Tag: Mustang Maniac

Was It Worth It?

My last post was all about how my replica Autolite battery had dies a very sudden death without warning. I managed to recreate the battery with a top cover from Mustang Maniac and battery from Toyota of all people. That page can be found here. I promised that I would take the old one apart to see just what was inside. The project took me a lot longer than I thought it would and you will see why as I go along.

The old battery case I wanted to keep, and possibly place a similar battery inside it at a later date maybe? So the work was going to be slow and careful so I didn’t destroy the case. As I knew there was another battery in there I wasn’t sure what to expect either. So the battery was taken into the shed for a plan of action.

When you undo the cell caps on this replica it’s quite obvious that there is a smaller battery in there and a large cavity at one end. By deduction that would mean that the terminals for the inner battery would be connected to the to top posts via cables.

down the holes
other side holes

I could see that the top was fitted originally there was a gap at the back corner where it hadn’t seated correctly, from the left corner of the pic below. So that was going to be my starting point.

side (top left of the picture shows the slightly raised corner)

The Dremel was out and a cutting disk will be used to go around the seam.

The dust from the battery was incredible. The closest I can put this to is a laser printer black toner cartridge powder. Rub it and it stains what it touches. Just the back cut had created a black cloud and difficult to breathe.

So the face mask when on and ventilation made better. The battery was turned over in turn for each side that needed the cuts. Some parts needed to be cut a little deeper as the mould on the inside hadn’t been cut through completely.

Once I had freed the lid I could see one wire that was holding it in place. That wire would have to be cut, then I could get to the other side which was tucked into the corner.

This corner cable was difficult as the battery was holding the cable tight against the case. I think during assembly the gel battery was attached to the lid and then lowered into a resin that held the battery in place and set hard to hold it in place. There would be no other explanation from what I could see.

The resin at the bottom had set like hard plastic and couldn’t be pulled or peeled out-of-the-way. This was a problem as I couldn’t see any other option only to cut the bottom out as well. I managed to bend the cable to the lid out the way to make the cut to remove the top completely. Now I could turn the battery upside down and cut the bottom out. Now I had to be extra careful so that I didn’t cut through the inner battery causing untold problems I wasn’t prepared for. I had lots of old towels to hand and thick gloves at this point to mop up any spillage.

With the bottom of the case cut through the battery was still not coming out. Closer inspection down the side I could see the resin had gone up the side of the battery too, yet another issue. I had various steel pallet knives that I use for filling in holes on walls with plaster etc. The plan now would mean gentle taps to try to crack the resin away without cracking the case itself. I did manage to keep breaking the thin blade to a jagged edge. This actually helped to cut through the resin, like a saw tooth. Those gentle taps turned into more force as I realised I was not getting through the resin.

After what seemed like hours the battery started to loosen and cracks could be heard when the resin was starting to separate from the case and the bottom panel with the battery still attached. Eventually it all came free and I could see why I had such a problem.

Now I had an “L” shape to separate from the battery itself if I wanted to keep the bottom, which I did. The same process would need to be applied again, tap into the narrow space between the battery and the bottom of the case. This stage took a lot longer than taking the bottom out due to the significantly more resin in place. After a lot of hammering and two palate knives later it was all apart and looking a mess.

The final stage was to put it all back together again. The inside was cleaned up to remove any dust and debris to make a clean surface for the jointing glue. I used a sheet of plastic under the battery and placed the bonding glue in the gaps around the base and the inside of the case. The plastic would peel of no problem and leave a gap that was filled with a black mastic again.

The top was cleaned up and the cables cut flush. If I wanted to fit a cable back in there I would have to use a tap and die set to create the anchor points.

inside sealed

The top was held in place with a tiny bead of silicon so that I could remove it if I needed to, but wouldn’t fall of if handled. Now that the uneven top had been cut flush, the battery top was now sitting flat on the bottom case, just how it should have been.

So what was inside? I have no idea what the battery was after all that. apart from the fact it was a gel battery with the following sticker details. Google hasn’t given me any more.

Can anybody else help me out with it? I think it was a golf cart type battery, but I could be wrong!

Related pages are the original battery review click here or cut and paste this link:

Autolite Replica Battery (group 24)

Making a new Autolite Group 24 battery click here, or cut and past this link:

Making An Autolite Group 24 Battery

So the question is now, was it worth it? The answer for me is yes. My inquisitive mind wanted to know what was in there.

I now have a very lightweight antique car battery that is nicely cleaned up and sitting on a wooden shelf in the garage. It just looks so wrong that it shouldn’t be there! The amount of effort to get it all part is not really worth it, perhaps a battery in the middle and not stuck to the side of the case would be much easier. But, thinking of the safety aspect with the battery sliding about, that wouldn’t have been good at all.

