I just wanted to wish all my followers and contributors a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.
(Note: My car would never go out in the snow, but it looks kinda cool though.)
Tag: One man and his Mustang
For A Good Cause
Earlier in the year I submitted a photo to ‘Frost Restoration’ Who were running a competition for a calendar. Frost is a company who offer all sorts of tools and sundries for car restoration projects and maintenance. Before you ask; no I’m not on any sort of commission or retainer. Yes, I have used their services a number of times in the past where they have provided me with excellent service. Anyway back to the photo I submitted. The mini competition was for a charity calendar that Frost produce in aid of a good cause ‘Rosemere Cancer Foundation’. If you win – the prize was to be in the calendar, simple as that. I’d forgotten about it until I was contacted a few weeks ago about winning a place in the calendar. I’ve been waiting for the calendar to be released before I actually got too excited about it. Well it’s now available here if you wanted to by one, or click on the top image.
I made it into the calendar for the month of September 2022
I have bought two copies of the calendar to help support a worthwhile cause. A great present for a classic car fan and helps a good cause in the process. (No I’m not selling them.)
This picture was taken a couple of years ago before I swapped my registration plate over to 1966 OX.
For Sale..
When it rains at a car show I often get asked a question, where did you get that cowl cover?
This got me to thinking; could I even get to sell some for a little pocket money?
I looked into sourcing the materials and got to work on the design.
A few months later, I’ve now just had my first small batch of some rather cool covers. These covers provide an answer for the age old ’64 – ’66 classic Mustangs problem; rusting cowls!
The vents under the windscreen are responsible for a fresh air feed into the cabin. Unfortunately it’s also a place where water can pool up if the drain points are blocked. Eventually you will get a foot shower of leaks when it rains.
How do I know? Simple, this was my car!
There are various fixes on the market like solid screw on covers which are expensive, can crack and they can even leak when the foam seals fail. The most common sort are the screw in Scott Drake style plastic covers. I personally think that they spoil the clean lines of these cars and they also say; ‘I have a leaky cowl.’
My solution is simple and different; it’s a magnetic cowl cover. I currently have a few of both styles in stock; black carbon and plain gloss white. The white style you can add your own stickers or vinyl wraps.
These covers aren’t designed to be a permanent fix for the problem, they are there to protect your car from water or other undesirable debris like leaves entering into the cowl space. Once in this space it’s almost impossible to clean them out. These magnetic covers are placed on the vents in seconds and removed when protection is no longer required. This allows the fresh air back into the car. The magnetic backing conforms to the contours of the cowl forming a nice seal. I always use my magnetic cowl cover when washing my car, just to be on the safe side.
When you have finished with the magnetic cowl cover, just dry them with a wipe over, then stick them somewhere flat. I store mine inside the truck, stuck on the inside of the rear quarter where it’s a flat surface. It’s out of the way and easy to grab when you need it also keeping the magnetic material working too.
Other covers can be square cut with no cut out for the wiper arm as it’s cheaper obviously. My covers are cut to the contour of the cowl’s sweeping lines along with the wiper cut out. If you want to move the cover, lift up and reposition, don’t drag it!
For more information on the product click on the for sale menu or click here for the link. Or email me on the “Contact Me” menu on the mail heading.
Ideal for simply washing the car, or for getting caught out in the rain at a car show, like me – many a time. These covers make great presents for the ’64 to ’66 Mustang owners from £21.50 to £24.00 (inc P&P), for the standard UK postcodes. Ask for details on other regions.
My Webpage
My menu heading on the webpage have been a bit of a pain recently and causes errors when I try to save them for increasing the drop down list for ease of browsing. After more calls to WordPress they advised I list the heading and make a submenu page. I have taken that a step further to make it easier on the eye.
I have started to list the pages for the sub menus which is now an on going project. I will slowly work my way through most of them to make them all similar.
When you click on the new worded sub menu, it will take you to a page where all the pages are now shown with a picture and description. I think it works, but any feedback would for the new style would be a help to me whether it’s good or bad.
Hope you are looking forward to the Holidays, I know I’m looking forward to the time off more than anything else.
