The week started with some excellent news that the engine we wanted has now turned up for the French Convertible. The requirement was to have at least 350bhp from the unit. So we duly complied and came up with 390bhp verified by the Dyno print out. The engine was to be black so we again worked our magic to use our top quality engine enamel paint to change the colour, once we had masked the areas off first of course.

With the pain left to dry in the warm sun we could remove the masking and Yogi fitted the new water pump once the paint had cured a little.

We are pleased with how this turned out so far and should look great with the other parts we have lined up for her. Now we have the main building block for the car we can start to assemble the power train back into the car which will be a big leap forward in achieving our goal of trying to get this lady ready to go to the ball.

Our Cars:

We also had our Paul “The Paint” turn up in his truck to collect the engine and gearbox for his Mach1 that would be cleaned and painted to his own colour scheme, once we get that back we should be able to get it ready to go back into his car. The week was turning into a week of engine blocks being readied for fitting.

Models:

When the early Mustangs were produced they also made a scaled “dealer” issue only model of the cars. These were not designed to be around for fifty odd years and as such have become extremely collectible. We have been donated a mint condition model in its pristine box as well.

Everything here at Mustang Maniac is for sale, providing you have the money of course, but we suspect that this particular car will stay in Adams ever-growing and very rare Ford memorabilia cupboard.

“Ford Facts”

1) The only car that Jim Morrison, legendary Doors singer, ever owned was a 1967 Shelby GT 500.

2) Chevrolet actually used a Ford SuperDuty to set up their Chevy Truck display at the Texas State Fair in 2012.

3) Fords signature blue oval logo was not introduced until 4 years after the company had already been in production.

4) Ford Chairman Bill Ford, currently owns the first Ford vehicle ever sold in 1903.

5) Bio-fuel: not a new thing as the Ford model T was designed from the start to run on both petroleum and ethanol – which could be produced using potatoes, wood chips and other bio materials.

6) Both Henry Fords liked things to be uniform – not only in production and vehicle terms but in other key areas. Wherever Ford operates across the world there tends to be a standard style. This is clearly demonstrated by the appearance of Ford Motor Company’s US and UK HQs. While the UK building is much smaller, it looks almost identical to the US headquarters in Dearborn Michigan. During the 60s and 70s both had executive floors at the top which were serviced by their own lifts and had thicker carpet and wood panelled walls. Both buildings had apartments for VIPs to stay overnight and heliports. Onsite at both locations there were a cinema, banking facilities, hairdressing, a full medical facility with company doctors and other medical staff along with huge dining/catering facilities (in the early years the management ate separately but as times change so the dining facilities have been merged to reflect the modern ‘team’ approach).

Thanks as ever to Gary for the great facts.

DeAgostini GT500

We have had another batch of the DeAgostini GT500 model arrive issues six to nine.

Issue six sees the most intricate part yet which is the rear exhaust system. Once completed this section will need to be stored carefully.

Issues seven and eight feature the other front wheel and braking mechanism was originally in a single issue, number two. As this has been done before it only took a couple of minutes to complete.

Issue nine gives us a nother large body panel in the shape of the left hand door which required the mirror and the door handle to be fitted.

We have updated the assembly page click here for the quick link or cut and past this link. https://mustangmaniac.org/shelby-gt500-18th-scale-model/

Food For Thought:

Saturday Adam decided to take a few of us out for a quick bite to eat. This wasn’t a quick pub lunch, this was an American diner called “Arnolds” in Hoddesdon. The food was fantastic and the four off us walked away feeling rather full. Classic food, classic style environment to eat in and the staff were very nice as too, what more can you ask for?

Adam seemed distracted and staring into space for a few seconds, we had a look to see just what it was he was looking at, we should have know better. 😀

Thanks for the diner Adam.