A Modern Touch

Posted on February 11, 2018 by Mustang Maniac

We mentioned last week that we had an email for a daily driver and we wanted to know if there were anymore examples out there used for a daily ride basis. It looks like there is more than just one of them out there. An email from Bob Frantzen who tells us; “I have a 1967 Mustang coupe that I have had since 1981. Hope you don’t mind my friend posing for a quick shot.” How could we refuse?

We are liking this section, but we can’t deny that it’s been a slow response so far, perhaps we were right and these beautiful classic Mustangs are only out when the sun shines? We were expecting this to be a sparse section to be honest, so why not prove us wrong and send us your pics!

Customer Cars:

It’s a known fact that our resident man bear likes a little “RestoMod” when he is let loose on a project. Recently we had a customers car in that has the classic rust spots on the rear quarters that needed sorting out, and that means Yogi dusted of his paint gun. He also made a little interior update too which was simple enough, but the care taken makes all the difference.

The old rust was rubbed down to see just how far the metal worm had gotten.

The old rusty metal was cut away and new metal fabricated in its place.

With a little sanding and that little bit of magic that happens in the Yogi cave, we have the repaired sections that will last for a good few years to come.

After the outside was repaired the interior got the modern touch with the USB power supplies. These sockets are now becoming more the norm as the cigarette lighter adaptors are dying away in favour of the much neater USB sockets. The result is subtle and it certainly doesn’t ruin the interior stock look.

The underhood was asked for a little tidy up and we obliged with a re-wrap of some wiring and the difference again is subtle, and if you can see the work – then we have done it properly as it looks stock.

’69 Mach1

Jaqui’s Mach1 has been worked on and the aircon has been fitted to the engine. Not sure it will be used any time soon as it’s the middle of winter here! But the engine is taking shape and ready for the initial stock settings tune up.

The sun visors now are in and the rest of the engine hardware fittings in place.

 

With the basics now done we have a rolling restoration. Not long now for the completion and then its the fine tuning and adjustments before we let Jacqui and Roy have her back.

The Onion Mustang:

We have been waiting for a slot to start on the “Onion” again. The floor pans and the rear chassis legs were mounted on the jig and measured out from the original dimensions we had taken and marked points on the jig. Some tack welds made and more measuring with more parts added to make sure the built up layers will fit together again. Once we were happy then the full neat welds were made so the floor pan and chassis could be removed from the jig and carefully rested on the floor. The underside was worked on to rub down the welds and seam seal the joints and finished with our red lead paint.

Special message:

We finish the post this week with all of us at Mustang Maniac to wish our good friend Jacqui S. a speedy recovery as she has recently been taken poorly.

Get well soon Jacqui. 

Posted in Customers' Cars, daily driver, Restoration | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Keeping In Trim

Posted on February 4, 2018 by Mustang Maniac

Quite often we get emails sending us pics of cars they are thinking of buying and asking if it’s worth the money and should they buy it. There are lots of issues around this sort of thing, we virtually always decline to answer such questions. This is nothing personal of course, but we can’t see the car up close and inspect the things we need to before we pass any comments. If the car turns out to be a bag of rust, we will no doubt will get  the blame. Of course we could offer a valuation service to go and look at a car and advise, provided that all expenses and time are paid. Would people be willing to pay for the service? Let us know. Within the latest batch of emails this week we had a great email and on Facebook from somebody who still runs a classic Mustang as their daily driver. We think this is pretty cool and gave us an idea. Send us your pics of your car that you drive around in on a daily basis, then we can see just how many are on the road everyday out there. Is this a rare case or are there others out there? We will even put your pic on our blog to show the world on our new section; Daily Driver. This may be a one-off, but we hope not.

Daily Driver:

This was sent to us by Michael Joachim of his “Daily Driver”.  Now that is just cool.

Customers Cars:

We are getting on with Roy’s car and starting to put her back together. As soon as the glass goes back in the project looks half way there and a significant milestone has been reached. Once the windscreen was fitted and sealed in place the first of the nice trim parts were fitted in place.

The upper cowl section was refitted and the hood so that the gaps could then be set. Then the hood was taken of again ready for the heart of the car to go in. The engine was previously stripped, rebuilt and painted prior to fitting. Yogi and Paul a great team working together know how each other works and thinks, so this is poetry in motion to see.

