My wanderings around the show was about halfway round now. It was now around lunch time and the public was still coming into the show. I did spot that some of the cars arriving were also classics which were being parking up in the public areas, and getting their own attention amidst the see of Euro wind tunnel designed boxes. This car show is always fully booked and you need to get in early, or at least be a member of a car club.
My car of the show is this beautifully stored Willys Jeep, not for the paint job or rarity. The owners attention to detail was evident throughout. I wanted to drive it home and that is what matters to me for picking my car of the show.
The rest of the show needed to be explored, but first the collection of Mustangs:
There was a Lotus restorers there with some amazing cars.
I eventually got back to my car and the urge for food was greater than ever due to the many other food stalls now fired up. There was the more generic ‘craft’ style stalls there as well.
The show was due to finish at three thirty in the afternoon with show cars being allowed to move at three.
With my issue of having not a lot of fuel I was watching where the public were leaving, and where I could cut into the queue as near the exit as possible. Again this was round the back of the school on a single track so the wait was around ten minutes to get out. I made the point of leaving just after three in order to miss the traffic jam. Eventually I got to the roads and headed back home. I did arrive home with the fuel gauge showing empty. I suspect there was more in the tank, but you can’t be sure in these old cars. I didn’t want to be held up just in case. I do carry a spare fuel can in the trunk. However, it’s not full as the hot weather can make the fuel expand and the fuel has a shelf life anyway. I will need to get some fuel before the show, so that will be via a Jerry can, enough to get me to the petrol station and fill up properly.
The weather? It was mostly cloudy with the odd breakthrough of sun. Not enough for the factor fifty, but at least there was no rain.
A great show as always, well organised but they do need to sort out the entry and access delays.
This year the Rotary Classic Car Show at Culford was held on 14th July 2024 and is one of the biggest in the East Anglia area with over six hundred cars on show. I really enjoy this show and is always booked up well in advance for both entrants as well as stall holders. The setting is located in a private school grounds and only takes about thirty minutes for me to get there. In fact it took longer to drive down the access road than it did to arrive at the venue. There were delays getting to the display area as there a speed bumps and some low riders were having trouble getting over them. As I didn’t see many at the show for a few cars that had issues they could have driven over the grass at the sides of the path. In fact my car’s long headers do hang pretty low, so I too have to be careful and always take speed humps slowly. The ground was dry and wouldn’t have damaged the grounds. The drive to the main display field is always a pleasant experience.
Eventually I was pointed to the Bury Retro Car Club stand where I parked up and got out to chat to few friends who were there before me. After the exchange of banter I got back to the car to give it a little wipe over before I started my wanderings round the show.
First things first the car club was parked near some food stands and I thought I would treat myself to a nice sausage roll. That would have been fine if I had remembered to bring my wallet. This was a problem in itself as I also needed to get some fuel on the way home as the fuel gauge was now lower than it’s usually allowed to get. As there wasn’t going to be a fuel stop now the drive home was going to be a steady gentle drive home. The weather was promising to be dry all day although the cloud cover was coming over with patches of sun.
The plan was to start on one side and work across the field, I started with the club stand itself:
The only thing I will group in part 2 will be the Mustangs that were at the show. In order to save huge amounts of photos, I tried to take a more multi car shots without loosing the details of the cars.
At the end of the first row there was a Ferrari stand with some beautiful examples on show.
A modern an increasingly rare car that I still have a very, very big soft spot for them.
The public was getting very busy and I managed to grab these couple of shots before the general public came in as the event opened at ten o’clock.
There is much more to come from this show in part 2.
Last weekend was going to be a new show for me that I had seen on a few fliers at a previous show. The weather apps all said there would be no rain but there would be one hundred percent cloud coverage. I had no reason to doubt the apps as they had been correct for the last few shows. The show was due to start at nine thirty and finish at one in the afternoon.
I walked out the house and the air was damp, but not raining. I waited a while whilst I uncovered the car and put the cool bag in the trunk. I backed the car out and started my thirty minute journey to the show. As I got onto the main road the air thickened and a few misty drops of rain hit the care. Do I turn round or go back home? I had a couple of miles to travel before I reached a round about to make the decision. The dampness stopped and I decided to carry on.
Just before the village I came round a corner, there it was; PC plod with a camera at a quarter to nine on Sunday morning. The car was hidden down the side out of the way and he was standing by a tree. Honestly there are murderers, terrorists, muggers and weirdos out there which get away scot-free, but a motorist is easy pickings to raise money easily, every time. Nothing better to do than stand in a sleepy village looking for somebody doing the terrible crime of 31mph in a 30mph. It just annoys me, when you get yobs speeding around the towns and doing donuts causing a disturbance, they do nothing. Anyway, ten minutes later I arrived at a village hall and was directed onto a field.
