Review of a new product

Our revised website is coming along and our products are being added on a daily basis, I’m sure you can appreciate that with such a huge amount of stock it’s a slow and sometimes painful process, but we are getting there.

Over the years we have had a number of cars in to us where we have changed the wiper motors over. For a single speed this is not a real problem as they can be sourced from the right people still. Two speeds are becoming a bit of a pain to obtain a genuine Ford part replacement. Obtaining NOS parts is becoming more and more difficult if not near impossible now, reconditioned ones are the way to go but even they are now becoming scarce. If you wish to upgrade to a two-speed wiper or replace your current motor there are limited options as I have just mentioned. We sourced a part for a good customer of ours who has his own blog too and has done a review of a new product to us from New Port Engineering. The company have produced their own two-speed wiper motor for the 64 1/2 – 1968 Mustangs so we obtained one as Mart wasn’t to worried about it being the correct part as it’s out of sight, although it would have been nice of course. The review is very informative and worth a read to see if it’s for you.

Click here for the quick link, or pop over to his blog http://onemanandhismustang.com/

New Port Engineering on the right next to a Ford Part

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New ’67 Fastback Body Shell

At long last…

We have been waiting a while for these now and now we have one. the ’67 Fastback Body Shell. These particular shells have some nice features, like strengthening across the drive train tunnel for extra stability as does the shock area. The best part is that it’s all rust free. We have just made a very special order another for a customer, his version of the body shell will be unique – it’s in right hand drive! Yep, the customer wanted a right hand drive Mustang ’67 Fastback. So we had a word with the manufacturers and they are going to be making a special shell just for us with the right hand drive fittings. Obviously we will be building this as a very bespoke right hand drive car. Being a right hand drive there could be an issue for some of the parts, so we will have to just fabricate them for the car itself and for his specification for the car.

We have posted a video on YouTube for the body shell to have a full look round it. click on the YouTube logo for the quick link.

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Click for the link

Congratulations to Debbie from http://hoodscoop03.com/ who was first to correctly guess the Shelby 2006 350GT H. Thanks to those who emailed me, I appreciate it. Some were very close indeed.

This car is number 340 of 500 that had been made by Shelby for Hertz Car Rentals. This particular car was available for rental in Las Vegas and bought over to the UK once the terms had finished for the rentals. Did you know they would only let you hire it after being interviewed. Also there is a steel cable sealed in lead from the engine to the chassis, if this was broken or damaged during your rental then you had a very big bill coming your way. This was to make sure that the engines were not swapped out like the originals were in 1966!

Before you say it – yes it does need a clean, any volunteers?

350GT H

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Lurking in the corner

Slightly over stocked (again)

This week we have had deliveries nearly everyday, the place looks like everything has been put into a spin dryer without the lid, switched on and watched the contents get thrown all over the place. I have been in all weekend trying to make space to walk around let alone put all the stuff away! But, I think we are getting there and the storage is starting to look normal if not a little over filled. Even our office has been designated a temporary storage area for a couple of days. Give it a few weeks and we will be back to normal, we have had a few special orders for customers come in and they should be fitted and gone from stock very soon.

Just for fun:

While I was taking some of customer part(s) to the workshop I had an idea; I walked past one of my cars that I have stored in the corner of one of the workshops. To say it’s a bit dusty is a major understatement but the idea is little bit of a teaser. I have had a comment about cars in the background of a picture on the blog, one of which was a little difficult to make out.

So, I have posted a tightly cropped a picture of the car in question and I am wondering if anybody out there knows what it is, the year, and what was so special about the car(s). If you get it right you can have full bragging rights. 🙂 I will confirm in a week or two if anybody has it completely right or not! Depending how I feel I may even give you a mention!

(Note to self: take it out for a blast down the road & clean!)

guess

News:

Other exciting news is we have had a delivery of our special radiator hoses delivered with the correct Shelby numbering on them. We have been waiting for these for a while now and have pretty much sold the ones we have on a pre order basis. I will post a pic or two once I have unpacked them properly.