Americana (last) Car Show of 2021.
This show was held at Stonham Barns organised by the Knuckle Busters Car Club on the 19/9/2021. This particular car show was for American cars only and is usually well supported and this time around that was no exception. I arrived early and I was asked if I wanted to attend in the centre ring. Why not? Early bird gets the worm and all that. I parked up next to some stunning cars which made my car look like a Matchbox or Dinky toy!
I parked next to a massive Buick that could only be described as a ‘land barge’, such a nice car it was too. Me and the owner sat in our chairs and chatted most of the afternoon.
I decided to have a wonder round and take the pictures before the public came in.
I thought I would batch the Mustangs together here, but there wasn’t as many as I thought there would have been.
A car I had seen a couple of shows earlier, but I couldn’t get that close to before. Another iconic car from Ford – the Torino. I wanted that car so bad as a little boy. My nan even knitted me a Starsky jumper. Thinking about it; I still want one!
This Corvette was beautiful.
The ones next to it weren’t to shabby either.
Back to the other cars now and in no particular order.
Truck Time. I was speaking to the guy who owned the Viper powered truck, he said it scared him on two levels; one the petrol it used and the other was that the truck wanted to kill him!
We have to pause and and look at what Pontiac did when they created this gorgeous and much coveted car.
And my no means least, I was also strangely drawn to the taxi as well.
Throughout the day there was music and a really good live band with plenty of 50’s rock & roll with a little dancing as well.
The day was dry and warmish and didn’t rain for a change. A great day and so much American iron I wanted to drive home. But, I could only drive one home and that was my little lady.
So that’s it, my last car show of the season and the drive home was the scenic route to make it last that bit longer. I was sad the shows were over. There are some New Years day runs, or Boxing day runs but I don’t attend them as the weather is usually bad or there is salt on the road.
When I got home the car was wiped over with a quick detailer that is carnauba infused. The chrome wheels were waxed but not buffed off, the wheels also got a squirt of Gibbs Brand into the seams to protect over the winter. The tyres given a heavy coating of tyre treatment before being put in the garage. Even though my car’s garage has a radiator to keep the frost out and a dehumidifier as well that runs day and night; the car still needs protection. I intend to get the car out over the next couple of months to give the car a polish and proper wax ready for next years shows, providing I have two clear days of dry weather to do it. The wax I use is recommended to leave on and cure as long as possible. Which in my case is overnight. The next day I will buff and shine up.
I will still be doing updates and I aim for some car detailing product reviews, so keep an eye out.
For Sale:
I have been selling a few of these ‘T Park Lock’ handles and the feedback has been good. I even sold out my first batch and now the second has arrived. I’m even throwing in a free little key ring as well now while the stock lasts. Click here to go to the For Sale page to buy one. Press to lock system and simple to fit with no modifications needed at all to your car.
It was a good year for 2021 car shows, let’s hope there is more of the same for next year. But, this is the UK after all and it rains – a lot! So I’m not gonna hold out to much hope that they will all be dry and sunny. We can live in hope though.
Hedingham Castle
This car show took place in 2nd August 2021 on the outskirts of Colchester which is the oldest town in the UK. This was a new show for me and I was looking forward to it especially as I hadn’t been there before.
The weather apps said there was a round thirty percent chance of rain later in the day. When I got up the sky looked grey but felt dry, so I decided to go for it. I got the car out and set up the Sat Nav for a scenic route and set off for an unknown journey.
When I got to the castle there was a board outside that said “closed to visitors no entry”, I was not impressed. I couldn’t see any cars inside and and also couldn’t see any cars arriving.
I backed out onto the road to drive around and look to see what was going on. I saw a guy walking his dog and asked him if he knew anything about it. Lucky for me he did. He said that they put the sign up to stop castle visitors but the car show was on. So I drove back again and past the sign. A very slight curve and I saw the marshals and a few cars parked up. I was directed to the field that was on a bit of a slope and wet. I was having trouble trying to get traction where they parked me and said I could move over a little on the flatter part of the field. I was grateful for her consideration and said thanks, but I mentioned if it rains I would have trouble getting out.
