Mr W. It’s ready!

We managed to complete a couple of cars this week ready for collection, and the tidied up yard has been well received. This week we been working on a rare 1964 1/2 “D” Code 289 coupe. The owner who I am sure wouldn’t mind if we just called him “Mr. W” has not driven her yet, but we know he follows our blog and is eager to see her. So we wanted to let him know “Mr. W. your car is ready”. Of course we can let him know by email or phone, but we thought as the owner is away at the moment what a pleasant way to see your car, on this weeks blog post. The car has had a new Edelbrock Carb and matching intake which is a serious looking piece of bling feed by a new fuel line and HT leads. She has had a master servo upgrade which is always difficult on a manual vehicle as the servo sits slightly higher due to the clutch pedal mechanism through the fire wall. This in turn means the servo has to sit higher so the full split reservoirs will hit the shock towers. To make it fit we have to use a modified modern reservoir that does the job now. It obviously goes without saying our custom-made brake pipes and fittings are in place, the distribution valve is screwed to the inner fender, and not left hanging in thin air like some recent “upgrades” we have had to sort out recently. The front to rear brake balance proportioning valve is easily accessible just under the fluid reservoir where it should be. Front brakes have had their new disc brake conversion fitted. It’s advised to give the car a couple of hundred miles to bed the brakes in properly. We have fitted a NOS fan belt for the correct fitting and size as a nice little touch. There are new performance shocks all round, a new custom exhaust from the headers to the rear which sound very nice. The owner has specified his steering wheel and is now fitted. All in all this is now a safer car and should handle a whole lot better and we are pleased with her. We have added Mr. W’s rarity to our Customer Cars Menu – 1964 1/2 “D” Code or click here for the quick link for all the pictures. You don’t see many of these around so it was a pleasure to work on this one.

We have purchased a new bit of kit for us as it’s always a tired game of hunt the mig before we want to use it. To cut that down we have added new Mig welder from Snap-On to our collection. We were looking forward to using it until we realised that the mig wire has been used up. In theory at least we should have one each now until this becomes the new favourite to be used of course.

Note to self: order more mig wire!

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Of course all the parts we have used were from our stock. If you want to have a similar look please visit our Webshop at www.mustangmaniac.co.uk

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Spring Clean

This week we have had a blitz on the yard, in fact it’s been a Spring Clean and a Summer Clean all rolled into one. We needed more storage room to park and clean the cars when they are ready for collection. We have now stored the old axles, engine blocks and transmissions that were outside ready for reconditioning back inside one of the units. The yard looks so much better now for the clean up, and the little ladies waiting collection by their owners are now easily accessible for them. We should have done this years ago, oh, we did. Now we have done it all over again so we are more determined than ever that this time it will remain tidy. But, and there is usually a but, the open plan look could all depend if we get any more unexpected barn finds and we need to temporarily store stuff again.

spring clean1

Cars:

We mentioned last week that we have some cars in for a general service, one in particular stands out as a shining example to the owner for his dedication to making this car into what it is now. There have been many hours cleaning and a few years to get this Factory Optioned 1969 GT on the road to drive as good as she looks. The owner likes to tell us that the back seats have never been sat in, he polishes the underside, the carpets are vacuumed after each trip and even the dust caps have to be correct. We did pull the owners leg to say that we all went down the pub in her and had a kebab while sittin’ in the back. Seriously though, we have added a well deserved link to this car under our Customers Cars menu or click here for the link and all the other pictures. Everybody who knows this car knows her by name, “Ruby”. This car is a real gem to look at and drive.

The best bit? This car is up for sale.

So if you want a pretty much perfect car and Genuine ’69 Factory 351cid GT, give us a call or email us and we will put you in touch with the owner.