The field itself was a couple of football pitches side by side, yet they parked as on the very left hand side and right at the back of the field. I couldn’t see any reason to park us around the edges to be honest. It would have been better to have us lined up nearer the village hall to save walking across a desolate field.
I parked up and got out spoke to the guys next to me and we had a good chat about the rain forecast, there wasn’t going to be any according to our apps. Yeah right, almost on que the dampness turned into a very light misty light dampness more so than rain. Instead of breaking out the factor fifty, I got the fleece from the trunk. Throughout the next few hours it was the same, the misty rain and then a dry spell. I found a couple of friends and we caught up for a chat. I told them I needed counselling as I was stressing over the rain or potential rain about to come. The sky showed some brighter clouds were moving our way. I decided to stay as the dry spells were warm and the light breeze was drying the rain of the car. The down side was that the rain was leaving little spots on the chrome. The Woolly Mammoth was out and used for drying a couple of times.
There was about fifty or so cars that turned up and left over the morning’s few hours. There were some nice cars and a few three of four year old Jaguars or Mercedes as well, I ignored those as they can be seen at every supermarket car park.
There was an old Gypsy caravan this was the first time I had seen inside one. I don’t know if it was original or not, but it was quite cool.
There was a nice Trans Am in gold, which wasn’t the common black and ‘Smokey & The Bandit’ livery. This for me was my favourite car of the day.
After a wander around I sat down at the rear of the car and got to speaking with a number of nice people.
There was a young guy who’s twelfth birthday was on the show day. His family asked him what he wanted to do for the day and he chose to go to the car show. As a treat I let him sit in the car for a few pictures. A couple of stalls on the field and a few inside the village hall were aimed at the general public and not car people of petrol heads. The turn out would have been better I’m sure with a better weather for sure. I had to finish up with this picture of an adoring dog waiting for its owner to move on and explore more of the hedgerows.
I left the show just before twelve thirty as the rain had stopped, which gave me a window to drive home in the dry. Once I got back to the house the quick detailer was out and I removed the rain spots from the car before I put her away in the garage. The dehumidifier was checked and on to remove any hidden moisture on the car.
Potential for a good show, and I would attend again next year, as long as it don’t rain.
A few miles away from my village is small tourist attraction called Pakenham Water Mill which is the oldest surviving flour mill in Suffolk, where once there were many. The Pakenham watermill has been around for almost a thousand years, and for all that time millers on this site have been using the simple technology of water power to produce stone-ground wholemeal flour for local people. The mill is currently owned today by HistoricSuffolk, a team of around fifty dedicated volunteers continues to look after the mill, machinery and grounds for this long tradition. There is a tea room and a little shop too.
The grounds on the day were populated with a tent full of home made cake stalls, a mini bar, and a BBQ area. I was hoping to by some local made bread from the mill, unfortunately they didn’t have any on the day.
The event was billed as starting at eleven, but I wasn’t sure if that was the public entry or arrival time for the cars. I took the time as being the public entry thus allowing us exhibitors to get ourselves organised. I woke up early before the alarm, the the dogs decided that sticking one of their little paws in my mouth would be a good way to let me know that they wanted to go out. I packed the cool bag for the day as well as the factor fifty as it was going to be a hot one with the sun being out for the whole day. I had a gentle cruise to the event just a mere twenty minutes away and pulled into the entrance. Nobody was about, but a minute or so later the rumble of my exhaust must have alerted a marshal to come over and he advised me that I was very early. The event was due to start at eleven, for both the public and the exhibitors. I was shown to a slightly elevated area for the show cars.
I was parked next to an MGB V8 which was owned by one of the volunteers. As he walked away I decided to move my car to another more scenic part of the field to take some pictures before the field got busy, which wouldn’t be for another half hour or so yet.
After my impromptu photo session i moved back to where I was initially told to park. The main hard standing parking area that I parked on last year was this time reserved for the pre war vehicles, the rest of the classic cars were going to be up where I was located. Many of the exhibitors like myself turned up around ten and were swiftly parked up in rows near to me. This is a small local show with only around fifty cars or so, more of a social meet of a local car owners.
The pre war section was well supported, more than I expected to be there.
Throughout the day there were exhibitors coming and going.
There was the steam model guys riding up and down, one of the engines had his lunch packed in the front boiler part, a few jacket potatoes filling the air with an amazing smell which made me hungry.
The sun was brutal, I had the factor fifty slapped on all over the place, but there was no shade. I wasn’t going to complain, far from it. I eventually sat down and had some lunch and a long cool drink watching the world walk buy.