The carb was fitted and the correct rocker swapped over leaving only the air pan to be fitted and checked for fit.

The carb needs to be tuned and setup, but not just yet though. The HT leads and distributer are fitted along with the basic wires from the new wiring loom.

Things seem to move very quickly with the large parts being fitted and then it all slows down again for the more detailed parts. The FMX gearbox was treated to a service and the oil was crisp and new as the day it was put in, which is always a good sign.

From there the gearbox was given a coat of red oxide then a coat of the black finish.

The gearbox was fitted to the engine and bolted in place.

The inside of the car was treated to some new carpets and padding.

 

Other News:

We have been asked about how the puppies are doing. We can say that the mum Shelby is now back on guard duty in the yard and the pups are growing up, fast. Warning: Cute puppy pics!

Aria Loves her dad!

They now have names; the white one is now called Cleo and the other rascal is called Aria.

Cleo
Aria

These are the latest taken a couple of days ago and not quite so small.

Next week we will be bringing you some updates on the “Onion” and how that is getting on. Remember to send us pics of your Daily Driver.

Posted in Classic Cars, Customers' Cars, daily driver, dogs, News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Centerfold?

Posted on January 28, 2018 by Mustang Maniac

The response to last weeks post was great, so it’s a big thanks for the comments and emails, so a big thanks from us here at Mustang Maniac. The lead this week is for customer submitted photos to be shown on our Park & Pic section. Simon has brought his clean and tidy looking Fox Convertible to us. She is in for the usual once over by us with attention being made for the fluid checks, brake pads and rotors, various seals and the usual service to get tip-top gain ready for the summer. These Fox body Mustangs are starting to command some good money now, so they could be an investment for the future, if you get the right combination.

Park & Pic

We love to see your cars on our blog, don’t worry about the pictures being world-class, award-winning pics as we can crop them as required. So if you want your pic(s)to appear here just like Simon’s to take the lead on our blog – it’s as simple as sending your pics to us no matter when they were taken.

News:

We thought that we would like to continue on the theme of the Bullitt from last week, with this pretty amazing generosity for good causes, which didn’t get as much publicity as the original Bullitt car did, but we think this is well worth the mention.

DETROIT – Two of the most iconic American performance cars, a current generation Ford GT and the recently unveiled 2019 Mustang BULLITT, raised a total of $2.85 million for charity during the 47th Annual Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auction. On Saturday, a 2017 Ford GT that was donated by Arizona businessman Ron Pratte to the Evernham Family-Racing for a Reason Foundation, sold for $2.5 million to benefit Autism Society of North Carolina. One hundred percent of the hammer price from the sale of the Ford GT will benefit the Autism Society of North Carolina’s IGNITE program.

Pratte, an entrepreneur and car collector, donated an additional $50,000 to benefit the Autism Alliance of Michigan, which works to make Michigan a better place to live for people with autism and their families, bringing the total dollars raised to a staggering $2.55 million.

On Friday, Ford and the McQueen estate donated VIN 001 of the limited-edition Mustang BULLITT, with 100 percent of the $300,000 hammer price benefiting Boys Republic.

“We were thrilled with the incredible amount of money raised for charity from the sale of a current generation Ford GT and our all-new 2019 Mustang BULLITT,” said Raj Nair, executive vice president and president, North America, Ford Motor Company. “Over the last several years, we’ve donated some incredible Ford Performance vehicles that have been sold to generate much-needed funds and awareness for deserving charities. It was a privilege to represent the Ford family on the auction block and combine our efforts with Ron Pratte and the McQueen Estate on the sale of these two incredible, rare and iconic Ford cars.” Ford also included a Ford Performance Racing School GT Experience with the auction of the Ford GT. This world-class program gives the winning bidder the chance to improve their driving skills behind the wheel of one of the world’s most celebrated supercars, while also supporting individuals with autism.

Ford and the McQueen estate offered VIN 001 of the 2019 Mustang BULLITT to benefit Boys Republic, a private, nonprofit, nonsectarian school and treatment community for troubled youngsters. One hundred percent of the $300,000 hammer price will go to the organization to help children find the resources and skills to build meaningful lives on their own.

The all new 2019 Mustang BULLITT recently made its debut at the North American International Auto Show. A prototype was shipped to Scottsdale where it was driven on the Barrett-Jackson block by Chad McQueen, the son of Hollywood star Steve McQueen.