Almost all the stock of our popular Mustang Maniac shirts have now gone and we only have a few left in some of the sizes. We will try to replenish the stocks as soon as we can. Another happy customer drives away with some parts and shirt. Give us a call or visit our webshop to order a shirt or parts at

www.mustangmaniac.co.uk

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 Quick Links:

Customers Cars – “Ruby” 1969 Factory Option GT or click here for the hyper link.

 

 

 

 

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It Don’t Get Much Better

It has been one of those weeks where we have seen a lot of new cars for minor work and services etc. We thought we had seen some great cars  in our time then this little beauty came along and we just had to have her. This is an original 1965 “A” code Coupe 289cid and really is as good as they come! This has seen only a single coat of paint slightly different from the original. The panels are original, no rust and straight. The gaps are exactly what we would expect for the time. We even have the original owners manual where it was bought in the USA, Tennessee. Service stamps in the owners book suggest that this engines seventy-four odd thousands miles are the original miles. The doors have all the original rubbers, the glass is tinted as for all aircon equipped cars. The pony interior is the full spec and in amazing condition, as the we would expect she has the ’66 gauges in wood effect as a result, and this is not an incorrect dash, but the correct one for the year and spec as the door codes confirm. She runs very nicely we just need to tweak her a little for the idle, all in all it’s a fantastic little car. I doubt we will see one as good as this for while in its genuine and original untouched state. This car doesn’t need any restoration to the body, the rear loom and engine bay looms still have the original fittings. The engine will need to be cleaned and tidied up a bit to match the wonderful chrome work but that is about it. We are still very excited about this one to say the least.

During a quick clean and look around on the car we even found a cheque in the car. So if you know who this cheque belongs to please let us know and we will be more than happy to post it back to the owner.

cheque

At our secret location and storage area we have our second car this week to tell you about.  This car is as close to the launch date as we have ever seen. This 1964 Coupe “D” code 289cid which was made 20th April 1964. This is also confirmed as a genuine ’64 as the numbers on the door plate are below the 250000. Again this is a very nice car, that only needs a minor tidy up to her bodywork along with the engine which runs fine.

To change the subject a little we are talking about setting up a monthly meeting for our customers to bring along their cars. We had a trip out to Herbie’s American Bar and Grill and took a few Mustangs along of course, (well it is an American Diner). It turns out that I ended up breaking a record for a food challenge, and at the end of it there was still room for a beer. We are looking to promote this excellent restaurant for a regular meeting spot as we enjoyed it so much. We have added a link on our blog to their website as well. We thoroughly recommend the restaurant and remember to mention us to the owners. What a way to end the week, Cheers!

https://www.facebook.com/herbiesbarandgrill

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Enfield Pageant 2014 (Part 2)

As promised the second installment of the Enfield Pageant. The biggest attraction at the show just has to be the USA ‘ iconic Greyhound bus. The bus is being restored but is in pretty good condition. Compared to the UK bus the size and use is evident. The UK’s Routemaster was designed for short trips between stops, sometimes just a few hundred yards apart, the open back was to allow people to jump on and off. That idea was soon frowned upon by the health and safety brigade, but you might still see one in London on a good day. The Greyhound on the other hand was an interstate cruiser with comfort in mind. We just couldn’t believe the size of the bus, it dwarfed our double-decker. Two very different vehicles with very different needs. We took a pic of the spec for the Greyhound bus that was in the window as it made interesting reading. Are these still used in USA?

Some European Classic cars:

More American classics here but we were surprised by the “History Chanel” car. We were expecting a nice paint job only to find it was sticky foil covered!

Perhaps one of the most famous posters ever in the UK during the times of the war:

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We are back to work again and continuing our projects. The weather is not helping things at the moment as we don’t want to put the customers cars in the rain while we move things around. That can slow things up a little to say the least.

Our key hooks have been selling well and we even gave a few away over the weekend to customers who made an order with us.