Also back in stock is the superb Gibbs Brand. Our first small trial batch sold out pretty quickly and now we have a proper amount back in stock again. We now use this by default in our workshops and totally recommend this product. £14.95 buys you a fairly big tin, it goes a long way, but what it does is amaze you. We are sure once you use this stuff you won’t use anything else.

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Road Damage

RTA – Road Traffic Accidents

We have been asked a few times if we fix damaged cars that have been in an RTA as the police call it. The answer is yes we most certainly do. Most of the cars are not to bad, a paint job, a fender or a bumper, reversed into a post, or wall, shopping trolley etc. Every so often we get a fairly bad-looking accident. We have dug out a set of photos from a little while ago and some fairly recently. By coincidence they were fairly similar accidents, but one was worse than the other. As these classic cars are tough ol’ things they can be fixed, most modern Euro cars would have been written off with much less damage, but not these beauties. As a result we have decided that a new menu should be added to the home page, it’s called “Damage Repairs”. The contents of this menu will be RTA’s or other damage we think would be worth showing. Most drivers of these cars are quite careful, so we don’t get to many accidents thankfully. Better photos of the damage before and after the repairs will be higher up on our list, then you can compare the results for yourself. Thinking about it, if we had of known we were going to do this blog a while ago we would have taken many more photos of the cars we have fixed in the past. Alas, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

If you bend it, we can fix it!

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Our new Shelby

We got a new Shelby and it’s not a Ford!

A couple of weeks ago we said watch this space….. Well the wait is over, here it is!

First of all we love our Mustangs and always will do and no we have not gone over to the other “Mopar” side. This is our 1987 Dodge Charger Shelby GLHS. This rarity came up for sale and we decided to get it for a number of reasons. Firstly it has a FULL and I mean full history, in fact the folder is overflowing with the original registration documents, owners manual, receipts, MOTs, and parts purchased from new from that we can see. The second reason speaks for itself, it’s a Shelby after all. This model was only produced in a very limited number of 1000, ours is number 693.  The previous owner has spend some serious time looking up details of this and the other Dodge Shelby numbers, there are quite a few with details and a few missing obviously. It would be nice to complete this but we simply don’t have the man hours to dedicate to it.  This car has a great published provenance and has appeared in a number of magazines articles, we have converted them to PDF articles and added quick links below. You can find the articles attached to the photos under Our Cars – Dodge Charger Shelby. We have added video on you tube to have a look around this car and listen to the engine as it is at the moment.

What does the GLH or GLHS stand for?

(this is true) – GLH stood for “Goes Like Hell” and GLHS stood for Goes Like Hell S’more

Would it surprise you to say that that the great man himself had car number 1?

Our photos before the work starts:

A little background on the Dodge Charger Shelbys:

Based on the Dodge Charger Shelby — Modified and sold as Shelbys 

Limited to 1000

Base price:  $12,995

For 1987, Carroll Shelby purchased the last 1,000 ’87 Shelby Chargers and had them shipped to the Whittier factory for modification.  As with the ’86 GLH-S all the cars came in single stage black without a clear coat.

The ’87 GLHS received the Turbo II with MP EFI air-to-air intercooled SOHC inline-four, cast-iron block and aluminum head. This was mated with the Chrysler close-ratio A-525 transmission.  This combination produced 175 hp at 5300 rpm and 175 lb-ft of torque at 2200-4800 rpm.  Compression ratio was 8.5:1 with bore x stroke of 3.44 x 3.62 inches.  It ran 0-60 in 6.95 seconds, the ¼ mile ET at 14.7 at 94mph, and a top speed of 134 MPH.

As with the ’86 GLH-S, the suspension was upgraded with Koni adjustable struts/shocks, anti-roll bars, and the alignment was altered slightly. The tires remained 205/50VR-15 Goodyear Eagle VR Gatorbacks, mounted on 15×6 inch Shelby “Centurion II” aluminum wheels.  The power-assist Kelsey-Hayes brakes featured 10.2 x .94-inch vented discs with 54mm single pistons in front and 8.0 x 1.28-inch drums in the rear.