The plus side is that I had a great view of the castle from below.
I got out to speak to the guys next to me a couple of nice guys I knew who were walking over to me who are also in the Bury Retro Car Club that I’m a member of. About ten minutes later the head marshal came over to tell me that a car club had cancelled (around 125 cars) and would not be coming due to the potential weather, would I like to move?
I said yes and pointed to the main walkway which was on a path where my two friends had just come from. She agreed I was allowed to move and parked up near them with a fantastic backdrop.
Then it happened, a few spots of drizzle! Rain wasn’t due for another three hours or so. As I stood looking up to the sky another friend who owns a newer Mustang pulled next to me.
The area where I was parked is such a nice place with walk ways and a large pond.
I decided to walk around and take some pictures before it started to rain.
I was quite taken with this truck and would be my a project I would like to do next.
Walking up the slight incline the was a little bridge over to the castle on the left.
I reckon my car would have looked good under these arches but it wasn’t being allowed from what I could see, a real shame though.
Towards the top of the incline there was a house with a few big luxury cars.
Turning to the left you walk over the bridge to the castle which was planted in the middle of a large green and the cars were parked around the outside, mainly clubs from what I could see.
Towards the back of the Alfa Romeo there was a drop and an opening where you could look down on where I was parked.
With a little bit of zoom.
By the time I got back to the car there was a few new cars arrived, this brand new 2021 Mustang Mach1. Why this is even in a car show i don’t know, I can see this in any Ford car showroom that stocks them.
A little further down I had a childhood flashback, my first bike, ‘Raleigh Chopper’. This are now holding stupid silly money like £1,000 for the early models.
The rain started to fall and I found a nice shaded area under a tree where I could keep dry. Obviously I had to close the hood.
When the rain stopped the hood went back up along with the show board.
There was the occasional spells of sun but more frequent and longer rain showers. With that in mind I decided to leave, I was only there for a few hours in the end. The drive home was getting wetter by the minute, it was a good choice to leave I’m sad to say.
Lavenham Car Show August 29th 2021
One of my favourite car shows of the year as it’s a beautiful drive out to the sleepy little village, and it’s just a nice environment. Not over flowing with modern cars, and a real family type day out. This year there was a lot of Jags on show, I mean a lot, MK1 and MK2. I reckon the Jag Owners club turn of some sort turned up en masse.
I got up early as usual and thoroughly enjoyed the drive through the country lanes, until some idiot in a Renault (white) van wanted to sit right up my rear. It did bother me a bit as I wanted to relax and enjoy the country side, so I ignored him. I was in good mood and didn’t care about the rest of the world that morning.
I pulled into the venue and was told where to park. The same spot as last year on the end near the entrance. Where I quite like to be and can watch the cars come in 🙂
I spent a fair amount of time checking the App that no rain was forecast, but it was little nippy in the slight breeze when the sun was hiding behind some clouds. This was taken about half hour before the public was allowed in, so not all the cars were in place.
I wasn’t very hungry until I got the delicious waft of bacon and sausage baps being cooked around ten in the mornin’ just the gates were opened to the public, not a coincidence I’m sure. As I didn’t have my wallet with me, being the absent minded fool, I had left it in the garage. I went hungry, apart from the little packed lunch I took with me. Cheese and ham sarnie just doesn’t cut it, but the ham was as close as I was going to get to bacon on that day!
Parked up next to in the American stand was a Pontiac station wagon, the owner was saying that there is only one other in the country!
I decided to go for a walk about half hour after I had wiped the car over. So in no particular order, but I walked clockwise around the circular shaped format of the cars.
This lovely car was tucked in a corner,
There was a limited Super car section, where the Lambo and DeLorean combo were together again. The Ferrari was a replica of course.
I’m not into motorbikes as they scare the hell out of me, but this Subaru flat four based trike was amazing.
When i had finished doing my rounds I got back to my car and found that it was hoods up time. Not to be outdone I had to do the same.
