Cast your mind back to May 2021 when we posted Adam’s a stark prediction(s) which were as follows:

‘If you are think that you need sheet metal for your project – BUY IT NOW. There is a shortage of panels for our classic cars in general; that’s Falcon & Mustang. But, it’s not just Ford that is suffering, it’s other makes as well. Prices for sheet metal is expected to rocket up in price.’

That prediction has more than become true, in fact Adam has now said, ‘the prices are still going up, almost every day’. People are moaning to Adam that prices are to high for them and want them at the ‘old prices’. But, we still have to buy the stock in at the new prices, we just have to pass those increases on to our customers. We try to squeeze it as much as we can, it’s just not viable to buy high and sell at a loss. We hope you understand that it’s not just us, food, fuel especially, metal, wood, imports and shipping costs have all gone mad.

Can we see this trend slowing or stopping? Adam predicts that ‘regular price rises are here to stay for a while now, especially with the Russia / Ukraine situation unfolding. It’s not just sheet metal, virtually everything we import now has gone up, some items two or three times the original cost’.

We have now had to update the WebShop on how it works for special orders and back orders. Now the process is automated so that the stock system will email you the parts are back in stock. At that point the costs of the part will be available to you. A recent order we placed for a special order part was $100 and by the time it has landed to us we had been invoiced $120. It’s just insane, we can only urge you to buy it now when you see it, don’t wait. Is this a Mustang Maniac sales pitch? To a degree yes, but for the right reasons to our customers. We have noticed that people are being much more careful with their orders and we are selling more cheaper parts rather than the quality parts we recommend. The more costly parts we hold multiple items of, we shall start to look at those stock levels.

Customer Cars

This day a month ago we posted a story about a ’66 Coupe that had a hit and run number done on her. Well we are pleased to say that she is back with us along with her new coat of paint and replacement parts. We are pleased with her as another beauty saved from the potential scrap yard.

As we said at the time we will sort her out, and we have. The paint looks great. We have to do a couple of little fine tune adjustments to bumper and headlight so we are happy. But, she could go back on the road right now.

Nobody will ever know the destruction this little lady endured! Just in case you forgot, this is how she was when we picked her up.

Born Free

We have an old friend back out of storage ready for the new season of car shows. Just a little once over, to make sure all is good with the girl.

The scoop had a custom artwork sprayed onto her, that’s sixty hours of work you can see here.

What you don’t see unless the sun catches it at the right angle on the sides; the right side says ‘Born Free’, the left says ‘Runs Wild’, very subtle piece of work.

Not quite the standard 302!

Inside, the dash has been upgraded to Dakota Analogue set which isn’t a cheap hobby.

WebShop

We mentioned a couple of weeks ago about somebody ordering two window rollers each day rather than eight in one go. Well, it seems as though we have given one customer an idea, he ordered two lots of parts just under £50 on the same day, within minutes actually. Our system flagged him up and Adam contacted him to say that’s not quite the spirit of the free postage. The customer had ‘forgotten to order a couple of bits’ and had to order them. This type of blatant abuse could spoil it for everybody if we chose to withdraw the free postage.

Believe it or not, we have received a complaint about our ‘free postage’. Yep, we sent it free and they complained it didn’t arrive fast enough, like the next day to be precise. We emailed the customer back to say that the part was ordered on a Sunday afternoon, so the item wouldn’t be picked up until Monday afternoon. Then it’s down to Royal Mail’s five to seven days delivery time. Can we please reiterate that free postage is Royal Mail’s postage and not a next day delivery. If you want next day delivery then it’s a courier service that we offer. We mention this (again) just to manage your expectations. We try and get the orders out ASAP for you.

Our Stock

Adam has done a deal with Walker and is now an agent for them. We have started to get some parts in from them, mainly the carb rebuild kits for now. We have ordered some plug leads, ignition parts etc. which should be with us soon and be on the WebShop, some are already in stock as we post this up.

We have had another delivery of Leeds brakes as well as we sold nearly all our previous stock within a couple of weeks.

Stay Safe & Take Care!