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Wax On – Wax Off

I have to admit that I have a little bit of an OCD problem when it comes to cleaning my car, I take it out, I bring it back and she gets a clean before the cover goes back on. The guys at Mustang Maniac use my car cleaning obsession to wind me up about it all the time. I like to try all sorts of different cleaning products to find out what works best for me. I love the Meguiar’s products, but there are others products that I use for specific jobs by other suppliers, DoDo Juice, Auto Finesse, Chemical Guys, Poor Boys World, EZ Car Care etc. I have tried some products and I didn’t like them on the Mustang for various reasons, but I use them on my others cars as they are fine for those. I have started to add to the Car Detailing Reviews menu again now to let you guys know what I think of them.

Here in the UK there is a show that is held once a year just for a single day which has been held for the last five years now called “Waxstock”. The Waxstock show is also billed as Europe’s largest car care show. I wanted to go last year, but it clashed with a car show that Mustang Maniac guys and friends were going to be attending in numbers, so that was my choice last year to go to the car show. As it turned out that car show was a nice sunny day, a great day out and having plenty of laughs with the guys. This year the same clash was going to happen, but the car show’s location was predicted heavy rain or thunder storms. As much I like to see the Mustang guys it’s quite a trek to get there for me. So I decided with a heavy heart to leave the car in the dry and take a trip to the middle of the country to visit the Waxstock show which would be a two-hour drive to get there. The weather there was not going to be brilliant either, but at least it was going to be held inside.

Cost of the tickets was a little expensive at £15 per person to get in, but that included the free parking on the day. The show is mainly aimed at the professional car cleaning companies or the more specialised car detailing companies. The outside parking area was split up to have the show and shine area for people who wanted to show off their cars and hopefully win a prize and the general parking area. The down side was there was plenty of small cars with big exhausts trying to sound like big cars, if you know what I mean. To be fair there was some nice cars on show outside and some “less than average” examples should I say to be kind. It seems as though the slammed look is still the in thing, I personally don’t like the look, but beauty is in the eye of the behold and I can really appreciate the amount of work gone into those cars. A couple of the cars I think we’re there for a bet as the paint on the cars were scuffed and slightly worse for wear.

 

The doors opened at nine thirty in the morning on the dot and the long queue of people to get in started to move. There was supposed to be fifty-five stands representing over seventy brands. Most of the vendors were around the outside and the bigger sponsors were in the middle.

 

I never knew there was so many different suppliers of car care products. The main hall was not that big, maybe around the size of a football (soccer) pitch or there abouts.

 

There were cars at some of the stands all nicely polished and gleaming. From old fans to super cars and the Pagani Hyper Car.

 

 

It was obvious that many of the cars were trailer Queens and transported to the show without a tyre touching tarmac. There were some pretty spectacular old English Ford’s a Cortina and an Escort. Both highly collectible and can command some big money, especially at this standard. The sad part? They were never going to be driven and enjoyed, they are just large show pieces now.

 

There were a number of cars from private entries all trying to make a claim for the prizes of best in show.

 

There was a couple of demonstrations from vendors showing their products in action which was interesting.

 

I managed to walk around in about an hour or so and watched a couple of stand demos. There was a talk in the staged area from guests who were respected in the detailing industry. After a second look round it was time to part with some money, some old favourites and a couple of new products to try out.

I spoke to a couple of suppliers about what I found with their products and what I wanted to achieve. In particular the points I have raised when using the DoDo Juice Tropical Red Mist on top of Meguiar’s wax which leaves streaks. The great guys at DoDo where aware of as it had been mentioned to them before. All in all it was a good day to see what all the fuss was about. But I doubt I will go again. I bought enough to make it worth my while as I was there using the discounts. But to be honest, the prices are not that much cheaper as you can get on the likes of eBay. Saying that, there was a a single pot of wax  a new sale for £500! Hopefully I will be at a car show soon and see how these new products I bought perform in the hands of an ordinary man with his Mustang, along with his OCD obsession.

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That’s More Like It

After the last car show shambles it was time for my local Car Show as it were, Cars On the Green at Bury St. Edmunds. This is usually a well run event with a bursting to capacity show. This year they had to restrict the number of entries via pre-booking as exit time last year cause complete gridlock in the town itself. The local plod (police) were not amused and decided to clamp down for the 2017’s show. However, the best part last year was that people were lining the roads to watch the cars leaving – in effect they got to see the cars and hear them too just like a cruise, that’s a bonus I would have said. This year ironically there was no plod to be seen to direct “the traffic” and everything was a smooth departure. I did find them lurking in the same places as last year, sitting on the main roads (eating doughnuts I expect) waiting to catch somebody as an easy target.

