This weeks post is a first for us as we have a double-header of lead news. A car we are very fond of arrived into the yard for a little annual maintenance, and Yogi taking a bite out of an onion! But we start this weeks quite important post with the Park & Pic section.
Paul Barns is the owner of this rare ’66 “3” coded car that was built for Export only and has never been on USA roads. It is believed to have started life as a much coveted “T5” Coupe that was possibly shipped to Europe (Germany) or straight to the UK via USAF in ’67. Documentation is pretty scarce around this period of time unfortunately to confirm exactly her origins. More details on the car and the restoration can be found here or under the “Customer Cars” menu above. It took a total of two years hard work to restore it to the way she is now. As this pic was taken in our yard outside Yogi’s old work shop (cave), we thought it was a great pic anyway. So much so that if this picture was a black and white pic, you would say it was taken at a period correct time frame.
So we messed around with a couple of filters on the pic to show you what we mean.
Keep your pics coming in to us for the Park & Pic, no matter where they were taken on the premises and you will be the lead car for a post.
The car that started it all….
Meet Ken Longmore, if the name sounds familiar it should, as it’s Adam’s Dad. This is Ken’s ’66 Coupe which he has had since 1971 when it was first imported to the UK from Belgium. This car was the very first car that Adam restored all those years ago, and ultimately the trigger for the company “Mustang Maniac” that commands such great respect around the world today. The best part is that Ken is 82 years old and still drives his beloved Mustang. We plan on doing an article (interview) with Adam about this car and how Mustang Maniac started as a result. We do have some of the original photos before the restoration started way back then. The problem is just getting Adam to sit down for ten minutes and tell us all about it just so we can document it, which sounds a lot easier than done. Where are the Jaffa Cakes to tempt him with a cup of tea?
Those with good powers of observation will notice the rear view mirrors are from a ’67, the reason for that as Ken explains, “I needed bigger mirrors to see who is behind me when I go past them.” Who can to argue with that. 🙂 The “J” plate registration is noted as 1970 – 1971 in the UK which was when the car was first imported to the UK, as that was the rules at the time.
So we now have a twofold question for you:
A) Do you know of anybody who still owns their Mustang longer than Ken has?
B) Do you know of anybody older than Ken who still drives their Classic Mustang?
Yogi takes a big bite out of an onion!
Now wouldn’t mind betting that you are intrigued to know what we are going on about; the ’67 Convertible formerly know as the “Pop Rivet” Mustang has been renamed to “The Onion.”
Yogi has come up with this new name for this project and the reason is quite simple as we explain. Back on the 18th December we posted pics of the restoration project being loaded into the workshop for some work. We spotted then that there were lots of pop rivets, hence the “Pop Rivet” at the time. This week Yogi got to work on her to see what was needed after a bit more stripping down. Yogi was heard to growl “This has been welded up like an onion has layers”. Yogi likes to get his teeth into things, but even this little lady is going to be a tough project. Yogi has made a Jig for this lady as this needs to be very mobile just now. Here are a couple of pics of her going to her new home back in December last year.
When work was started on her we hoped that new panel metal work would be enough, so we cut some of them away as we show here.
But thing never ever seem to go to plan and we revealed more than even we were expecting. The original rotten metal was repaired with patches, and then patches on those patches later on. As a result of that inspection, Yogi now stands where the back of the car used to be as it couldn’t be saved! Another pic for the Yogi Fan Club!
The back of the car had to be carefully cut away as the frame-work for the convertible is not reproduced at the moment. This will have to be cut down and rebuilt welding into the new metal work. Has Yogi bitten of more than he can chew? He told us, “Nope”. Truly a man (bear) of many words then!
The layers can be seen here in better detail with the patches on patches.
There are parts where the rust holes had just been filled and used like an oversized rivet on top of the layers.
The front didn’t fare too much better either after the structural integrity being investigated more, we suspect the front will have to come of as well.
Like all out projects they will turn out to be amazing looking cars afterwards, in fact we suggest that this car will be the sweet cherry on top of the cake, and not a sour onion at all. We are looking forward to bringing you this restoration build as we go along. At the moment there is no urgency to complete this project, but that can always change.
1967 Fastback
Yogi had to rewire this little lady and change some suspension parts, he was shocked to see that the front control arms were dangerous, they were replaced back onto the car with cracked metalwork around the bolts and with the bushings hanging out, thus allowing for a good quarter of an inch movement. They even labelled the sides up with marker pens for refitting back to the car.
So far we have done as we we asked but there could be more work to be done.
Competition:
Don’t forget the competition for the colouring in ends next week. We asked if anybody has a line drawing and Chris Tilley has sent us this as, “there wasn’t a coupe on the last drawings.”
Feel free to download and colour in, this has also been added to the “Download” section in the menus at the top. We are loving these so please keep them coming.
Mustang Maniac 
If you can nail Adam down to tell his story, I will be more than happy to supply the teabags and the Jaffa Cakes,
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We have been trying for a while now, perhaps somebody else treating him to the tea and cakes might just swing it. We very much have this on our radar to do with him, don’t worry.
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