“The Mustang BULLITT has been wildly popular since unveiling it in Detroit,” said Mark Schaller, Ford Mustang brand manager. “Both it and the Ford GT represent the pinnacle of Ford engineering, and design. I couldn’t think of a better way to honor the BULLITT’s heritage than donating the car to Boys Republic, which was instrumental in helping Steve McQueen become an iconic, Hollywood legend.”

Source from FordOnline.

Mustang Maniac thinks that this is an amazing achievement and collaboration from all those involved.

Customers Cars:

Roy’s car is coming along very nicely with Yogi fitting the headliner which is a work of art in itself and looks amazing. Who let Yogi loose on the headliner? (In house joke here, don’t ask!)

Wiring has started to be prepped for the dash area and tidied up which again does take care and time to fit it all in without the loom getting in the way of the other parts, such as the wiper motor linkages, gauges, heater controls etc.

The doors now have the rubber seals in place and final adjustments can be made to the door closures.

We have the Mustang Maniac much sort after LED upgrades fitted behind the stock look tail lenses. We have to run extra cables to the main loom in order to make them work, so while we are at this stage it will all look perfect, wrapped up in our own stock look loom tape.

The end result is that coverted stock look combined with the modern high visibility LEDs as standard fitting on a lot of modern cars these days.

We are looking forward to this car being on the road as this will be a cracking looking little lady using as many of the original parts as we can.

Centerfold?

Well, not quite! But it does appear that all the celebs can’t wait to get their picture taken with Adam. Vaughn Gittin Jr a drifting legend discusses RTR Mustangs with Adam at the 2017 SEMA show. The full article can be Found in Classic American magazine.

We would like to finish up with a quick Happy Birthday Wishes to Adam’s wife Lynn for tomorrow.

Happy *^th Birthday Lynn.

Posted in Blog, Park & Pic, Restoration, SEMA, Service | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Bullitt(s) Old & New

Posted on January 21, 2018 by Mustang Maniac

This weeks post is a little longer than normal but we think it deserves it. Unless you have been under a rock for the last couple of weeks there has been an explosion of media around the legendary ’68 Bullitt Mustang and the special edition which Ford have released to commemorate the fifty years since the film. After the Bullitt article we have compiled there is our exciting news about our latest delivery we promised last week.

DETROIT – Celebrating the 50th anniversary of iconic movie “Bullitt” and its fan-favorite San Francisco car chase, Ford introduces the new cool and powerful 2019 Mustang Bullitt.

Third-generation member of the McQueen family, Molly, starred in a special movie of her own introducing the new third-generation Bullitt at the North American International Auto Show. In the film, Molly races a new Mustang Bullitt through a parking structure battling a Dodge Charger for the final free space.

Helping it win that particular spot was the Bullitt’s upgraded 5.0-liter V8 engine that will deliver at least 475 horsepower and 420 lb.-ft. of torque, pushing the new Bullitt to a top speed of 163 mph – an 8 mph increase versus the latest Mustang GT.

Special Edition

As a special-edition model due out this summer – the all-new Mustang Bullitt is equipped with a manual transmission, and the gear shifter features a white cue ball shift knob as a nod to the original. The vehicle packages all Mustang GT Premium and Performance Package content into a vehicle that maintains the original Bullitt’s understated persona. An active valve performance exhaust system is standard with new Black NitroPlate™ exhaust tips, and retuned to give the car a signature burble, as well as new Open Air Induction System and Shelby GT350 intake manifold with 87mm throttle bodies and powertrain control module calibration for optimal performance.

Other standard equipment includes a heated leather steering wheel and a 12-inch all-digital LCD instrument cluster, identical in function to the cluster introduced on 2018 Mustang, but with a unique Bullitt welcome screen that starts in green with an image of the car rather than the pony.

“This new Bullitt is, as Steve McQueen was, effortlessly cool,” said Darrell Behmer, Mustang chief designer. “As a designer, it’s my favorite Mustang – devoid of stripes, spoilers and badges. It doesn’t need to scream about anything – it’s just cool.” Exterior paint choices are limited to Shadow Black and the classic Dark Highland Green – as worn in the movie. Other features that pay tribute to the car McQueen drove are subtle chrome accents around the grille and front windows, classic torque thrust 19-inch aluminum wheels, red-painted Brembo™ brakes, and a unique black front grille. Inside and out, the vehicle uses minimal body badging; only the circular faux gas cap Bullitt logo on the rear center is visible on the exterior.  The leather-trimmed interior features unique green accent stitching on the dashboard, door panels, center console and seats.

