just because I could and I know they are there.

finished brake assembly

The other part I stripped down today was the gear selector mechanism. This is the chrome lever with the T-handle on the top. This was pretty bad-looking, but in fact it was only a little rust on the surface. Wire brush got most of it off and the Eastwood Rust Encapsulator applied, in the oven! It all came up well, but I have not assembled it all yet, I wanted the spray to cure properly before I scratched it off while it was still soft. I will post the completed pics next week to show what it looks like. I have added a page for the process so far here, or can be found at the quick links below.

gear mechanism

rubber bung

rusted

before cleaning

cleaned underside

top of the base

before cleaned up

cleaned up parts

first spray

If all goes well I hope to be going to the Enfield Pageant on the 24th – 26th May 2014. I had a great time there last year rummaging through all sorts of old stuff. I did hear that Mustang Maniac will be there again this year, which will be good as last year I managed to grab a hot sausage sandwich from their big American SUV motor home. Pop along to see the guys and see what they are up too. 🙂

Oh, by the way I am not associated with the event in any way, it’s just a good day out. Should I take some photos there?

Quick Links:

Gear Shift Refurbishment click here or go to Photo Menu – Inside the car – Gear Shift Refurbishment.

Enfield Pageant link click here.

Share my Content

Bits & Pieces

The weekend arrived and I couldn’t wait to get down to see what the guys had done to my car. I wasn’t disappointed. The car was well and truly in bits and the rear axle was on the leaf springs on a pallet. The engine was out and the front suspension was in bits on the floor, all the smaller parts were all in a large plastic tub ready for me to clean up. The steering rack was out, and all that was left was the steering column and the brake servo in the sparse looking engine bay. When I asked Adam what needed to be done, there was a walk around the car and the list duly flowed forth. The rest of the engine bay to be stripped clean, pipes off, the gas pedal out, steering box out and the servo without saying. All brake pipes underneath and fuel lines, the rear valance, oh and the rear lights out, oh and the gas tank out with the shocks out too, don’t forget the rear valance of as well as that was damaged beyond repair. In fact, if it had a bolt on it, it needs to come out. The day was going to be busy and I had my instructions, I was excited and off I went. I completed my tasks as requested with the guys giving me tips and tricks of the trade as I went along. When I got to a certain part like how do I get the column out, I was shown the parts in question, told the process and off I went again. In fact I have taken lots of pictures of the removal process’ and I will write them all up. But I have some teaser pictures here for you.

Engine out

almost empty bay

steering rack

springs and shocks on the way out

suspension removed

spndle and suspension out

steering box

steering column

top of the steering column

Sunday I decided to clean up one of the larger bits I had in my man cave the prop shaft. Last week I explained the process (click here for the link). I took the prop shaft into the garden on the sunny day and I needed to remove the old underseal from it. The rotary wire brush made short work of it attached to the drill until I got to the UV ends. At the diff end there are two cups that are held in place by the U-clamps on the diff. These cups come off but are filled with small needle bearings and need to be treated with care so they don’t all fall out. Once the cups are removed keep them safe out-of-the-way, then it’s de-grease and clean, and clean again, and more cleaning. The grease and grime were so bad that you couldn’t even see the grease nipples. The Marine Clean in a 1:1 mix made a good job of breaking it all down.

diff end with cups held in place

gearbox end

unable to even see the grease nipples.

wrap removed

removing a cup

cup removed

both cups

With the prop cleaned up and de-rusted it looked a very different part that’s for sure. Off to the man cave.

cleaned up shaft

gearbox end cleaned

grease nipple can now be seen

other side of box end

diff end cleaned

again grease nipple can be seen

I retired to the man cave for the POR15 first coat. the problem was how to paint it? I had to make a rack to hold the prop in the air so I could get access all around the prop. The idea worked well if not a little delicate, I think I will spray the prop white, the same colour as the shocks once it’s done. The full process of the painting and clean up can be seen on the quick link below.

diff end

bare shaft

box end

starting the paint

half of the shaft

box end treated

shaft single coated

diff end treated

diff end

I shall be posting the steering box removal process, soon as well as the other little projects and clean ups. I mentioned the lights earlier!

rear lights in place

no lights and fuel tank out.

The process was very simple, four Philips screws hold the lens and trim in place, remove them and pull the housing and the lens off to expose the bulb, remove the bulb as well. Inside the car there are four studs with nuts on for the housing, undo these and the light housing will pull out. Dead simple. I will have to replace the holders as the as reflectors are rusty and no good for anything now unfortunately.

Four screws each corner

lens and bulb out

removing the housing.

Quick Links:

Photo Menu – Gearbox & Prop Shaft – Prop Shaft Renovation. or click here for the link. This will be updated as the project goes along.

Share my Content

Lookin’ After The Pony

The weekend has gone and I have finally got a chance to catch up on the blog. The man cave has been my residence for the last week or so. I have run out of the consumables that I needed to finish the floor pans inside the car. A change of plan that switched my attention to the smaller things I can do in the mean time, the first was the air filter pan which is finished, apart from the final top coat colour what ever that may be. However, I did promise myself not to do any of the pretty things on the car before the basics have been done, such as paint, mechanics, rust etc. But every time I walk into the man cave there is a grill that hangs on the side with this dirty Mustang Corral on it. The grill is no good as the top part has finally broken (when I picked it up), so it won’t be able to be fixed onto the car now. So now I need a nice shiny new one, (never mind then), the original grill has had a poor spray job of black paint from the front which has also gone over the underside of the Corral, but saving the pony Corral was the most important thing to me as it’s the cars identity after all.