I was greeted by a couple of friends I have known from the car shows in the past and a couple of members from the Bury Retro Car Club. I was taken back to a good few years to my first car show at the Birmingham NEC when I was on the Mustang Owners Club stand. A gentleman approached me and reminded me that he spoken to me way back then at that show. I even let his girlfriend sit in my car on the day he informed me, I had forgotten that little detail. The guy still follows my little ol’ blog and I was very humbled by the fact that he took time out to come and meet me again, we spoke for a little while and that conversation alone made my day. I’m terrible with names, I will admit it. I apologise to anybody in advance if I have forgotten your name when you come to speak to me, I put it down to my old age.
As I was editing (crop and resizing) this batch of photos, I decided to play around a little with the colours; the original, a straight forward black and white, sepia, and a hand tinted cream version. Let me know if these photos are improvement or not. I kinda like the bottom cream tinted one.
Another good day, even if I did unnecessarily sacrifice a Sunday lay in. A pretty well organised day and knowing that the £5 entrance fee has gone to the upkeep of the water mill and not in somebody’s greedy pocket.
This year is the sixtieth year celebration for the launch of the Mustang at the New York Trade Fair in ninteen sixty-four. There have been numerous events around the country to celebrate such an achievement for the iconic Mustang. The Mustang Owners Club of Great Britain (MOCGB) are no exception. The biggest show of the year for many Mustangs owners is the MOCGB National Show, this year it was held at Meldreth, Cambridgeshire on sixteenth June twenty twenty four, on Fathers Day in the UK.
This year, I was determined to go to my first MOCGB national show, even though it’s a little bit of a drive for me, about fifty miles away from my door to the event. For the last ten days I had been watching the weather forecast with interest. Rain forecast on the day and all the way up to the days before. My village was expecting rain on the Sunday morning for a couple of hours, seven till ten. But, the event was due a light shower in the morning and no more rain after nine. I was going to go for it with even with the chance of rain, I hatched a plan.
I had set my alarm for six thirty, aiming to leave at seven, with an ultimate plan of getting to the event early before the gates opened at ten missing the rain. I can’t lie, I was worried as the apps were conflicting each other, if it was raining when I woke up I wouldn’t be going. I woke up at four thirty and opened the blinds a little bit so that I could see out the window from the bed what the weather was doing, or more importantly, what it was going to do. I wasn’t sleeping, do I or don’t I go? Constantly refreshing the weather forecast apps (yes more than one) hoping they would show me what I wanted to see, compared to the real time visual outside. It was getting darker as the minutes passed by, so I got up and got ready as quickly as I could, skipping any breakfast to save time. I filled the cool bag up with the drinks and lunch, grabbed the car keys and stepped, or should I say, staggered out the house a little before five thirty. I needed fuel and so did the car. The usual stop of the Shell garage when travelling in this direction opened at six, with only a slight detour to get to it of the main dual carriageway. I pulled into the garage as it was opening up and lights going on, perfect timing. I filled up and grabbed a can of Red Bull on my way to counter to pay. I drank up on the way to the car and would wait for the rush to kick in shortly. I threw the empty can in the trash before I got back into the car and buckled up.
I was back on the main A14 again within a couple of minutes of leaving the garage and could see in my mirrors the dark clouds following in behind me. The journey was a little tense as a few little pockets of rain hit the car, not enough to put the wipers on, just enough to give me the hump a bit, but I was keeping in front of the rain just. What is even worse than rain? A cyclist hogging the road for no reason. A cycling event was taking place early on a Sunday morning, To be fair to them it wasn’t at a peak time during the day. Some of the these dayglow ‘lycra louts’ were riding two or even three abreast on the left lane of a triple lane carriage way. This A14 is perhaps one of the busiest roads within this and the adjoining county. The only good thing was the roads were fairly quiet at the moment, but cars were swapping lanes avoiding them.
Around half seven, I was just a mile away from the event when the rain started, not heavy enough for the roads to start filling up with puddles as these were now minor back roads. Then a few minutes later the rain stopped just as I pulled into the area main concrete car park, more perfect timing. The master plan had worked, I pretty much beat the rain to the event leaving before the rain hit my village and arriving as the rain was leaving the event. The weather apps both now promised no more rain for the rest of the day. We shall see!
I parked up to dry the the car off and went over to speak to the guys who were still setting up the stand with their merchandise.
I was asked if I was going to enter my car for the judging, I said ‘OK’, thinking it was like most other car shows, if they like it, you get a trophy. They told me to move the car round into the judging area just in front of the main parking area which was separated by barriers. As I was so early, I had the choice where to park, so I parked right in front of the main stand, something I didn’t think through at the time.