Aside from the two exterior paint choices, Mustang Bullitt buyers are limited to three factory-installed options:

  • Bullitt Electronics Package includes navigation, driver memory seats and mirrors, upgraded sound system and Blind Spot Information System with Cross-Traffic Alert that can alert customers of vehicles detected in difficult-to-see places
  • MagneRide® semi-active suspension system optimizes driving performance
  • RECARO® black leather-trimmed seats

“When making a Bullitt, there are certain things it absolutely must have,” said Carl Widmann, Mustang chief engineer. “It has to have the right attitude, it has to be unique in some way from a Mustang GT, and more than anything, it has to be bad ass.” That reputation was born after a Mustang GT fastback played a prominent role in the 1968 movie, and most notably in a chase scene that set new standards in filmmaking. The film’s nearly 10-minute-long sequence followed McQueen chasing down two hitmen in his Mustang through the streets of San Francisco.

The Original

Original 1968 Mustang ‘559 from movie Bullitt. Courtesy of HVA, Casey Maxon (PRNewsfoto/Historic Vehicle Association)

Two identical 1968 Mustang GT fastbacks were used in the filming of the classic Warner Bros. movie “Bullitt” that debuted in theaters on Oct. 17, 1968. After filming, the cars went their separate ways: the hero vehicle driven by McQueen in the movie was sold by Warner Bros. to a private buyer, and the other – used in many of the jumps during the famous chase scene – was sent to a salvage yard. That jumper vehicle resurfaced in Baja, California, in early 2017, but the other was lost to history. Until now; Sean Kiernan, owner of the hero vehicle, inherited the car in 2014 from his late father, Robert, who had purchased the vehicle in 1974. To fulfill his family’s lifelong dream, Sean contacted Ford and the two parties worked together to reveal his movie star car alongside the all-new 2019 Mustang Bullitt at the 2018 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. “You know, it was never our intention to keep this car a secret from everybody,” Sean said. “It just kind of happened with life. I’m just completely buzzing to join with Ford and the new Bullitt and show this car to the world on one of the biggest stages there is.”

Do we want one – Yep, we do!

As is often the case with these things, the reappearance of the Bullitt Mustang was no coincidence. Current owner Sean Kiernan explained to Jay Leno that he and Ford “found each other” and worked together to stage the car’s comeback. Kiernan’s father, Robert Kiernan Jr., bought the car in 1974 after seeing an ad in Road & Track for a “Bullett” Mustang. He was the only one who inquired, and got the car for $6,000. That was actually a lot of money for a used 1968 Mustang in 1974.
movie set gate pass

In 1977, McQueen wrote a letter to Robert Kiernan Jr., asking for the opportunity to “get back my ’68 Mustang.” As documented by classic-car insurer Hagerty, McQueen said he wanted to keep the car unrestored, as it had appeared in Bullitt, which he said was “simply personal.” But McQueen was only willing to go so far in getting the Mustang back. While he did offer to pay for a replacement car (the Kiernans were using the Bullitt Mustang as a daily driver), McQueen noted that he would do so as long as “there is not too much monies involved in it.”

The Bullitt Mustang was eventually retired from daily use and rolled into a garage. Meanwhile, the rest of the world assumed that it was simply lost. Spurred by Ford’s decision to launch special-edition Mustang Bullitts in 2001 and 2008, Sean Kiernan and his father intended to rebuild the car and share it with the public, but life got in the way. The senior Kiernan died in 2014, before the car was finished. Today, the Bullitt Mustang is in drivable condition, but remains unrestored. Note that this is one of two Mustangs used to film the movie. Coincidentally, the other car was found in Mexico last year. That car had been stripped of many parts and had some restoration work done, making it less original than Kiernan’s car. Kiernan has no plans to sell, but his Mustang is nonetheless incredibly valuable. Hagerty CEO McKeel Hagerty estimates the car could fetch around $4 million, noting that two other iconic television and movie cars, the original Batmobile and James Bond Aston Martin DB5, sold for similar amounts. There are also plans for a film on the Bullitt Mustang. This time, the car will probably be handled a bit more gingerly than the last time it was on-screen.