I took the Corral apart and noticed a broken mounting leg or support which was repaired by body filler! The outside of the Corral was cleaned up and the leg was repaired with some JB Weld. The pony was fine, just very dull and no shine so I used a mixture of chrome cleaner and Gibbs Brand to bring it back to life. The results were really good and came out better than I had hoped for, so obviously I am well pleased with it. The full process of the cleaning and repairs I have added a page to the Photo Menu – Body Work – Mustang Corral, or click here for the hyper link, there are over forty photos in total. I did however take a few arty shots of the iconic horse while it was out as I may want to change the header at a later date with my own car and grill. What do you think?

The chrome cleaner was removing the dirt but seemed to be moving the dirt from one end to the other. A different approach was required, the Gibbs Brand cleaned up most of the dirt first and the chrome cleaner done the rest. As some of the metal work was pitted slightly I didn’t want to make it worse by catching the chrome with a cloth and leaving a chromeless spot and so it was treated carefully. The brushed effect wasn’t given any rough stuff either for the very same reason, the Gibbs Brand was the staple cleaner for those areas. I could see that brushed effect would scrape off if abused and ruin the look of the two-tone finish as a few tiny scratches revealed that point after the dirt was removed.

Original state

back of grill

horse removed

close up

black paint

cleaned to half way

different angle after being cleaned

mixing the JB Weld

pressing together and supported

reverse of corral

finished

The finished result is a well-groomed pony looking forward to more open road adventures.

finished

Quick Links:

Photo Menu – Bodywork – Mustang Corral click here

Share my Content

Wind & Hot Air

Yesterday I was a little disgruntled with myself while in the man cave. In the male domain I have the front valance and the bumper stone guards that I have been rubbing down and spraying ready for a top coat or being fitted to the car, I was pleased with them and I sort of liked walking into the man cave and seeing the fruits of my labour. I decided to tidy up a little bit as things were piled up on the floor where I quickly put them out of the rain earlier. As usual I have to pick up the metal work and stand it up somewhere to get at the places I need such as the draws to the tool cabinet, once I am done I lay them back out again. I had my electrical compartment case in one hand and a few tools in the other that were going to be found a home in my tool cabinet. I have a latch on the door for a very large padlock and an elastic bungee cord that hooks to the door latch, the other end is attached to the fence post just behind the man cave. I hadn’t to put the hook to the door like I normally do, thinking that it would be OK as I wasn’t intending to be long. With that thought, a gust of wind from nowhere whistled round to the door and slammed it shut behind me. The vibration of the slammed door was just enough to start a sequence of events, I heard the sound of the metal sliding along the shelf where it was propped up against. Decision time, do I drop the plastic case filled with literally hundreds of electrical connections and fittings, as I had just purchased some large bulk bags, the other hand had a few small tools in it like wire crimps etc. Dropping the case and tools to try to catch the metal work would have certainly resulting in a smashed case and the electrical connections scattering all over the place, and no guarantee that I would have saved the metalwork. Or, do I watch my hard earn time and effort potentially get damaged. In slow motion the decision was being made, I leant forward with my arms out to try and counter balance, the pivot action of the right leg came up in a rather lame attempt to stop the bumper guard from being damage. I managed to slow it enough to gently graze on the edge of a bucket. Dumping the case and tools on the work bench time to inspect the damage. The bumper guard is not to heavy so no dents were made but it glanced of the handle. The problem was the metal part of the handle was overhanging the side of the bucket by the smallest of margins and the handle managed to scratch of some primer. The hot air was now forth coming in its own little hurricane that just happened to be voicing a few choice words to myself for being such a lazy ass in the first place. Pushing the door open in disgust as if it was the door’s fault, the bungee was hooked on the door and now proceeded to feel very sorry for myself. I got the mixing pot for the filler off the very same shelf that had supported my bumper guard. The damage could have been worse I guess, but that was not the point. The scratch was on the end and pretty much out of sight to be fair and would have been covered by the chrome bumper, but I wanted it right. The smallest amount of mixed filler was required as it was going to be a thin fill after I rubbed down what I needed too. Today I lightly rubbed the filler down after curing overnight to a nice smooth finish and gave it a spray of primer. All was right with the world again. As a result of this reworking I decided to put the completed pieces in the garage that I should have done weeks ago. Not sure why I put up with the pain of moving bits around the man cave all the time but I did. Now the garage wall has two new additions to go with the bumpers on the wall, the front valance and stone bumper guard. That way they will be out of harms way, that being me. I hope!

The top front bumper is pretty rusty and not much good, so the brackets holding it up fitted nicely in the mounting holes of the metal work and the other sides were tied up using some strong cord. It don’t look pretty – but hey, it works. The metal work is not going anywhere as they are tight to the wall, so I wedged some rags between the metal and the brick work. It looks like they are touching but there is a good couple of inches clearance there between them. Next time I will hold the door open regardless.

Articles:

I have placed a rather long technical spec document for the 1964 – 1970 Ford Mustang Technical Specs under the Mustang Profiles by Year menu. The page is quite long, but a lot of the sequences are repeated for each year of car for the same sections such as; full vin codes, axle codes, paint colours inside and out, weight, engines, trim options and prices at the time. A compilation sourced from various web sites so I can’t take full credit I’m afraid. But, as these are facts & figures there is only a limited number of ways of presenting them.

Click here for the quick link:

Ford Mustang 1964 – 1970 Technical Specs.

Share my Content

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!