However, this judging was going to be a whole new level up for me. The sun was making more frequent little appearances as I was giving the car a better wipe over to make it look more presentable. During this once over stage I was handed a form to fill in; the usual stuff, name, Mustang model, reg number etc. Under those main details were categories with sub categories. Exterior; workmanship, body, paint, bumpers, trim, chrome, gaps, door shuts etc, Underside; exhaust, suspension, fuel tank etc. Interior; seats, trunk, mats, carpets, dash, steering wheel, Wheels & Tyres; cleanliness, condition, wear, so on and so on. I can’t remember all the various categories to be honest. Then there was a last column for the judges to put their comments and scores. This was a pretty serious Mustang version for their style concours judging. However, they do allow for some sensible mods for the older cars. That means you start with one hundred points and then judges knock marks off for things that were wrong or dirty etc. The higher the final score the better. The judging was due to start at eleven(ish) where they started at the far end, working left to right as you look out over to the field. I had to work fast and clean the car for a third time but properly all over again. My trunk looked like I had slept in it on the way down there and needed a good tidy up. I cleaned the spare wheel, wiped over the inside of the paintwork with quick detailer. I took out the chair and show board and arranged everything still left in the trunk as neatly as my OCD would allow. I carry everything I need for detailing, such a quick detailer, hard wax, spray wax, tyre finish, glass cleaner, degreaser, engine dressing, rubber treatment, you name it it’s in the trunk. I don’t carry the full bottles as I decant the products into smaller bottles, they last a couple of shows before they need a top up. That way I save space and it’s easier to store more products.
I got to talking to some others who had now now pulled up and started cleaning their cars too, they were cleaning door hinges to remove excess grease, cleaning their exhausts, even inside the exhausts tips too. I was now cleaning everything with a full on hot flush going on and looking like I had literally just got out of that messy trunk. I managed to ruin a couple of good microfibre cloths while multi step cleaning of various areas. I only take good cloths with me to shows and not the more general ‘work’ cloths, that will now change going forward – just in case. Time was running out, but I did as much as I could for a couple of short hours. The judges eventually got to my car.
There was nothing more I could do except now go for a wander around the field to look at all the other amazing Mustangs; classic, modern, resto mod and everything in between. With these first few pics I was trying to take in the scale of the show. This first pic I took was earlier in the morning, before the majority of the other cars arrived. I think as the sun came out and stayed out, those that were in two minds to come or not, then decided to go to the show a little later on in the morning.
Due to the now accurate weather forecast a few promised cars didn’t make it to the show unfortunately. However there was some stunning cars here, something for everybody.
There is no particular order to these cars I just wandered up and down the lines. The sun was becoming more prominent and longer lasting spells as the day wore on. I spoke to my wife who informed me that it poured down in our village about half an hour after I left.
There was a few non Mustangs that gate crashed the show but still Fords such as Falcons and the odd truck.
Amongst the Mustangs there was some other really nice non Ford American muscle arrive and a lonely VW;
Adam and Lance from Mustang Maniac attended with their 1973 Convertible and GT350 respectively.
There was some stalls around the outside, selling their wares, food, a bar with a break out area with support for the East Anglian Air Ambulance charity too.
After I got back to the car it was time to check out some more of the other cars that had be judged and then a well earned sit down, something to eat and chat to lots of nice people.
At around three in the afternoon the winning trophies were to announced and given out.
There were different categories Concours 1964.5 – 1968, Concours 1969 – 1993, Concours 1994 – 2016, Triple Six motorcycles Choice of Show, Father’s Day award (chosen by the kids), Best modified and Mustang Maniac’s Choice of Show.
The proceedings started with the the 1964.5 to 1968 category reading out in reverse order the points awarded; 3rd was announced, 2nd was announced then with 96 points my name was called out, I had won! There were pictures taken at the time of all the winners, but to be honest – I looked a mess from the morning’s charging around, I never really recovered from it, so I look a bit rough and have seen thge photo’s. 🤦♂️ I was asked a few questions and I answered, the MC got my first name wrong as well, “Matt” instead of “Mart”! I didn’t care to be honest, I was trying to take it all in.
I took the trophy back to the car which was only a few paces away and put it pride of place on the air intake.
The rest of the trophies were given out to the other very deserving winners. Shortly after that there was the raffle which went on for ages as some people had already left meaning that their unclaimed winning ticket were redrawn.
As I was in the middle of the main area I couldn’t leave until the area had cleared and it was safe for me to drive out. That oversight was my own fault for parking where I did. The area cleared eventually and I left just after four. Although I left at the end of the show, I maintained a silly grin on my face all the way home which must have looked strange if you saw me in the car.
To win this type of trophy on an important anniversary for the Mustang means so much to me. Thanks to the Mustang Owners Club of Great Britain for putting on a great show and for being very well organised.