I left about half hour before the end so I could drive home at my own pace. Another beautiful trip home, not cars trying to get in my trunk and I was in my own little world just listening to the beating heart of a Ford Small block V8. Is there anything better to end the day than that? To cap it all – it didn’t rain either.
1T Park Lock
I was going to post all about my second to last car show, but I have some exciting news where I have teamed up with Mustang Maniac which I can share with you today. (I have been given permission to use their photos and video.)
Mustang Maniac has developed a replacement standard “T handle” shift lock for the early Mustangs ’64 to ’73.
It’s called the “T Park Lock”
The handle is designed to be a direct replacement part of the original T handle, but will retain that all important stock look. The lock works by putting the shifter into ‘Park’ and simply pressing in the button on the right of the handle. This locks the black button on the left from being depressed and so you can’t move the gear stick into any drivable position and the gearbox stays locked in ‘park’. Simple, but effective. Anything we can do to slow or prevent our precious cars being stolen is worth it. For a relatively small amount it think it’s a must have purchase to be honest.
With the lock in place nobody will really notice any difference from the stock T handle.
When the handle is unlocked the barrel will spring out and stop. With the lock disengaged the chrome of the handle continues on to the lock barrel itself.
When you have unlocked and removed the key (optional to remove the key), you just shift as normal, if you do press the button in while going along, you can still shift to neutral when convenient to unlock again. Or if you prefer drive with the key in the lock simply unlock again when you need to.
The lock comes supplied with two keys and as are unique to that lock, none of the that one key fits all the locks the same!
To fit the lock it’s a two minute job, remove the old handle, replace it with this one and tighten into place. For added security you can place a small drop of glue onto the grub screw to stop it being removed via the allen key. No garage fees to fit, or maintenance. Fit and click.
I have personally been using the prototype of the product for the last few months and it works flawlessly. To see it in action the Mustang Maniac guys put up a video of the lock in action.
I will be selling these and can be purchased here.
You can also see the link under my “For Sale” heading in the top menu bar.
OR copy and paste this link into your browser: T Park Lock – One Man And His Mustang
If you need any further details, help or questions, just leave a comment or contact me.
Park up & Lock up!
Stonham Barns
Thanks to everybody who sent me messages from my last post(s) about the number of cars within the posts. The consensus was ‘the more the merrier’ so here is a fairly large post in one go. I have been a little busy with car shows and trying to catch up with posting about the shows, I can’t complain as this time last year I had only a couple visits to car shows. This post is about Stonham Barns which took place on the 15th August 2021. A free for all show where anything goes age wise and there is usually a good mix of cars and some car part stalls as well.
The weather was supposed to be dry, it didn’t look great, but at least it was dry. I left a bit later than normal and thought it would still give me plenty of time to get in. Wrong, I hit a queue to get in, I normally try to get to the shows early to avoid this very scenario.
After twenty minutes or so I eventually got in and had a cyclist who cut across the front of my car causing me to brake while he was going to the car boot sale which was in the adjacent field. As I had my window down this lycra clad clown started with “Am I holding you up?” I responded with an equally sarcastic; “Causing me to brake and avoid you then yes you are.” He started with some rambling rubbish which I couldn’t hear (I was so upset about that – not), as my engine was purring away. He did shout “nice penis extension” at me as he prepared to ride off. The cars were moving in front of me again, but I did pause to instantaneously shout back to him; “At least I don’t dress up to make myself look like a pr!ck”. The other people wandering into the car boot show started to laugh at him. I didn’t give him time to respond and moved away with a few revs on to drown him out. I enjoyed that, so funny 🤣 Classic Car Owner 1 – Cocky Cyclist 0.
Still chuckling away to myself I drove into the field and was directed around to the Bury Retro Car Club stand and parked up. Here we are all lined up.
It was a busy day with lots of cars and plenty to look at. So in no particular or I just wandered up and down the lines.
The weather was cloudy and sunny at alternating intervals all day, which is fine by me.
American, British, Japanese and German all together. The little Audi in this set was amazing and I just loved it.
I’m not sure what this truck is in the first picture but it was massive, and I liked it.
This Ford Escort isn’t my cup of tea, but the guy had spent plenty of time on it that’s for sure.