Anyway, I arrived in what I thought was good time in the morning, a little before nine when the show was due to start at ten, to find myself sitting in a queue to get in, but at least it was moving. Being as the weather was already scorching hot, the cars were just ticking over there were a couple of cars that had over heating problems and had pulled over to cool down. The queue died down quickly enough when a few more people were brought out to direct the cars in. From what I could see the minor problem was entrants and visitors were using the same queue at the main gate. But, it all sorted itself out and I got in within ten minutes at the most. The show was already busy with visitors looking as the cars were parking and setting up. I even had somebody video me reversing into my parking spot. This show was indeed well organised throughout the whole day, just so much better than the two and a half hours carnage at Duxford! The sun was out and it was getting hotter by the hour, then I (stupidly) started to clean my car. I needed to cool down quickly and sat in the shade for a while and downed a litre bottle of cold water I took with me.

I even decided to put my show board up, I had two people during the day asking if I wanted to sell my pride and joy, the answer was obviously “no”, in fact one bloke looked decidedly annoyed when I said no! Then on the other side of the coin, there was a lovely family who spent ages looking at my car in lots of detail and reading my show board. I went over to say “Hi” to them, the dad explained that his son (I would take a guess his age to be around seven or eight years old), was “Mustang Mad”. Apparently his bedroom was plastered with the Classic Mustangs posters, pictures and models etc. So I did what I don’t normally do; I asked him if he wanted to sit in my car? He little chap turned straight to his dad looking for approval, whose face was now also a picture. The little guy gently climbed in and sat in the seat and held the wheel, the smile he gave to his dad made my day in fact, you can’t buy those sorts of smiles. The dad was taking lots of pictures as the little guy pretended to drive the car, leaning from side to side as if to go around corners. He would have stayed there all day I think unless his dad said it was time to go and “let the man have his car back.” The dad was so grateful and made a huge thank you with the best hand shake of the day. What a fantastic moment that will stay with me for a long, long time. I think it was the nasty “hay fever” that bought a lump to my throat. I just wished I had something to give him to remember it by.

There was a diverse array of cars, but not as many American cars as thought there would be like last year. In fact I only spotted one other Classic Mustang also in a dark blue.

There were some nice old UK Fords on show from the sixties up to the eighties.

Some great looking trucks.

There was lots of cars that were three or four years old on display, Which I didn’t quite understand to be honest. If I wanted to see those sorts of cars I could wait a set of traffic lights to see them go by!

There were some great stalls there selling their goods and some unusual stuff too. Did I mention it was busy and that there were lots of people!

I’m pleased to say that my faith in car show organisation has been fully restored, just like my car in fact! 🙂

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Car Show Let Down

A very unusual situation happened to me regarding a car show where I was disappointed at the event. This was the first car show of the year which was held fairly local to me at only half hour drive away. I had been to a previous event at the same venue before and I was little disappointed back then. The event(s) were held at Stonham Barns in Suffolk. The first show that I attended was good for attendance with plenty of cars to look at with a couple of good stalls, but the winning trophies seemed to go to people who were known to the judges, I dare to say. I don’t expect trophies at the events I attend, the whole point of me attending is that I like to share my Mustang passion with other car enthusiasts, it certainly wasn’t sour grapes for not winning anything as I didn’t enter ayway. In fact I agreed with one of the winners which really was a good looking car. Anyway, back to last weekend the show was billed as “Spring Break Custom Car Show.” To be held on the 8th & 9th April. Here is the sales pitch for that weekend:

“Join us over the weekend of Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th April 2017 for the Spring Break Custom Car Show.

The event is an early season, blow off the cobwebs, laid back, friendly, take us as you find us kind of weekend. A gathering for everyone with an interest in Rods, Bikes, Yanks, ’Mid Century’ and  ’Kustom Kulture’.

ALTHOUGH THE WHOLE WEEKEND IS DEDICATED TO ALL ASPECTS OF VINTAGE, HOT ROD AND KUSTOM KULTURE ON SUNDAY THE FOCUS IS ON 50’S AND LATER. CARS AND BIKES AS LATE AS 1973 ARE PERMITTED IN THE MAIN ‘SPRING BREAK’ SHOW & SHINE, AND THERE IS AN ADDITIONAL SHOW & SHINE COMPETITION FOR LATER VEHICLES OF ‘SPECIAL INTEREST’. THIS WILL INCLUDE CLASSES FOR LATER AMERICAN CARS, ALL CUSTOM VEHICLES INCLUDING LATER BIKES. (MODERN HARLEY’S AND OTHER CRUISERS, CHOPPERS, BOBBERS ETC.) IN PREVIOUS YEARS THE RESPONSE TO THIS SHOW HAS BEEN VERY POSITIVE SO COME ALONG AND ENJOY.