When I got home I cleaned the car before covering it up in the garage and took a last photo.
I took the trophy in and placed it on the mantlepiece for the wife to admire with me. She liked it for a while, then I got the “OK, that can go in the garage with the others now”. It’s still there (for now), as I think my wife has given me one week’s grace as I’m so proud of it! I deliberately don’t post when I have won any of my other trophies or prizes as it can sound conceited, but on this occasion I hope you will forgive me.
This is the last of the three posts for the Pageant. I will start this post with the all the random Mustangs that were around the field. There was even a ’67 fastback in Acapulco blue as well.
The guy that owns this fastback has the UK reg plate ‘JJZ109’ which of course is the Bullitt number plate (or reg plate). This car is often seen with a black charger at the same in car shows. The owner has decided that he wants this car to look even more like the movie ‘hero’ car and has started to rough it up a bit. The damage here is intentional. We must remember that it’s the guys car and we shouldn’t judge, I’m not sure it’s something I would personally have done to such a nice car.
In the main tent there was a selection of cars from movie sets, the guide in the tent was telling me that one of these cars is said to have come from “Downton Abby” TV series here in the UK. It’s a series that I never watched, as it’s not my thing. So I tried to Google the cars, but my searches haven’t found the car(s), again I’m happy to be corrected on this.
Leaving the tent to go onto the other side of the field there was the main club stands. I mingled around them to get most of them in shot.
I mentioned there was an unusual engine at the show. This is it, a Merlin engine from a WWII Spitfire plane.
The engine fired up a few times throughout the day and it drowned all the noise out from the field. I couldn’t get near the engine as it was constantly busy. The sound, just deafening and mesmerising at the same time.
I was back at the Mustang Maniac stand and there was a steady flow of people wanting to speak to Adam and ask about the cars, especially the ’73 red convertible that he had up for sale. I got my chilled drink and set up my camping chair for a well earned sit down.
The sun cream was slapped on and I enjoyed sitting down people watching f or the rest of the day. Before I left for home I had a secret weapon – a can of Red Bull sugar free. I finished the can and got into the car around half four in the afternoon and set of for home. I wanted to be fully alert as I suspected I might be tired on the way home. The slogan that ‘Red Bull gives you wings’ wasn’t quite true as I had to endure the lunatics driving on the M25 back home again. To fly home would have been nice, but I wouldn’t have enjoyed my car. Once I got back onto the main dual carriageways again getting away from the London area things start to calm down and I could relax a little on the way home. I even got the odd wave from kids in cars and the odd motor cyclist too. As I drove into my road I could open the garage door ready to drive the car straight into the garage. I didn’t cover the car as I would have to clean the car on the Sunday. Why the rush and not clean it as I always do before garaging? It started to rain. I managed to get the car in the garage with just a few spots of water on the car. By the time I got the trunk unloaded, closed the garage door behind me and got into the house, the rain came down like a tap. Literally a minute later on the road and the car would have got soaked. As far as I was concerned it was a great day out at a very busy and popular car show, great company, and I spoke to many really nice people about my car too. I couldn’t of asked for more, apart from my bed as the Red Bull had worn of and I was pretty tired to say the least. On Sunday the sun was out for a couple of hours where I managed to clean the car, cover it up and plug in the trickle charger back in ready for the next adventure.
Driving a classic car can be tiring for long distances, just ask any owner. We are constantly looking out for people who want to wreck our cars through their stupidity or their inconsiderate actions. We are looking for pot holes, lose gravel in the road for stone chips, debris in the road, keeping a good distance from the car in front etc. the concentration can be intense!
As I finished my last post I mentioned that part 2 will show my favourite car of the show and here it is; the mighty DE Tomaso Pantera. I had a long chat with the owner who was telling me about the 351 Windsor engine in the middle which tends to set the neighbours car alarms off when he starts it up in the morning. Not many of these cars around now and this was a fine example, just beautiful. Another poster car for many teenage kids.
Moving on down the lines of cars I was working way towards the stalls on the right hand side of the field as you drive in.
There was a an old School bus (I think), which had been converted to a motorhome. I would loved to have had a look inside, but it was all closed up unfortunately. I would love to be enlightened what these vehicles are under the yellow exterior and can you even buy them?
I was at the end of the individual entries of cars and at the main tent and funfair. The was a display of radio controlled models that were on an oval track which were just smashing into each other demolition derby style.
I spotted this dog who was totally at home on this tyre and was getting lots of attention.
There was plenty of stalls for auto parts as well as the usual car boot or yard sale items. There was a live band playing regular sets throughout the day, but we didn’t get much chance to hear them from where I was with Mustang Maniac.