The white Vauxhall Cavalier in the first picture used to be a firm favourite with Sales Reps, almost disposable. Yet here we are 25 odd years later and it’s in a classic car show!
This proper old school Ford was just beautiful.
The weather started to turn with a little drizzle which didn’t last that long or even dampen the atmosphere.
I spent quite a long time speaking to this guy who only had the car for a little while. It came with a box full of sales receipts and invoices and not to mention a few boxes of spares too. I was surprised to see an I6 under the hood, but he says it cruises great and is such a smooth ride.
I reckon that the Custom, Galaxy and the Chevy must have been the biggest cars there.
I’ve lucky enough to drive the a Harley Truck, it was like sitting in my favourite chair at home, such a nice place to be.
A few fast Fords, 60’s Lotus Cortina and a Sierra Cosworth.
You just beat the fins on these American master pieces.
The stalls weren’t that bad either. I’m not sure what was going on with the screw on aftermarket exhaust tips, they are mounted horizontally as a rule, but like they say – rules are meant to be broken. I’m not that rule was though!
I eventually got back to my car for a well earned sit down and a sandwich. The Cortina GT parked up next to me was a nice example and the owners were thinking of selling it and had a few interested people ask about it.
And to finish up with some dogs I managed to grab a few pictures of.
A great show with lots of nice people to talk to. The weather held of and the drive home was nice and relaxed with no signs of self entitled cyclists to ruin my journey home.
Helmingham Hall 2021 (part 3)
This is the last part of the car show to complete the previous couple of days. As we got to the end of the field the drizzle started again and came down a little harder now, each shower seemed to be getting a little harder and longer. Again it soon finished after a quarter of an hour or so. The weather sequence carried on for the rest of the day and you never new where you were, sun cream or coat.
There are a couple more rare racing Ford Escorts to start with on this little batch;
As we got closer to the main house we passed some food stalls which Craig decided the queues were far to long, and and a brass band serenaded us as the sun came out again.
There was this amazing truck which I had seen before at this show, but never had the chance to get up close to it because of the crowd around it. I’m not sure if the back of this rig has had a bit added on to it, but it was like a living room, flat screen TV, leather seats, drinks bar etc. a real home from home.
By the main building (where you pay extra to get afternoon tea and some typically British jam and butter cream scones so I’m told), a big attraction as ever. The main reason is that this area is the main walkway to the house and gardens which is open to the public too. All in all a good family day out in that respect. and when the rain started the house got very busy for some reason.
We wandered back to the car. I took some pictures of the club stands but they weren’t that great. There was Mini’s, MG owners, Rovers, Corvette club with lots of C6 and C7s, Mercedes, BMW etc, most of their cars were from the last couple of decades or so. The cars that can be seen pretty much anytime really on the road. As I sat here editing this post I thought it looked a bit like an old supermarket car park montage photo when I looked at it. So I reluctantly I left those pictures out.
We got back to my car, broke the chairs out and had something to eat and drink to refresh us after at least a couple of hours walking around cars. I even lifted the hood on my car, once it stopped raining.
Craig took a few more pictures of my car;
Some more of Craig’s other car pics he took which I liked;
As we are almost at the end we have some pictures of man’s best friend.
Craig captured a few for me too;
The trip home was made a little bit earlier than the ‘rush’ to get home, and it still took us a fair while to get out, it would be dash to get home before the threatening rain. We lost, it absolutely chucked it down. for about twenty minutes. The sun started to appear as we got back home, I managed to wipe the car down quickly just as it started to spit again, this time it looked like it was going to stay. I pulled the car into the garage and put the dehumidifier on without the cover for a few hours.
Craig packed his daily car with the stuff he took to the show. We stood for a while outside under our little porch and chatted a little more about a few things I had promised him for ages. Due to Covid he hadn’t managed to get over and pick them up. But, he seemed pleased with a old school pair of steel car ramps, some samples of waxes I had, some cleaning cloths, wash mitt and applicator pads etc. We eventually said goodbye until the next show where he will hopefully be bringing his real nice Honda Integra Type R to a few shows. He just has to put it back together again now after he got it back from the paint shop.