There will also be many stalls and traders, auto jumblers, swapmeeters and vintage/record stalls for you to wander around. You are welcome to stay for the weekend we have tickets that include the price of camping. Please visit our website to find out more.”

Reads like it will be a great weekend, yes?

Me and friend of mine Craig who is also into his cars in a big way, decided we would attend on the Saturday 8th as we both had plans on the Sunday. The start times weren’t advertised from what we could see, but these things usually start around the ten o’Clock. We arranged to meet before hand and go in convoy. There was no signs on the way there which made us think had we got the right day even? We got there and was told that we were the first to arrive and was charged £8 each for the entry, we got an orange wrist band which allowed us to go back in and out as we wished, even half price for the animal enclosures entry. I was asked to follow one of the organisers to the show field where he opened the gate and I was first in and asked to start a row for the cars.

A few moments later a couple more cars arrived in the field to park next to me.

Eventually by the end of the day there was another eight cars on show and shine field with me. There was a couple of other cars driving into the field, parking up for a short while then leaving again. We walked around the few stalls that were there with others being set up throughout the day. I was told that Sunday was the main day of the show and people turn up during the Saturday evening if stopping over or on the Sunday morning itself. Around the outside of the main show field there was a number of caravans and a few other nice cars ready for the Sunday show.

around the outside
Craig in the “show field”

For me advertising a car show for a Saturday and a Sunday event, but really it’s a Sunday show with a Saturday actually being a prep day was pretty misleading. I saw the whole thing in one hour and that was including the stalls that were open. I thought it was a real poor effort as did Craig. We stayed as long as we could although we were seriously bored. We treated ourselves to a full English breakfast nearer to lunch time so we could waste more time to see if any more cars turned up. The weather was fantastic and not as though it was raining to stop the cars from venturing out for the day. I mentioned earlier that we were charged the full price of £8 per car to get in and I think that was bit strong especially as the Sunday was slightly cheaper to get in, for what reason I don’t understand. Still, this time next year I’m sad to say that I wont bother. There is a very positive upside of the day though. I got to met some great people who were asking lots of questions about my car. I think I even convinced one guy that he should get a project of his own. I honestly hope that the show had the expected nine hundred or so cars on the Sunday they were hoping for, in which case it would be a good show of cars for people to look at. It would bea real shame if people stopped going to these events and they get cancelled due to lack of interest.

The drive there and back was fantastic for me in the sun, windows down and listening to the v8 I hadn’t heard properly for a few months over the winter. Surely if the event is advertised as a weekened two day show, then make it a weekend two day show with cars on both days. Or did I read and get the advert very wrong? To think I gave up a precious weekend I could of had down at the Mustang Maniac yard. Every car show I have been to in the past I have enjoyed, and I don’t doubt for one minute that will ever change in the future for me. However, it does have to be said that if there are no cars, then it can’t be a good show for anybody. One guy summed up the day for me when he said “At least you bothered to turn up.” I had nothing to respond back to him with.

I’m now looking forward to the next lot of show that’s for sure and will bring some pictures of those for you. I hope you have a great Easter, and don’t eat to much chocolate!

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A Year On The Road

A year after being on the road and attending car shows it comes to that time of year that every classic car owner dreads. The UK requires by law a car that is the years old and any car up to 1960 must pass a road worthy test, or M.O.T (Ministry Of Transport) test. It can fail for a gas cap not fitting correctly, a bulb not working, rust or “drivers view of the road” what ever that means etc. December last year my car passed her first test since the restoration. As it was due again I had a word with Adam to see when he could book me in for the M.O.T. Saturday. I drove down to the Mustang Maniac yard to catch up with the guys to fill in time before my appointment. Time flew by and was given a map on how to get there along with verbal directions. The guys know I’m seriously diabolical when it comes to directions. I set off and had the map on the seat next to me, simple enough. I turned off too soon and turned around to get back on the correct road again. Yep, I got lost even with a hand drawn map. The best of it was that Lance from Mustang Maniac had spotted me, what are the chances of that? With my luck it’s every chance. Needless to say that my WhatsApp group for Mustang Maniac went mental and I knew exactly what was waiting for me. I eventually found the place after thirty mins that should have taken fifteen. I pulled up to the testing station and took a pic of the car in the reflection which matched the garage paint job. I was right, my WhatsApp had a torrent of grief waiting for me, showing no sympathy what so ever for little detour.