After this section as the for sale stalls it was time to move over to the other side of the filed which I will bring in ‘part 3’. There will be an unusual engine and the block of Mustangs collated from various parts of the field.
On the 25th of May I attended the Enfield Pageant of Motoring as a guest of Mustang Maniac. The weather looked promising and was going to be a very welcome change from the usual rain over the weekend. The Saturday was going to be the better day with some showers on the Sunday. So the Saturday I got rudely awoken by the alarm at five in the morning, or should I say middle of the night? I sort of stumbled out of bed, woke the wife and then the very short process of waking the dogs from their deep sleep to then being ‘off on one’ wanting to go out right there and then. I eventually got ready and and loaded up the cool bag with lunch, snacks and drinks. I had previously uncovered the car in the garage, disconnected the trickle charger and already put in the the postcode into the SatNav, I just needed to plug it in and turn on from ‘sleep mode’ to resume the directions. The dash cam also sprung into life as the engine fired into life. I sent a text to Adam to say that I was now leaving just a little before six.
The journey there was interrupted by a obligatory stop at the Shell VPower station for a little top up of five gallons. I didn’t fancy having to pay London prices on top of the already premium cost of the VPower fuel. I got back on the road and thoroughly enjoyed my drive, that is until I got to the outer London car park also known as the M25. Then within a space of two miles it seemed as though it was the film set of Mad Max Fury Road where everybody was trying to kill each other. I did my best to avoid the carnage as best as I could, I was traumatised by the time I got off the motorway. There was speed cameras what seemed like on every gantry and the lamp posts when I got the motorway some short ten minutes later. I got to the Pageant at around seven forty and drove up to the Mustang Maniac plot. A total of seventy seventy three miles to get there.
Adam and Lance were there unloading the Falcon and the electric (road worthy) buggy he had there for the weekend.
We had a quick discussion on how we were going to park and I took the corner spot. I then had a little drive of the Falcon to park that up too.
I think Adam felt sorry for me as he kindly bought me and Lance an all you can eat full English breakfast at the carvery just before you enter the show ground. You can trust me when I say that they didn’t make any profit from us as we certainly die honour the ‘all we could eat’ offer. In fact I was so full after the breakfast and ‘free refills’ of soda that I didn’t eat for the rest of the day. I think my veins were pumping pure cholesterol rather than blood, but it was very nice I must say.
On the day I took just over three hundred photos. Some of those photos I have shared with Mustang Maniac for their blog. I try to keep my posts to around a hundred or so photos to keep the loading times down and not make it a scroll fest and getting bored. So I aim to post these three posts in fairly quick succession.
The walk back was welcome to stretch of the legs and helped walk some of the breakfast down. There was some more cars turning up on the stand and we even had a Pontiac ‘ringer’ park with us.
Adam relaxing after the breakfast and sitting with his much loved vintage flat bed.
Directly behind the the Mustang Maniac pitch was the Afro Classic Register who were providing us with entertaining music throughout the day via some more than capable in-car sound systems.
To take the pics I started in their direction heading towards the back of the field. This part of the field where individual entry cars were lined up in rows. I wandered up and down the rows taking pics of the interesting cars, rather than the six year old everyday cars that were parking up.
This is the end of the batch of rows and is an ideal time to stop ready for the ‘part 2’ of the show. I came across my car of the show at the start of the next post.
There are numerous types of hub caps for wheels these days. My Magnum 500s are no exception, mine are 1969 15″ x 7″ version. They aren’t period correct for the car, as my car had steel wheels originally and full faced hub caps, the original wheel I still have in my trunk. I always wanted chrome wheels with a classic five spoke in each corner, for me the only option was the Magnum 500s. Not a cheap hobby, but for me they are worth every single penny.
The centre of the Magnums can be 2″ or 2 1/8″ centre hole. You would need to make sure what hole you have in order for the centre hub caps to fit properly. I happen to have the 2″ opening on my wheels.
The Scott Drake centres I have look great and haven’t been a problem, that is until a couple of weeks ago. I was driving to a show and I could hear a new metallic clattering from the left front of the car. It was driving me mad to thinking what and where it was coming from on the way there. I parked up at the show and spend a little while under the front to see if I could see anything out of place, I couldn’t see anything. I spent all day thinking about what it was, I checked under the car again before I left, nothing out of place. I drove home with my window fully open driving on the back roads even slower than I normally drive. My head was hanging out the car window like a dog sniffing the air, listening for the pesky noise. It was still there, but not getting worse. When I got home and pulled the car into the garage, got changed into some old garage clothes and had another look to see anything was wrong, nothing. I jacked the car up and banged the tyre – there it was, the noise. I tapped the centre hub cap and it was loose. It was the last thing I was expecting to be honest, but relieved.