Aside from the aforementioned black exterior, Shelby added a wider windshield decal (minus the CS logos), there were some unique name-badge decals, and larger GLHS decal on the c-pillar.  All were equipped identically with grey interior, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and gearshift knob, air conditioning, cassette stereo, sunroof, non-armrest center console and numbered dash plaque.  The 1987 Shelby Charger rear window louvers were no longer available on the 1987 GLH-S.

Quick Links to the individual PDF’s

Dodge Charger Shelbys History by Year

Dodge Shelby Charger

Dodge Shelby – Readers Rides

Dodge Shelby – Motor Trend

Dodge Shelby – Latest Weapon

Dodge Shelby – Hot Rod

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click for the video

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The ’67 “Mastic” Mustang Convertible

Watch this space for our new addition to our garage!

We have a pretty rare car that we will be posting details about soon, we have documentation, sales invoices and a history that will be sorted out and scanned for the PC so that we can put all the documents and pictures with it. There has been articles about it in the magazines, and we are excited to have something a little different. All I can say is that it’s quite rare, numbered and we are going to get her back to full glory, but it is still drivable at the moment. We even have a little video that we will post on our YouTube channel too.

A good-looking ’67 Convertible in a very BAD way

We have been pretty busy with a lot of cars all of a sudden that need various work from crash damage to MOT’s, we just don’t have enough hours in the day to complete it all.  But somehow we always manage to cope. We have recently been asked to look over a car that has recently been shipped over from the States to a customer of ours. The car was purchased in good faith and the initial pictures were promising as you would expect. We had a thorough look over the ’67 it and found some shocking points that just have to be seen to be believed. When buying any Mustang Convertible there are things to look out for, and this example is everything that you need to avoid. Just because it looks pretty it doesn’t mean that its a good car, the floor pans were welded into the rotten rusted metal, the joins were filled with silicon sealant or “Mastic” as it’s called in the UK. The sills have rotted through and I can put my hand inside a number of holes in those sills. The quarter panels have been filled and the chassis is hollow in some places. It looks like the whole body will have to come of and repair the chassis if we can. As a result what we have seen we have called this car the Mastic Mustang.

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Gibbs Brand Product

New product in stock – Gibbs Brand Lubricant

Here at Mustang Maniac we are offered many products to promote or sell, in fact to many to mention, as a result we try quite a few and recommend very few. Just over a week ago we said watch this space. Well, we are very pleased to announce that space has been filled with Gibbs Brand Lubricant. After we have tried it and tested it we can safely say that we all here agree it does exactly as it says on the tin. As a result we are now stocking this amazing product and we thoroughly recommend it for your car, house, boat or just about anything. In case you have not heard of the Gibbs Brand here are some details of the history and some of it’s uses, and it’s not just about cars. The uses are honestly endless read on and see for yourself: Gibbsbrand

What is Gibbs Brand Lubricant?

Gibbs Brand is a revolutionary, patented product with many unique features. It works in all temperatures to clean and eliminate corrosion, to penetrate, waterproof, and to lubricate all metals and mechanical hardware. It’s even safe to use on many other materials including plastics and rubber. It leaves no sticky dirt attracting residue and can even be painted-over! Contains no:- Silicones, Waxes, Acids, Corrosives, Teflon, Graphite, Abrasives, Arsenic, Kerosene, Perfumes, Carcinogens or Synthetics.

History of Gibbs Brand Lubricant

Paul Gibbs, when working as a chemical prototype engineer in the early 1970’s used his vast knowledge in the industry to develop a revolutionary multi-purpose lubricant and metal conditioner for commercial use in the marine, aerospace and motor industries. Because the product he perfected contained none of the chemicals that the competitive market utilized, Paul was able to get the product patented. After intense testing, Gibbs Brand Lubricant became the first patented product of its kind in the world. Over it’s lifetime Gibbs has been used by NASA, Rockwell, UPS, Ford Motor Co., Bell South, Burlington Industries, and many other companies around the world. Gibbs was put to use by Jacques Cousteau on his world famous underwater expeditions. In the 1990’s the weapons industry became Gibbs Brand’s largest market and still is today. Now being used by the military, police departments as well as weapons enthusiasts. Gibbs Brand has become the ultimate cleaning agent for guns. Because of its thin viscosity and rust-inhibiting capability, Gibbs eliminates jamming and keeps moving parts friction free.

Motor Vehicles – Maintenance & Restoration

Can be used as an engine ‘easy-start’ spray – even on two-strokes.

  • Will water-proof ignition leads and electrical systems
  • It will clean corroded electrical contacts & relays
  • Cleans and protects alloy wheels, leaving no sticky residue. See below for more info
  • Will not only clean metals such as aluminium and stainless steel, it will also help prevent further marking when handled.
  • Lubricates telescopic aerials without attracting more dirt.
  • Restores plastic trim.
  • Rejuvenates weathered and faded fibre-glass
  • Spraying the underside of a car will protect it, particularly from road salt in winter.
  • Frees-off sticky Ignition and door locks
  • Eliminates squeaky hinges
  • Lubricates throttle cables and linkages
  • Engine cleaning and detailing
  • Tar and glue removal
  • Protects Magnesium components such as wheels and gearboxes from corrosion – Porsche owners are using Gibbs Brand to protect the many precious Magnesium components on their cars.

Wheels

All types of road wheel can benefit from treatment with Gibbs Brand. BARE ALLOY  Wheels including Magnesium (which is very prone to corrosion) can be protected by regular treatment with Gibbs Brand. Leaving them with a long-lasting natural sheen.

POWDERCOATED / LAQUERED ALLOY wheels can suffer badly when the coating is chipped or scratched. Treatment with Gibbs will prevent water from penetrating under the coating and prevent unsightly blistering. CHROME / PLATED wheels suffer badly in our climate. Gibbs will provide an invisible layer of protection even in the harshest conditions. Because of its non-sticky nature, wheels treated with  Gibbs Brand will stay cleaner for longer. Brake dust and road dirt will be easier to remove. It also leaves a natural, invisible sheen. It won’t quickly wash off and its effects are long-lasting. Use it on tyre walls as well, for a natural finish.

Gibbs Brand Sponsored Shelby Mustang Photo-shoot 

magazine shoot 011 zzz The Gibbs Brand sponsored Shelby Mustang was out today dodging showers in Dunmow Essex for a photo-shoot arranged by Classic American car magazine for an up-coming feature all about the historic FIA race car.

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STUF 186 STUF 175

magazine shoot 005 STUF 188

Industrial & Commercial Applications

Stainless Steel With more and more use of stainless steel for wall cladding and hand rails etc in the work place and recreational areas such as shopping centres, finger-marking and smearing is becoming a great problem. There is a solution – Gibbs Brand will not only clean surfaces but make them much more resistant to further marking.

Gibbs Brand Is truly multi-purpose due to the unique way Gibbs Brand works, means that it has a huge amount of applications in industry, many of which compliment each other: Lubricant / Corrosion Inhibitor Gibbs Brand’s ability to lubricate without leaving a sticky, dirt attracting residue is particularly useful in polluted and dusty environments. Machinery that is prone to clogging and jamming will run for longer when lubricated with Gibbs. Bare metal cutting tools will stay cleaner and remain corrosion-free. Corrosion Inhibitor / Surface Cleaner When treated, bare-metal stock such as sheet steel and castings can be preserved from corrosion and handled without leaving corrosive finger-marks. Finished metal articles of all sizes can be cleaned, leaving a natural finish that is resistant to staining when handled. Gibbs will not interfere with any subsequent painting processes. Gibbs Brand’s cleaning abilities means that is extremely useful as a ‘prep-fluid’ for soldering and welding Penetrant / Lubricant Gibbs Brand is an extremely fast-acting penetrant;- speeding-up the stripping and overhauling of machinery and equipment, particularly when dealing with heavily corroded or seized components. Water-Proofer / Water Dispersant / Cleaner Not only is Gibbs Brand a water-proofer it is also a water-dispersant and contact cleaner, meaning that only one product is needed to deal with items such as external junction boxes used in the electrical and telecommunications industry. Gibbs Brand works in all temperatures, will not gel or leave a sticky dirt attracting residue, plus you can even paint over it!

Hand Tools and Power Tools

Note: Never use while electrical appliances are plugged in or live when spraying Use GIBBS BRAND to drive out moisture from wet power tools. Lubricates bearings and cleans electric motor brushes. It will not leave a sticky, dirt-attracting residue, or jell in cold weather. All types of hand tools will benefit from GIBBS BRAND’S ability to clean and lubricate without leaving a sticky, dirt-attracting residue. A wipe over with Gibbs will loosen any surface rust and will leave a thin film that will prevent rust in the future.

Around the House

Use Gibbs Brand to:-

  • Clean UPVC window frames and doors to maintain their colour and make them resistant to weathering. It will also lubricate and protect their locks and hinges – particularly useful in the salt-laden air of coastal areas.
  • Free-off and give clean, long-lasting lubrication to door locks, pad-locks and hinges.
  • Un-sieze even the most stubborn nuts and bolts and fasteners of all types.
  • Make curtains run smoothly by cleaning and lubricating rails and poles
  • Buff and rejuvenate tired and stained fibre-glass baths.
  • Clean chrome and stainless taps and fittings.
  • Remove finger-marks from stainless steel and aluminium appliances and splash-backs in the kitchen and around the house. It will leave a natural sheen that will be resistant to further marking.
  • Clean, buff  and protect tiled and ceramic floors.
  • Remove tar and glue residue.

In the Garden & Garage

         Use Gibbs Brand to:-

  • Free seized padlocks and keep them lubricated and opening smoothly
  • Make garage door mechanisms run more free.
  • Protect and lubricate all hand and power tools, particularly bare metal items such as drill-bits and saw blades.
  • Start stubborn petrol lawn-mowers / strimmers etc by using Gibbs as an ‘easy-start’ fluid – even safe on 2-strokes.
  • Clean and protect barbeques etc particularly during over-winter storeage.
  • Protect and water-proof outside light switches junction boxes and wiring.
  • Eliminate squeaky hinges and sticky locks of all types

Power Boats, Sailing Boats and Fishing Boats

Gibbs Brand will not wash off in fresh or salt water making it the ideal lubricant for boats, trailers and dockside equipment. Cleans and revitalizes the surfaces of fibreglass and marine metals, including aluminium, stainless, chrome, bronze, brass, and copper. Water-proofs electrics on inboard and winterizes outboard motors. Can be used as an ‘easy-start’ spray, even on 2 strokes. Provides a good running lubricant on winder ratchets, anchor chain reels, steering cables and all hinges etc.

Contact us for more details on costs and shipping, this amazing product is not as dear as you think.

Sourced from : http://www.gibbsbrand.info/ & http://www.gibbsbrand.info/blog/
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A ride in the Indy 500 Pace Car

American Speedfest from a different perspective – Brands Hatch 2013

As promised I have uploaded the video clip on our YouTube Channel that was taken inside our Indy 500 Pace Car. The video is only a short clip but it gives you a very different view being part of that parade lap heading down to Graham Hill Bend. I’m happy to be able to share it with you and hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Click on the channel link for all our videos so far or click here for the quick link.

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Speedfest Update

Brands Hatch Speedfest 8 – 9 June 2013

What can I say apart from it was cold! To make up for it, the atmosphere was incredible and friendly, that certainly took the edge off the chilly weather all weekend. There was the three Mustang clubs there; Mustang Owners Club of GB, Mustang Drivers Club UK & Damn Yankees. There was around 200 Mustangs that I could see and had a rough guestimate at. It made me think just how many of these cars are in this country in one place. Just how many more Mustangs are out there that didn’t turn up? I would love to see the statistics on those facts. If anybody knows the answer please let us know. The Mustang clubs were spaced out a little, but it was well worth the effort to get around and speak to a few old friends and make a couple of new ones.

I took the 1964 Indy Pace Car with me nothing else would seem to fit the bill. I have taken it out twice in one year so far, unheard off!

I would like to thank James Caesley and ALL his crew at Brands Hatch for organising such a great event that looked and proved to be very popular and already talk of a repeat next year. No excuse not to turn up next time, book the weekend free ready. I was there on my own so didn’t get much chance to take too many photos but I managed to take a few going around in the Pace Car. I had a number of people asking me if it was a genuine vehicle, which of course it is. I will also upload a very short video to our YouTube channel when I get a bit of time of going round the legendary circuit. I will let you know once it has been uploaded.

I was excited and very aware of the class of cars on display, it was on everybody’s mind to give plenty of room and be respectful. It was a real thrill to be able to drive the Pace Car on a race track, it felt alive and so did I, to be part of such an amazing event with other classic cars was a big thrill. There were police cars going round the track with their sirens on the engines were roaring and I was among them. Awesome.

There was so many thing there to do at the event, there was go karting for the kids, there was some “Hollywood Cars”, which included the usual suspects such as the Ford Torino like in the Starsky & Hutch series, Dodge Chargers from Bullet, The General Lee mock ups. In fact too many great looking cars to list in one go. If anybody has a photo I could use, let me know and I could it on the blog for you.

The NASCAR racing was close and spectacular to watch and as promised, a thrill a minute. We need more of this type of racing in the UK.

On another note we are looking to be involved with another exciting product soon, this will be after we fully test and trial it first to make sure it lives up to our high standards.

Watch this space!

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SpeedFest weekend

8th & 9th of June 2013 at Brands Hatch is the American SpeedFest

Details from the Brands Hatch Website: http://www.brandshatch.co.uk/calendar/2013/june/american-speedfest.aspx

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Brands Hatch will adopt the Stars and Stripes next weekend on Sunday 9 June for a NASCAR-fuelled festival of motorsport – the inaugural American SpeedFest – in partnership with Chevrolet.
The venue will be transformed into a scene from Daytona with American-derived motorsport and an array of US themed entertainment.
On track action will be headlined by the Euro Racecar NASCAR Touring Series. Led into each race by the Chevrolet Camaro Pace Car, these V8 monsters will provide thrill a minute bumper-to-bumper racing akin to the spectacle of the world-famous Sprint Cup.   Continuing the supercharged American theme on track will be Pickup Trucks, the Legends Cars Cup from France and the iconic Mustangs, Falcons and Corvettes from Bernie’s Historic V8 Racing Association.

Race fans will witness America’s most famous motorsport first hand with demonstration runs by actual cars from NASCAR’s Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series. A 2009 Jeff Gordon-liveried Sprint Cup car and an ex-Kasey Kahne Nationwide machine will provide a tyre smoking, engine roaring spectacle.  Fans will get closer to the action than ever before with free pit walks, grid walks and access to ‘Victory Lane’. Monster Trucks meanwhile will demonstrate their awesome power and even offer passenger rides for SpeedFest fans.

There will also be more than 600 American vehicles on show, a Chevrolet display, barbecue competition, Hotdog eating contest, live music and much more! The world-famous Red Devils parachute display team will also drop.

For more information visit the dedicated website www.speedfest.co.uk.   

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The reason we mention this American Speedfest is that our 1964 Indy 500 Pace car will be there. I am not sure who will be there from us guys here at Mustang Maniac but the car will be there, failing any untoward circumstances that is. Book your tickets from Brands Hatch via the link above.

Also the Mustang Owners Club of GB will be there for their annual show. Check their website for full details

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