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The guys at the test center took my keys and I watched my car disappear into the workshop. A short while later according to the clock, but seemed like hours in waiting time passed by when the guys came back to the desk. They smiled and gave me my keys back with, “she’s passed with flying colours.” My heart rate now slowed, that was promptly replaced with a proud smile. I paid the bill, thanked the guys and left with my all important certificate. The test results are updated on the goverment system instantly, so the paper doesn’t mean anything except something for your records. The drive home was quicker and much more straight forward, I think. I arrived back at the yard to yet more grief asking me how I got lost. I blamed the map but they weren’t having any of it for some reason.

I had asked Adam if I could put my car up on ramps to put a spanner over all the important nuts and bolts ro make sure everything was where it should be when I come back from the M.OT. Adam kindly said yes and he had already moved a car of the ramp ready for me while I was out. He added “I will be there in a minute to check her over with you.”

The car was lifted up for me to get underneath and inspect. At this point Adam duly arrived back to see that everything was all OK. He grabbed another torch and went over everything looking for signs of movement that the MOT itself wouldn’t pick up. The thumbs up was given by Adam who told me to tighten the rear axle to shock plate clamps. They looked fine to me, but check them I did.

He was right, they needed a turn or so just to take up the stretch in the bolts. After that I got out some white cleaning cloths so I could clean all my suspension. There was a little messy water stain on the left side due to me over filling the radiator, the overflow did its job and dumped some water.

Gibbs Brand Lubricant was the choice of the day and everything got coated that needed to be coated. I polished the white prop shaft that still looked white after a year.

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Cleaning my Mustang is therapeutic and enjoyable and in no way a chore. Yet cleaning the other daily driver cars is not quite the same somehow. Now that my car was cleaned to my standards underneath as it was much easier to clean while up in the air. I could see just how filthy the car was by the state of the two white cloths I had used.

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OK, it wasn’t that dirty at all which made me happy. The trouble was I had to drive it home again, the weather wasn’t looking to good, so I said my thanks and goodbyes to the guys. The master plan was to get home before the rain. The drive home took a little over the hour and I managed to get the car home before the rain, which started about an hour or so after the car was safely in the garage.

The trouble is what do you buy your car for Christmas? I want to get some more cleaning products ready for the show season 2017. For the first time in years I haven’t asked for anything from my Snap On rep. I now have most of the tools that I need and bought them as I went along. If I need tools that I haven’t got then I suspect I will be in some sort of big mechanical trouble. I have got my eye on a few stainless steel clips for the rubber hoses. Lets see what Santa brings.

Wishing you and all my readers and followers a Happy Christmas and great New Year.

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End Of Car Show Season

It looks like the classic car season has come to an end like a balloon bursting. Where has the summer gone? I have been to a number of shows this year and made some new friends, meet old friends many times at the shows. I know that I haven’t posted for a while again, my excuse is that I have enjoyed my car so much I can even begin to tell you just how much. Opening the garage door on a Sunday morning and getting that smell of classic car. The smell of metal, engine oil, transmission fluid and petrol all mixed together in a very fine subtle unmistakable aroma. It’s like women smell a bunch of flowers with passion. Petrol heads just can’t get enough of that classic car smell. Pulling the cover of still makes me smile stand back and look at her before I get in her. I shut the door, I don’t slam it. Pump the gas to prime the carb and turn the key, the V8 rumble bites the air and fills my ears with decibels. It’s all very poetic and mushy maybe. But, I still feel like that driving the car to a show. I look at every single person on the road a nutter and they are going to something stupid and drive into me. I am in a state of hyper alertness driving as a result.

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That way of thinking is the safest way to be, the only time I can relax is when I see other classic cars near the venue, they all have the same opinion as me and also think that everybody else is a nutter who is going to drive into them as well. The thrill of driving a classic car is with me and will never go, I meet up with the guys from Mustang Maniac and drive in convoy. For four years I was driving in my daily driver to the shows just longing to be a part of the scene. Now when we park up we hand out the statutory banter and men type abuse as we do. After wandering around checking the other cars out I get my chair out and watch the world go by the front of the car. It’s a bit like fishing without catching anything. Every so often I get comments on the car and lots of questions about the car from interested people. My best day was where a father had just bought a Lincoln Continental as a project car to do with his son. The questions they were asking me was the same questions I was asking four years ago when I started my journey of restoration. I tried to help them as much as I could with hints and tips. It was a joy to be honest to spend what was an hour or so of having my brains picked. So I have a few of my favorite pictures of the shows I was attending to finish the year off.