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If you wish to get your hands on these great for Fathers Day gifts give us a call and we will see what we can do for you. We are working on some other branded items which we hope to have very soon and exclusive to Mustang Maniac. We will post these as soon as we know we have them in stock. Unlike some stockists we try to hold everything in stock so we can deliver as soon as the postal service can get to you.

http://www.mustangmaniac.co.uk

 

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Enfield Pageant 2014 (Part1)

Part 1 – Traffic lights!

 It’s that time of year again when the event organisers book space for the dedicated Classic car enthusiasts to bring their pride and joy to the classic car shows. Last year was glorious weather and the show was busy. This year the UK bank holiday rain curse hits again. The rain kept a lot people away as they didn’t want to get their cars wet which we can understand of course. The thunder and lightning at one point made the tents very popular. Once the downpour had finished the bright sun came out and people were walking around soaked in the sunshine. Such a strange day. The visitors that did make the effort came to see the war years themed event which was informative, and had a few nice bits of memorabilia in there. On our pitch we had a total of nine cars which included customers cars that had been loaned to us for the show, we would like to thank you very much. Al bought his “Coz I can” Mach 1 with him, we had the equally famous 1000bhp UBB Mustang which was shown on 5th Gear and driven by Vicki Butler-Henderson on the show. The KR replica was there again, we had some great compliments about all the cars and we had a steady stream of photos taken with them. There was our traffic light cars as it was pointed out to us (red, amber & green), and it was also said “I wouldn’t like to come up against any of these at a set of lights!” The Falcon Ranchero was a popular car which we have just had sign written as it’s the company pick up with style. We have taken a number of shots of the pageant around eighty in total with a number in reserve. We will post again over the next few days to make it a more manageable read.

We will start with our cars we had, we had a nice stream of people visiting us and we had a crowd around us at one point that were calling for us to start the UBB up. We did of course oblige and nobody could hear a word! We have a video of it starting up and we will post that on YouTube along with some of the other things we need to post on there as well. Don’t worry we will let you know when we do. Which one is the UBB (in case you didn’t know as we took the stickers off),  it’s the one where the engine is too big to fit under the hood and had a hole cut in the high-rise hood to allow it to shut!

There was a nice selection of trucks at the show, and we took some pics of the more unusual ones:

It was interesting to see the reactions of the visitors to our cars on display, there was the younger generation interested in the UBB and the white Shelby, the older visitors were looking at the classics.  All appreciated the Mustang brand and we even gave away a few of our Mustang Maniac key hooks.

Car that needs no introduction was there from the London Motor Museum:

In part 2 will have some pics of a wonderful Greyhound bus, some American and British classic cars too.

We have added another five wallpapers for you to download and hope you enjoy them. We were asked if there would be more so somebody obviously knew about our new menu for the photos. So as requested the wallpapers are here but also at the Menu bar under downloads.

Quick Links:

UBB 1000BHP on 5th Gear click here

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An Offer Accepted!

We like to think that that everything we have here at Mustang Maniac has a value. that value will be worth more to some than others. We had a project lined up and we have been keeping some parts for that project. But a customer came along and saw what we had and made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. So we put it all on pallet for him and waited for it’s collection. The guy was very happy, we were happy to have sold some parts, but on the other hand, the project had in mind may just have to wait for a little while longer now. What am I talking about? Well, we just sold a genuine 1969 Boss 302 Engine, Gearbox and it’s matching headers. The engine is the real deal with the screw in core plugs which were the give away for this particular engine along with the very specific manifold. Somebody has got themselves a very nice pallet of goodies.

I was also made an offer for this little beauty. It’s my own secret little project, but I will give you a sneak peak as I took it out from under wraps! Of course providing the right offer came along, I might just be tempted to sell it.

secret2

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Ready To Race

They say things come in pairs, here at Mustang Maniac we’re not so sure. We think a new addition to our fleet of cars, goes well with our other racers which have recently been given some stripes, there is a good reason for all this, we hope to have some more news very shortly! First the new addition to our fleet which shouldn’t need any introduction. This little brute has a modern 5 speed manual gearbox, nice set of under dash gauges and drives as good as she sounds. This is a real monster of a car and the exhaust note just has to be heard to be believed.