Do we want this car? Yep we need this car.

Sources – Fordonline and many others, Im ages are not our own.

WebShop

We promised last week that we would have an update on the delivery we have been waiting many months for now. It arrived as expected and took the day to move it all around. Adam has FOUR ’68 shells delivered to the yard. Couple full shells and a couple in parts. All of which are now stored in the own special location.

A couple of these have already earmarked for in-house projects and the others Adam bought for “something or other!” Now those that know Adam also know that he never actively sells a car, but if you offer him the right money he might consider it, as he can often be heard to say “It could be yours!” As for these body shells and kits? Who knows, like the second-hand parts – “nope, ‘aint got none of them either!”

Customers Cars:

Roy has his car with us now from the paint shop and Yogi has started the brand new wire loom fitting and putting some glass in. Once the glass is in the project starts to look like a car again.

Glass in the doors.

Headlights and new shiny fuel tank.

On top of that the engine has been worked on, new valves, seats and guides with all new engine internals. The heads have been skimmed and the block decked so this 351Windsor should be factory fresh too.

We finish with Yogi’s new sign:

Perhaps we should name all our storage areas!

Posted in Cars For Sale, Customers' Cars, Our Cars, Parts, Restoration, Webshop | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Any Second Hand Parts?

Posted on January 14, 2018 by Mustang Maniac

We havent had a Park & Pic for a little while so we thought we would start the year with one. This lady we have seen a few times before and it’s truly a very nice place to be. This ’56 Mercury Monteclair is owned by a good friend of ours Steve. The car has a little running issue which we will sort out for him, he can often be seen at car shows cruising around.

Remember – If you have any pics of your car at Mustang Maniac – just send them to us and will post them up for you. 🙂

Confirmation:

We have been asked “Was that the real Cleo Shelby or a wind up”. We can only think that the question is asked from somebody who is new to our “small parts suppliers” blog, and doesn’t know Adam very well. Adam doesn’t do “Wind ups”. We have also posted a number of pictures up over the last couple of years of Adam (and Lynn) and some of the core Mustang Maniac guys with Cleo in Vegas. So the answer is a very simple; “Yes” Cleo came to the UK, and yes she did stay with Adam and Lynn at their home before she returned back to the USA.

Parts:

Adam has been a busy boy this week as a result of not being able to get into one of his storage lockups. Some recently “stored” parts were booby-trapped by the door so it seems; you open the door – the parts came out type of scenario. With that, Adam may have mentioned a naughty word and operation “Second Hand Parts” was initiated. This was only noticed by me when I was asked to go down the back to get some parts for an in-house project. Shouldn’t that be “in-garage” project? Anyway, I was surprised that the no go zones had been tidied up, arranged into sections so now you can get to the parts. I was impressed. Even more imprssive is – Asked Adam where any of these parts are and he could tell you, even before the tidy up.

So before you even think of asking:

NO! The second-hand parts are NOT for sale!

To show you what we mean the here is the new storage area for the various (new and old) crate motors and heads.

There is the second-hand engine or two on or under a bench somewhere.

Maybe an odd gearbox stashed away.

Various bits and pieces lying around, anything from window winders to wipers, screws to steering racks, radiators to rear parcel shelves etc.

Axles and somewhere to sit.

The odd wheel or two lying around here and there.

But Adam was quite pleased with a rare Shelby GT350R engine part. If you were to remove a kidney for cash it still wouldn’t get you this part. The (rare) Shelby R-Models used a spun aluminum plenum bowl to direct cool air into the carburetor. The top of the bucket was positioned under the “porthole” opening in the fiberglass hood, this created an early iteration of the ram air induction setup.

Adam doesn’t have these on the WebShop and is constantly asked for second-hand parts – he will always answer with; “Nope, aint got none of them!” While we are talking parts, there is a big delivery coming in next week which we will try to get posted up next time for you. We are all quite excited about it.