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Although this is not an actual picture of my car, I just love the reflection in the back of this van. It was taken as a real quick snap shot from inside the car waiting to get into the show.

reflection1

There remains only one more event that I will be going to and that is the Birmingham NEC CLassic Car show where I exhibited last year. I won’t be exhibiting this year as I didn’t see hardly anything last year. Although being a part of that show was amazing, I was hard work and there was the odd moment where people didn’t give a fig about the cars and would rub their hands all over them, coats being dragged over the paint, etc. I don’t want to risk the damage to be honest.

Car Detailing:

I have been very busy cleaning my car obviously at the shows and after when I get back home. I have been adding reviews under my newer section on the menus “Car Detailing Reviews”. The products have all been honestly reviewed from Meguiar’s, DoDo Juice, Chemical Guys, Poor Boys World, Autoglym etc. Some I liked and some I wouldn’t even give away from the likes of Simoniz. I have one or two products that I shall eventually get around to reviewing at some point. Some I have already done, and there is even a few detailing tools to be tested as well.

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Where do I start with all this lot? 😉

Some of these products I have had for a while now and used on my various cars over the years. Some are very new as I move into the complex world of car detailing, and not just cleaning a car. I already have a few favorites of the new breed, but how do they compare to the old school products?

Meguiar’s Ultimate Wax Paste reviewed click here

DoDo Juice Red Mist Tropical reviewed click here

It will be interesting to find out. What will I be doing with my time now as I won’t be showing the car and I wont be restoring the car? I know – clean it!

I will be posting again soon don’t worry. 🙂

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The Scenic Route

It’s been a while since my last post, but I have something a little different this time for you. I have posted a video of my car running up and down a sleepy reservoir road with a pal of mine filming the show. We initially went there for somewhere scenic as a back drop for the car on a quick photo shoot. But as it was so peaceful and a nice quiet area, we decided to have a couple of quick videos of the car going up the road and back down again. The video can be found on my YouTube channel click here for the link to all the videos, or click the image below to watch the videos or cut and paste the link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJddSktoMqA

Turn up the volume for a short minute and enjoy. 😉

Between Craig & I we took quite a few photo’s, with Craig obviously taking the video, he did kindly offer to drive my car for me though! By the time it takes you to read my response “No”, it was about double the amount of time it took me to think about and still give the answer “No”. Maybe next time Craig!

Here are some of pics from that photo session:

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When I was editing the pictures I decided to play around with a couple of filters on my favourite photos.

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As it’s getting near the end of the show season I need to take my car down to Mustang Maniac to get a once over with a spanner, and general health check. I have almost done 1,100 miles so far in the car, can you believe it?

During the car shows I attend I give the car a little polish up or quick detail while she is there. Yes, although I try and avoid all photo’s this was sent to me to show how “sad” I had become to clean and polish the tyres. I could tell you my response was but this is an all ages blog. 😀

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According to some regular car show enthusiasts I had progressed from “cleaning” the car to “waxing”, now I have moved up another level to “detailing” the car. This now gets super serious and to make the paint look as good as it ever will and different products give different results. To most people there is no difference except the odd “it looks very clean” or “it shiny”.  I have reviewed a product called “Poorboy’s World Quick Detailer Plus” which is supposed to give that waxed look after a quick “wipe on” and “wipe off”.

Click here for the review link or go to my new menu “Car Detailing Products”. To see what I think of the product take a look at the review. There will be a number of these detailing reviews soon, from quick detailers, waxing, metal polish, micro fibre towels, drying towels, glass cleaners, tyre dressing from such makers as Meguair’s, DoDo Juice, Poorboy’s, Chemical Guys, Autoglym  etc etc. all of which are aimed at the serious car cleaner (sorry) detailer!

Please let me know what you think of filtered photo’s, I’m interested to see if I ruined them or they look good compared to the original colour versions. Perhaps you don’t like any of them and could suggest some better places to take some pics in the Suffolk area.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

lakenh37The 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.

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lakenh53At 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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Still Here & Showing The Car

I have had an email to ask if I am still about on my blog. The answer is a big yes, of course I am. Last weekend I was with the Mustang Maniac guys at Santa Pod for a Classic Ford meet. Yogi took his ’69 Mach1 down the strip a few times and set some impressive times even though he had wheel spin all over the place off the line. We camped overnight on Saturday and that was a laugh as I hadn’t been camping for nearly 40 years! It was still as bad as I remember it, only made up for it with the steady supply of beer, only to help make us sleep of course. It was share a tent time and I left my shoes by the zip exit to the tent. Yogi got up in the night and tripped over my boots and feel out the door in a most undignified manner! I shouldn’t laugh, but I did. Sorry Yogi, but it was funny. There was some great cars there and I have borrow some of the pics from the Mustang Maniac Blog, click here for the full story and some videos of Yogi racing.