But, just to tease you a little here are some pics of the Mustang Maniac mean machines. Which one would you pick for a blast around a track?

Bullitt (UK) Remake Link (must watch):

A customer of ours has done a brilliant job of this promotional video for the Silverstone Classic Event 25th, 26th & 27th July 2014. Click on the link here to watch it, sound up and full screen.

You just have to see this!

http://youtu.be/5xeTrqOALGc

New Stock:

We have now got – sorry did have some new wheel nuts in. The first batch has sold in out in days, we are waiting for some more  to arrive. They look brilliant, and the design is a slightly smaller socket which means if you have wheels like these then you don’t have to keep taking the centre caps off to change the wheels. Contact our webshop on www.mustangmaniac.co.uk

Our first freebie download:

For all our readers a big thank you and to say thanks we have uploaded a high quality wallpaper “Twins” from the above photo set. Please feel to download it and use as your new wallpaper. If you like the idea let us know and we will upload some wallpapers, give us some ideas and we will see what we can do for you.

Click the link here or go to “Downloads” menu.

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The Custom Look

The major advantage of these Classic Mustang cars is the way they can be customised to your own personal taste. We have had a few superb examples in this week of such customisation. To start with we have had a Fastback in with a custom made red leather interior with embroidered pony on the seat backs. The carpets are nicely edged, the door cards to match, dash, headliner bar at the back and the speaker kick plate all custom finished. This is one quality and very well done interior.

The quickest way to change how a car looks (without paint) is the wheels. Here we have one of our old cars with an old set of Wolfrace rims. We swapped them out with the stock set of steels, white walls and the correct wheel trims. We will let you decide as each to their own taste of course, with these things, there is no right or wrong. Only the purists would have screamed sacrilege I expect!

The street race look with Wolfrace

The stock cruiser look, same car with a very different personality.

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We have had another car in for a our bespoke LEDs ’64-’66 bespoke rear lights kit upgrade. As soon as these come in they go on the cars, we even have a waiting list for these kits now as they are so popular. You can see these in action on out YouTube Channel by clicking here.

Of course we have a lot of cars in new and old. This car is similar to ours but his has red racing strips on her. The difference is striking, would you want to take this on at a set of lights?

Try making these sort of changes to a modern car would be a real pain to say the least. But who is to say these changes from the stock look are right or  wrong?  We just love them all.

Don’t forget to visit our E-Shop http://www.mustangmaniac.co.uk

 

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Keeping On Track

There are Mustangs that look the same but drive very differently and a lot of it is down to the tracking or geometry of the suspension alignment. Some cars look great but don’t drive like they should which ruins the experience, then others look as though they will be a nightmare but are wonderful to drive. When we build a car from the ground up, replace suspension or fix a crash repair. The time spent in our geometry workshop is critical to make sure the driving experience will be the best possible, and predictable. This week we had to sort out a car that didn’t handle too well,  we sorted it out but it took a little time as we had to keep adding and removing the shims to align it all up as is the case on the earlier models. We took some pictures of our equipment in place to check the Camber, Caster & Toe. Once finished it was like driving a different car.

Cars:

We just had an unusual Mustang in for a little work doing it. This is a stage 2 Roush, you don’t get to see many of these little ladies around. Nice example and certainly looks like it means business.

The Alpha Red Mustang has had bit of work done on her, the disc brake conversion has also been fitted and we were pleased with the way this fitted into place. You can expect a little problem somewhere, but this was straightforward text book fit.

With the brake in place the time for her dummy engine fitting in case we need to adjust anything, before the final bolt downs. This engine is another custom build with out standard aluminium sprayed headers and a chrome intake for a little something different.

Check out our Webshop for prices of the disc brake upgrades and the parts we have used so far.

http://www.mustangmaniac.co.uk

 

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