Posted in Blog, Park & Pic, Photos, SEMA, Webshop | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

A Very Special Guest

Posted on January 7, 2018 by Mustang Maniac

As this is the first post of the year; Happy New Year to all our readers and followers and we hope you all had a great Christmas. Thanks to those of you who dropped us gifts into the office all of which was very much appreciated. We thought we would that we would start the first post off with a bang, it doesn’t get much better than this:

Adam had kept it quiet that there was going to be a very special guest coming to the UK over Christmas to visit him for a stop over before they went back to the USA. That special guest is his friend Cleo Shelby. Cleo landed in the UK before Christmas and Adam was there to pick her up and take her back to his home while Cleo finalised arrangements for what she needed to do while over here in the UK. As Adam is a private person he fully respects Cleo’s privacy and the need to get away from it all now and again. With that in mind the visit was kept quiet to stop any unwanted attention which would allow Cleo to just get on and do her thing. Cleo would stay at Adam’s home before she returned to the USA where she was treated just like one of the family. It was a time to relax and not have to worry about anything except just being yourself, a pub visit, meals out and of course the catch ups late into the night.

Adam had asked Cleo to sign the odd thing or two for him. Cleo kindly agreed and wrapped up warm in a borrowed coat and was then taken out into the British cold weather. Cleo was shown around Adam’s vast parts stores and car just as big a car collection. Cleo was impressed by the number of cars Adam had and realised why Adam has so many guard dogs to protect his premises. Cleo was even treated to the full access guided tour even to the out-of-the-way areas where the rarities are stored. Adam had uncovered his much-loved Shelbys in anticipation for the evening signing session should Cleo agree of course. Cleo sat in each one of the cars to sign them for him. There was no expense sparred on the new Sharpie pens which were bought just for the this occasion in a selection of colours, black or silver. The only down side was trying to sort out a good balance of lighting for Cleo to see what she was doing and also for the camera work during the signings as it was starting to get dark very quickly. Sometimes the lighting and camera work getting in each others way! As with all signatures proof is always part of the provenance so Cleo was happy to oblige there too for us, just in case some people didn’t believe the authenticity of the signatures. Adam has more photo’s but they are for his private collection and not to be plastered all over the internet.

Adams Orange KR was up first.

Adam’s anniversary Hertz.

A friend and good customer of Adam’s had his anniversary Hertz at the yard for a little work which also received the coveted Shelby signature.

Next up was Adam’s pride and joy, his genuine un-restored 1966 Hertz. Adam explained to Cleo how he come to get the rare beast before she signed it in silver for him.

After the guided tour of the workshops and the yard it was back up to the offices for some warmth and conversations. In the offices there was a little more signing to be done on three DeAgostini 1:8th scale ’67 Shelby GT500 models. They were for Adam’s grandson’s Jack (a part finished model), Gary’s and Mart’s completed models waiting for that special signature.

Jack’s model being signed:

Gary’s model being signed:

Mart’s model and book being signed:

Those who are eagle-eyed will see that the cars are different as the aerial was removed on Mart’s car for transport other wise it didn’t fit in the storage box. There was also a Limited Edition book called “The Art of the Mustang” which Mart sneaked into the mix to be signed by Cleo on the author’s signature page too.

Cleo was now in much need of a hot cup of tea, so it was back to the house and get ready for the night out and something to eat. Cleo had given Lynn and Adam their gifts, Adam’s was a Limited Edition still boxed 1966 Hertz model in mint condition that was originally given to Carroll Shelby himself.

Thank You Very Much Cleo.

We can only say a huge thank you to Cleo for taking time out (especially in the freezing cold), to sign the full-sized cars and models for us. You can bet your car keys that these cars, the model’s and the book will not be parted with just for the money. Cleo’s signatures just make special items very special and unique indeed, none of which you will be seeing on eBay!

Posted in 1:8th Scale Model, Memorabilia, Our Cars, Photos | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Merry Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2017 by Mustang Maniac

We have been sent a very well thought out and updated version of the “12 Days of Christmas” carol with a Mustang theme to it, a big “Thank You” to Gary W. for sending this in to us:

Click on the image for the easier to read full sized version.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

from Mustang Maniac!

We would like to finish the last post for this year 2017 by saying a huge thank you to all our customers, all our friends and everybody who follows us on Facebook, Twitter and our followers from all around the world of our little ol’ blog.

We look forward to bringing you more from Mustang Maniac with regular updates in the new year.