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Some of the drag set up cars couldn’t match Yogi’s Mach1 times, and that is almost a fifty year old car. I was very impressed with that I must say. Running in the eleven and twelve second range for the standard quarter-mile.

The Week before that was the Enfield Pageant Of Motoring which is the Mustang Maniac show of choice. I was there this time with my completed car on Saturday & Sunday, stopping overnight in the big motor home Adam has for the hospitality. I was not disappointed and Adam can rustle up a good breakfast too. There was so much to see at the show, but I have noticed that there are more and more new stall traders creeping in rather than the old skool auto jumble. I arrived early in the morning at the Mustang Maniac yard and helped out where I could and followed the guys in convoy to the show, literally about twenty mins down the road. I parked up with some of the other cars already there, Ranchero, Yogi’s ’69, Ian’s fastback, and mine for now. What was great was that people from last year recognised the car where it was unfinished.

As the time grew closer to opening times more cars arrived to show on the stand. Paul turned up with his ’66 coupe to complete the line up of old cars. The new cars where out in force with a couple of GT’s and a Saleen. The stand looked brilliant and attracted the usual crowds to the old and newer cars.

Sunday saw Spence in his convertible take the place on the front row to provide a different display along with a new 2016 right hand drive black Mustang which was quite cool.

Monday was mix and match day with Lance bringing his ’65 coupe down to replace mine in the Classic section of the stand.

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The weekend was a lucky weekend with the rain holding off most of the time with only a few spots of drizzle.

The Car:

I have been driving her around now and enjoying every second of it and put almost seven hundred miles on the clock driving to and from car shows. Adam now wants the car back to give the car and check over and make sure all the bolts are tightened up again and re-grease all the points that need them. There is a sweet spot of sixty miles an hour where the exhaust quietens down and is a pleasure to cruise. But if you stamp on the gas it soon makes a noise again.

Miles per gallon?

I am always being asked this and not really had a chance to work it out so far. Now after a few tank full and recording the mileage on my phone app, it works it all out for me now. If I drive it like an old lady and be very, very gentle with it down hill I get a max of 25mpg but if I drive it like I stole it I get 14mpg. If I am on a run I get about 20mpg. I can’t complain at that at all.

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I just say: “It’s not miles per gallon, it’s SMILES per gallon”.

So it has been a very busy couple of weekends where I have just had the chance to catch up a bit and recover. Mostly I now appreciate just how comfortable my own bed is! There are more car shows coming up and hope I will be a little quicker getting the blog posted up.

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Show Season Starts

Last weekend I went to a show at Stonham Barns in Suffolk for their “Spring Break” car show the first of the season for me. This was going also going to be my first show I had done on my own without the support of Mustang Maniac. The show was over three days, Friday, Saturday and the Sunday that I went too. I have no preconceived notion that I would win anything and I didn’t enter any groups before hand, although a little silverware never hurt anybody. I had been to many shows on my own as a visitor and not as an exhibitor in the past except for the Birmingham NEC during November last year and the Enfield Pageant where the car was very much a work in progress. The alarm went off at seven o’clock but the gates didn’t open until nine on the dot. I couldn’t sleep anyway and  had lots to do; like checking the water, tyre pressures putting the cleaning materials in the trunk and most importantly checking the weather, the sky was almost as blue as my car. I had already made my mind up that I wouldn’t being if there was a good chance of rain. Weather forecast promised lots of sun with cloudy spells at times. Perfect, I got in the car and started her up and I was on my way. Google Maps on my phone directed me to the direction of the show nearly thirty miles away. As I got closer I could see other great looking cars heading in the same direction. Pulling into the gates there was another Mustang that pulled up behind me. I gave the thumbs up and got one back too. I smiled – a lot. Common sense was in full play as there were marshalls directing all us early birds into the fields half hour before they were due to open. The owner of the car behind me got out and introduced himself to me as speaking to me at the NEC show. The penny then dropped and placed the face as being one of the many people who I had spoken too. We parked up next to each other, followed by a Galaxy 500 and a cracking looking Burgundy Camaro SS.

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There was cars arriving at a steady pace as we talked about our cars and the LED lights we both had with the variations in them. We eventually decided to go look at some more cars, that gave me a chance to take even more pics of my car. For a valid reason that I will get to later.

I decided that i was going to lift the hood again and let people have a look.

I wasn’t sure how to play it so secured the car and walked away and watched from a distance to see how things played out. I was pleasantly surprised to see the respect of the visitors looking holding their clothing away from the paint work. After half hour or so, I was confident to walk way and look at some other fantastic cars that was now pouring into the fields.

This blue and white Thunderbird had a spectacular paint job.