I hope these posts didn’t bore you with the size of the posts and lots of cars. Let me know if I posted to much and I will cut it down a bit going forward. But, in my defence, there was some great cars to share with you.
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1Helmingham Hall 2021 (part 2)
So here we are with part 2. I left yesterday post with the feeling of rain, it turned out it was a little drizzle but the dark clouds were closing in. Of course I blamed Craig for the poor weather and was glad that I hadn’t left my hood up for a change. The light drizzle lasted for a ten minutes or so it wasn’t to bad.
We carried on walking around the show individual entries, again in no particular order. At the start here there area couple of rare fords, a Sierra Cosworth and a Lotus Cortina MK2 in a rare colour combination.
I really liked this little Lancia which also caught my eye.
As a kid I had posters and models of this car and always wanted the metallic purple version of this car, the timeless Lamborghini Diablo. Just for a side note – I still want one.
While we are on the subject of iconic cars the Delorean has a cult following mainly due to the Back to the Future films. The gull wing doors being instantly recognisable.
Withese two icons side by side, who won the looks for the doors?
I still say the Diablo has it!
The mix of cars was amazing and some real old timers next to some modern classics, Americana with Brits, Italian with German, it all just worked.
Of course old vs New Mustang to start us off here, with the UK equivalent of the Ford Capri;
That brings us almost to the end of the individual entries as we worked our way back up to the main stand house passing some stalls on the way. Not sure that a car show has room for women’s jewellery hats and scarfs and so on. Is it just to keep the ladies happy while petrol heads wander round? The next post will have some more of Craig’s photos and some rather cute dogs too.
Watch this space for part 3
Helmingham Hall 2021 (part 1)
On the first of August this year I had one of my favourite shows and never disappoints is the Helmingham Hall car show. Always fully booked, and awesome settings. Thisyear as there have been quite a few car shows I am seeing the regulars on the scene. So I’m aiming to get different cars to show.
This show I managed to take over three hundred photos. As an extra I had my good friend Craig come with me. He arrived at my house nice and early as I was packing my stuff ready for the day. We loaded up the car and set off for the thirty minute drive to the show. Craig is a member of the SXOC so he managed to us a club stand pass. The club has diversified quite a lot from the initial Nissan SX Owners Club. There are now, Porsche, Jaguar, Mustang, BMW all were welcome etc. The club stand side is always the nicer side of the park. Private entrants on the right hand side of the field, clubs stands on the left.
Always a queue to get in. The best of it was that the side road we needed to emerge from was not getting much sympathy in letting us out. As a massive coincidence one of Craig’s friends in his Porsche flashed us out – what a result as the timing was just perfect. The prediction for the weather was for a nice day, the clouds were looking to say otherwise.
We found the stand half way up the slightly slopped field and parked up nicely.
Craig is avid amateur photographer and took lots of photos of the day too. I have been given permission to use some of his photo’s like this one below. A great moody shot, also the same featured picture at the top which I darkened right down, just because I liked the look of it.
There was a little reorganisation of the stand once everybody who was expected turned up. In the mean time we got out the cloths and gave the cars a quick wipe over. The reorganisation was for the cars to point into the corners of the allotted space and some in the middle to spread it out a bit, instead of a boring straight line.
After a energetic spurt of cleaning we got the chairs out and had a break for a few minutes. As the time got nearer ten o’clock for opening the general car parking fields started to get very busy.
We decided to have a walk round and look at the cars. We decided to look at the private cars first and on the way we passed a couple of club stands and we would do the rest later. Without any order of preference on with the pics;
Along the main entrance path either side were some super cars. Aston’s Ferraris, McLaren, BMW, Porsche, GTR’s etc.
On the private entries i think this was my favourite and amphibious car.
Back to walking around the lines we were back to more familiar vehicles.
After an hour or so we felt it, yep the first drops of rain! This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Due to sheer number of pictures that I took and some of Craig’s along with the loading times, I think this will be best split into three posts. A hundred or so photo’s in each.