Thank You all.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Chilly Pups

Posted on December 17, 2017 by Mustang Maniac

We have had a couple of emails this week about our new members of the family, Shelby’s puppies. They are growing fast and full of mischief as you would expect. Trying to house train a few puppies when its cold is not easy, let alone when there is snow on the ground!

No names as yet except for one that Morgan who has named “Zeus”.

Customers Cars

This time of year is fairly quiet as many of the classic cars will but tucked up in a garage to keep them warm. We know of a couple of cars that are due an MOT this month but we already know that the owner won’t take them out in the rain let alone the snow, we won’t name names of course. but we will see Mart in the new year near year with his Coupe when things are back to normal with the weather for him; sunny, no dust on the road, all the salt washed away, no grit, no mud and above 20deg with not to much humidity etc. so that could be a while into the New Year then. We have a project convertible with us that needs to be put back together again. The usual boxes of bits and number of bits missing will need to be added back to the car. At least we have made a start on this little lady who has already has her regal colour scheme.

As for the snow it’s all gone now we hope!

Answer to last weeks question: What did Adams hat say? Well Adrian got it right with – “Bah Humbug knowing Adam!”

Have a great Christmas and New Year. (ignore the hat!)

Posted in Customers' Cars | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

A Man Of Many Hats

Posted on December 10, 2017 by Mustang Maniac

We have to point out to the rest of the world that in the UK a single flake of snow causes carnage all over the country; trains stop running, roads close, satellite TV’s stop working, power cuts you name it! The bit that we are concerned about is that the bad weather brings out a certain type of driver who hits the roads and then hits you if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. We think a picture can say more than a sentence or two could, enough said? OK, the cock is on top of the car not driving it. Perhaps they should be forced to drive with this little modification so we know who they are from a distance?

Seriously though; we have been warned by some couriers that due to the “snow” which lasted only a couple of hours in our area, some deliveries could be delayed. However any orders from our point of view will still be as normal with no delays expected. Please be patient with your delivery drivers.

WebShop

We was going to start with the dreaded “C” word – yep “Christmas”, not sure why everything is now starting to be called “Holidays” these days, perhaps it’s the PC crowd not wanting to offend anybody, even though it’s a religious celebration called Christmas for Hundreds of years now. The tradition is to give gifts to your loved ones, with that in mind the WebShop vouchers have started to sell as we would expect coming up to Christmas, in order to keep up with the demand a new batch will be arriving soon. So if you want some vouchers for that special person in your life the link is here, or they can be found on the WebShop along with lots of other goodies! Now it has to be said that Mustang Maniac does get into the swing of things at this festive season and Adam just wanted to prove the point here:

But as it’s cold around the yard, Santa’s helper – OK it’s Adam! he needed a nice warm hat. Words fail us at this point, but it did provide a welcome sight carrying a few cups of tea!

A little quiz just for fun – Adam says “Can you guess what this hat says?”

Customer Cars:

OK, sensible time now. The blue racing coupe has had her paint, been given the Mustang Maniac “works”. We are just waiting for a time slot for the MOT then she can go to her owner. We have some before and after pics for you.

After:

We have also had in a customers own Restomod Coupe into us which he has been working on for the last ten years, a real tribute to the owner. We just needed to sort out a few little niggles with engine running which was not your normal 289!

The car has HID headlights and some nice touch daytime running lights.

Interior.

Under the hood it’s not what you would expect to see.

The owner of this car has hinted to us that the car could be up for sale for the right price.

F100

Not our normal project work but we were happy to oblige with this nice example.

Ford Facts:

1) The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) initially refused the request from Ford to declare the Mustang a “sports car” – important to allow Ford to race the new car. Ford asked Caroll Shelby to negotiate for them and he suggested the only real issue was “sports cars don’t have rear seats” so he modified every one of the 560 1965 GT350s with a floor panel to replace the rear seats. Later in 1966 the SCCA, understanding how important the Mustang was for them, relaxed the rear seat issue – all 2274 1966 GT350s had rear seats.

2) Wilson Pickett’s ‘Mustang Sally’ was a huge hit….but did you know it was actually a ‘cover’ of an earlier song written and performed by Mack Rice. It was originally called ‘Mustang Mama’ but Aretha Franklin suggested the change. Ironically, before Mack Rice wrote and performed Mustang Sally, he was in an R&B band….called ‘The Falcons’. The irony is that Mustang was based closely on the Ford Falcon.