One of the prize winners here was a real nice Caddy with a Dodge Viper v10 wedged in it. This bike just seemed to go on and take over the whole car park, it was massive with Beetle flat four in the back of it.

Under the hood of the cars were some strange sights a water bottle made out of a Jack Daniels bottle, some poor chap had a leaking radiator.

At one o’clock the judges were on their way round and made virtually no stops at the “standard” road cars. Their time was spent around the Hot Rod / Rat Rod sections. Some of those cars were absolutely amazing, I knew right at that point no prizes were going my way. Shortly after the judging there was a lot of cars leaving around two o’clock, so much so that the bloke on the mic announced that he hoped none of those cars leaving were trophy winners, he didn’t have to worry. I wanted to stay and see the result of judging, so I spent my time aimlessly wandering around looking at the time and effort owners had put into their cars. The stalls were mainly selling items and not really any old car parts as such, nothing that you wouldn’t see at a local car boot sale to be fair. At three o’clock the winners were announced, not a single standard car got an award of the ten trophies that were up for grabs, the hot rod guys and the latest trend of, huge camber angles on a VW Beetle, “slammed” trucks and cars sitting on the floor took the prizes. Never mind, better luck next time. I think I got how this show worked, the emphasis was a Hot Rod based entries for the show, their webpage advertising the event was showing a selection of the previous attending cars that were all hot rods. There was some fantastic cars there that day, but I thought other cars deserved the prizes so much more, like the Thunderbird, the Camaro SS, a beautiful Chevy Bel Air, Caddy Coupe de Ville etc. But, as I am not a judge it was irrelevant what I thought, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and of course some will say the cars that got the awards deserved them. Regardless of the results, I thoroughly enjoyed the show and meeting a few faces that I had previously seen at the NEC at the end of last year, speaking to total strangers who wanted to look at my car, along with other wonderful cars that were on show. Would I go again? Yep. Did I enjoy it? Yep. The weather was spot on all day, and yes I did get a bit of sunburn on my head! I enjoyed the trip home so much as the main road had a convoy of Classic Cars going back to their homes. I was now officially part of the Show Car scene driving there and back in my own car. Thumbs up to every body going past, or those that went past us. Horns were going, people waving to everybody, what a great day all round and perfect way to end the day. I was shattered when I got home. 🙂

This weekend, I had a good friend of mine Mike turned up to take a look at the car. Mike has a Mark two escort and just restored that to its original golden glory. Last time he had seen my car was about a year into the restoration where I had managed to start it up after the re-wiring it. I pulled the covers back and he was surprised to see the difference. I started her up in the garage to get the feel of the engine note, and breath in that unmistakable odour of fresh burning fuel. The roads were damp and the air was pretty damp. He was looking out to the sky as I had previously promised him a ride in it if the weather was OK. As it wasn’t raining I asked did he want to go out in it? At which he thought about it for zero seconds and said “Yes, if you’re sure”. I was, I shut the hood and started to back her out the garage and he got in. It was slightly amusing to see him looking for the shoulder belt, I told him that this was a proper car and only had lap belts. We set off down the road and I said that we would drive to the next village. As we got to the next village it started to spit with rain, I still had the window open. No, this can’t be happening, rain on my car! The car was now getting wet, so much so that I had to put the wipers on for the very first time. I was quite surprised at how well they actually worked. We done our circuit of about half an hour and headed back home. We pulled up to junction for a right turn and in my enthusiasm the rear wheels scrambled for grip untill I let of the gas. I gave this car respect in the rain and gave no sudden acceleration, obviously not enough respect was given to standing start in the rain. Me BAD!  A mile or so from home the rain stopped and the wind had pretty much dried the beads of water from the car. The car was put straight into the garage, and Mike was met by my wife and made him a cup of tea. I of course was out there in the garage drying my little lady. I joined them a short while later satisfied that the car totally dry, not that there was much to dry by the time we got back. I didn’t cover her up at this point, as the warmth of the engine in the garage along with the boiler would dry it out thoroughly over night.

Reviews:

As I had to clean my car the previous week with a bubble bath as it had got dusty, I have now completed my first review for car detailing products; the Meguiar’s Ultimate Wax Paste, click here for the hyper link to go straight to it. Or, go to the top menu “Car Detailing Products” where the link can also be found. I intend to add more reviews soon for the likes of; Meguiar’s, Poorboys World, Chemical Guys, Autoglym etc. etc. Why did I take more pics of my car as I mentioned at the beginning? 1) Just because I could, and 2) The shine on the car was from the Meguiar’s Ultimate Wax Paste that I could now finish the review off with.

How did the rain react to the paint? It was blown immediately off the car with the wind rush from driving. There was hardly any water on the car at all. I had not seen that level of beading before to be honest, impressive.

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