I gave the cap a little pull to see just how loose it was, in case it would fly off driving along. I was not impressed, it had a lot of play and I suspected it would come off sooner or later. There is no way I could go to car show with a centre cap missing either. The wheel would need to come off to remove the cap and backing plate. It wouldn’t have looked that bad without the cap at a show as my wheel bearing cap is clean anyway, but my OCD just wouldn’t allow it. I was also worried about it flying up and damaging my car. These centre caps are fairly substantial in weight as they are metal and not plastic.
With the wheel off and I undone the very loose screws which confirmed that it wouldn’t have been long before it came off. I turned over the cap there are six studs that are lightly soldered to the backing plate, this is then in turn secured via four screw holes in the inner plate to the wheel.
I had a bright idea to try and resolder the plate back in place, being mindful of the plastic centre on the other side. I tried and failed miserably, the heat transferred around the backing plate quicker than I expected and the other solders popped open as well. I marked up with arrows the two studs I tried to repair. You can see the others now under the the distorted backing plate. It was worth a shot.
With the plate now completely loose (broken) the actual centre could be lifted out. The problem started with a broken post (circled below) which had weekend the fitting and thus worked it loose with the wheel’s vibrations from our pot hole riddled roads, or should I say circular road trenches? Not only had the heat travelled around the backing plate to pop the other solders, in bottom right pic below you can also see the plastic had started to melt, craze and discolour too. I messed it up good and proper.
So I couldn’t go to a car show like that. I went to Mustang Maniac instead to get a replacement one, link here for the hub cap if you want them.
Refitting the centre cap is literally a five minute job, but there is a little technique to it.
To fit or change them the wheel needs to be removed, I’m not going to tell how to do that, apart from, loosen the lug nuts on the ground before jacking up. Once jacked fully remove the lug nuts and wheel. The cap itself is in two main parts; the outer facing pretty bit, and the retaining inner plate held in place by four screws and locking washers.
Align the hub cap to the centre hole and put the retaining plate on the inside of the wheel. I aligned my ‘Pony’ to sit the right way up under the “B F Goodrich” white letters, Yes my OCD again rearing its ugly head again.
A magnetic screw driver is your best friend for this step. place the inner plate to the outer cap and lightly hold in place with two screws.
Once it held roughly in place add a drop of thread locker screw onto the two spare screws. Leave enough play to align the cap up properly, making the final adjustments before fully tightening up.
Once you have those two screws in place remove the first two and again add thread locker to the remaining two screws and replace.
Make any final adjustments and then tighten the screws firmly. Mount the wheel back onto the spindle or axle (depending where the wheel came from).
Replace the lug nuts by hand first and spin on with fingers to make sure they are not cross threaded. Tighten up to a snug fit on the studs with enough force to pull the wheel into place. Lower the car back down and tighten fully with a torque wrench in a star pattern. My lugs are tightened to 80ft/lb for these wheels and nuts combination.
Difference? None as it was a like for like swap out. It only took a total of half an hour to remove the wheel, replace the cap, align it (optional) and refit the wheel.
That’s it, dead simple. There are many designs out there for centres caps depending on your taste for colour or design. There are specific caps for Shelby, Cobra, or GT350 of course. My car is none of the later sort after models, so I wouldn’t try and pretend that it’s something it’s not.
As much as like the black Tri-Bar Mustang logo (above left), I just wanted something a bit more subtle that doesn’t distract the eyes from the chrome and the white letters on the tyres. The blue caps also looked nice, but it wasn’t the right shade of my car’s blue and may have looked a little out of place. The chrome and black theme just works for me. I also cleaned the white letters on that wheel after fitting it and realised that the wheel now made the other wheels look dirty. So I then spent another half hour on each wheel cleaning those white letters too, it’s all part of the joy of chrome and white letters or white wall tyres.
I could now go to the car show which was the Enfield Pageant of Motoring with Mustang Maniac. That was a large show and I will be splitting the write up over a couple of posts to save your scroll fatigue through all the photos I took on the day.
There has always been a little bit of niggle with my car but never really an issue, but nice to sort out. The issue was that my car has always needed a few cranks to turn over before it fires up after standing for a while (weeks). I have spoken to the guys at Mustang Maniac who suggested a non return valve to stop the fuel draining away could be a quick fix. The long term would be a fuel pump and return line, a little bit of overkill what I was describing as an issue. They don’t actively sell the valves, but they gave me one of theirs that they sometimes fit for certain cars with my ‘issue’. This particular design is subtle and and not a big hulking beast in the middle of a fuel line which can look rather cumbersome and out of place. In fact the outside of the valve is just about the same size as the outside diameter of the fuel pipe. I now had a mini project to complete and was looking forward to this one, even though it was fuel related.
While I was at it fitting the valve I decided to clean out the inline fuel filter which was looking a bit grubby after sitting in the garage over the winter months. Where the hard line fuel pipe comes through the inner fender apron there is a rubber pipe that goes to the inlet of the mechanical fuel pump. My fuel filter sits on that line. Most filters are plastic, or more factory correct would be the large metal cylinder design. Mine is a glass (quite thick) and unscrews at each end to allow easy access for removing the filter itself.
I removed the jubilee clips at each end and removed the whole fuel line, to be safe I also capped of the hard fuel line as it comes through the inner apron (circled below right).
Important: When removing the fuel line, if you suspected that there is fuel in the pipe, be well prepared to catch it and temporarily block it off. You don’t want a gravity spewing the fuel all over the floor leaving you in a dangerous situation.
With the complete length removed, the old clips on the pipe and fuel filter were removed in order to start the cleaning and refit. The old pipe had lemon clips holding the filter in place and needed to be cut off. These clips would be replaced with new reusable low profile clips.
I had also gotten a new length of E10 fuel resistant hose, just for the sake of replacing it with a fresh piece of pipe. I only ever used E10 fuel once very early on in by restoration, and I won’t ever use it again. The reason was that the E10 fuel caused me issues, 1) the car ran like an asthmatic 7 cylinder with very rough running and idle, 2) it’s nasty and has a devastating toll for all the fuel components which the devils blood itself comes into contact with, nothing is spared; plastic, rubber or metal.
Fuel filters are of a single flow direction, make sure you get it right when fitting back to the car.
With the filter in bits I cleaned the filter itself with 99% isopropanol alcohol. The filter wasn’t that dirty to be fair, but there was a fuel particles which were removed with a small soft nylon brush. Once the filter was cleaned it dried very quickly and was ready for reassembly and fitting.
The glass case and end fittings were also cleaned with an isopropanol soaked non lint cloth. I also took the time to polish the metal end fittings as they clean up nicely. (Notice the big bold ‘IN’ and ‘OUT’ on each end.)
The total length of the original fuel line was measured, (the rubber either side of the filter, to the fuel pump and the apron). I made a the calculations to incorporate the non return valve, there now needed to be three lengths cut to the correct lengths instead of the two previous lengths. (Fuel pump to filter, filter to valve, valve to apron hard line.)
The picture here below, shows the filter ‘IN’ (notice the ‘N’ is back to front), and the direction flow of the non-return valve. This flow direction is critical to get the fuel filtered correctly and allow the fuel to flow to the carb.
The hose fasteners are of a new design being trialled from Mustang Maniac which are simply clipped into place. The clips just slip over the pipe and are pinched closed over a raised retaining ridge in the centre. Once they have been pinched closed enough the clip will just click and lock into place. To remove the clips you can use an awl or small screw driver to lever the clip back up from under the larger of the two raised ridges. The fastener will then just spring open again allowing removal.
You will need a very good pair of pliers to hold and grip the clip in order to close it enough without slipping. These fittings are a very, very tight fitting. They look the part, but I’m not sure I would use them again in a confined space. They are fine for connecting fittings like this fuel line when you have plenty of space to work and accessibility. Cut the lengths of hose allowing enough flexibility between each of the component parts.
I started measuring from the fuel pump and worked backwards towards the apron. The non return valve should be placed before the fuel filter, this would keep a reservoir of fuel within the filter.
The completed fuel line is completed. For each end of the new fuel line configuration I will used standard jubilee clips. This then allows for an easier fitting with a screw driver and easier access. More importantly it will allow me to loosen the the complete line without disturbing the clips. Once the line is loosened at each end I will be able to unscrew the filter and clean with the rest of the fuel line configuration in place.
With the new fuel line configuration in place it looks neat and now serves a dual purpose for filtering and non return.
The fuel flows and retains the fuel up to the carb allowing easier starting. The actual design of the non return valve is slightly irrelevant, but its functionality is the important thing. This slimline design is subtle and neat and doesn’t look to out of place for a stock looking engine bay. The whole thing took around an hour or so to complete. The hardest part was to cut the lemon clips off with damaging the fuel filter. The upgrade has been in place for a couple of months now and it has made a significant difference to the starting of the car in scenarios both cold and hot. This was well worth the effort in my opinion. However, with my naturally suspicious nature it determines that I always carry a spare length of new E10 fuel line just in case of emergencies, or maybe if the valve decides to play up. That way it’s a very simple quick and easy temporary fix for a replacement on the roadside if you need to, then sort it out properly when you get home.
I’m really pleased with the look of the part and the improved functionality that I now have.