3) One of the four evaluation 1965 Shelby GT 350 Convertibles was sold after its evaluation work was completed by Caroll Shelby to Bob Shane of the ‘Kingston Trio’. The vehicle still exists in pristine condition.

4) Ex President Clinton owns a 67 convertible in light blue. One could expect that it’s a fire breathing muscle car…but is in fact a 6 cylinder . It was loaned to a classic car museum in Arkansas for the term of his presidency and never stored at the Whitehouse or used in any official cavalcades.

5) Ford got Kar-Kraft to build a prototype mid-engined Boss 427 code named LID Mustang (Low Investment Driveline). It worked well but never went into production. The whereabouts of the prototypes remains unknown.

6) In the cult film Bullitt, Ford initially insisted that the car chase would be an ‘all Ford affair’ and a number of Mustangs (390 S codes) and two Galaxies were supplied to the production company. Shooting started but while the Mustangs stood up quite well to the chase scenes, the Galaxies quickly suffered from the rough landings around San Francisco and were replaced with Dodge Chargers (440 Magnum L codes).

7) The most popular 1969 Boss Mustang colour was yellow (well over 1/3 of all production were Bright Yellow).

8) Pontiac borrowed Ford’s 3 speed manual transmission. If a post 1965 GTO has the ‘heavy duty option’ (code S) then it’s a Ford Transmission.

9) Mustang 2 with its Pinto engine was a complete flop…true or false? False, in fact sales in the first year got to within 10% of the first edition (385,993 versus 418,812) – a sales volume any maker would be delighted with!

10) The launch of the new Ford Maverick was on April 17 1969, the same date as the original Mustang in 1964. By the April 64 launch date Ford had produced just 8000 Mustangs – just enough for one for each dealer on launch day. By the end of the month they had produced near to 20,000.

(source: Steve Magnante’s 1001 Mustang Facts)

Finally:

As it’s pretty cold we also decided to clean a car, but in the warm.

Drive carefully out there!

Posted in 1:8th Scale Model, Customers' Cars, Ford Facts, Restoration, Webshop | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Friend Catches Up…

Posted on December 3, 2017 by Mustang Maniac

We feel it’s time to reveal what the special post was going to be all about that we talked about when Adam came back from his SEMA trip this year. Of course it was always going to be car related as you would expect. Last year Adam made arrangements to meet up with his friend Cleo Shelby. This year he has gone one better…

While out in Las Vegas Adam made the phone calls and arranged to meet up with his friend Cleo, this time he introduced his wife Lynn to Cleo who hit it off straight away.

The usual catch up chats were had and as time passed a rare opportunity was offered to Adam & Lynn; lunch at Cleo’s house the next day in Las Vegas! Obviously that is an offer you just can’t refuse. For privacy issues we delayed this post and made sure all was OK with Cleo before we posted.

All photos are exclusive to Adam/Mustang Maniac and the first time on the internet.

We won’t show pictures of the outside of her home except to say it’s pretty special as you would expect. Adam and Lynn arrived on time and was let in through the gated premises and was met by Cleo at the front door. They were given a cup of tea to start with which was shortly followed a guided tour around her home. Adam was in his element looking at Carroll’s possessions and his car related items. Adam did take some photo’s of those, but again we will respect Cleo’s privacy, but we will show you this little item, yep the back of Cobra that is now a seat!

Cleo was happy to chat away to Lynn and Adam for quite a while in one of the reception rooms where Adam took this pic.

Not to disappoint, Cleo kept her promise to show Adam her one of a kind Mustang. Carroll had this car made especially for Cleo which is unique as this car has no limited edition number, but is signed by her husband. Cleo removed the dust cover to reveal a special bespoke Mustang, just one of one!

Cleo behind the wheel of her much-loved car.

When it was time to leave Adam was given a parting gift from Cleo – a couple of drinks from Carroll’s very own collection! a bottle of Carroll Shelby Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 and a bottle of Snake Bite Lager.

The 2007 wine is a rare vintage and very much a collector’s item now. The question you have to ask yourself here is; did he or didn’t he open it? Cheers. 🙂

As part of Adam’s birthday, he was bought this rather cool wine holder, what a fitting way to hold the bottle of wine.

We hope the wait for this post was worth it. Next week we will be back to the cars again.

Posted in News, SEMA, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments