Miller

Ive just converted my saloon to round lights yesterday, nice and easy swap in theory but as has been said youl need the backing bowls as well (as they have a hook which a spring connects to from the light to hold it in and allow for adjustment). But as always with old cars its never that easy and I spent a good 4 hours dealing with stuck self tapping screws, cleaning headlight bowls and removing dead bits of front panel before I could do the swap. Only other problem I encountered was that the sealed beam round lights use different side lights than the square ones which is something to bear in mind. As said round grills are silly money and stock round lights offer no advantage over squares although there is better choice options available that will fit in a round light grill (for example VW golf and landrover headlights). On a road car its really down to personal taste.

Ive just started a new job and Il be working that day I think but Il try my best to get it off, would hate to miss this.

It was very good, a few OSFs and lots of american cars (they meet up there every first saturday) and everyone was very friendly and a good laugh. Was nice meeting some of you. This would be a great little local meet if we got it going regularly, hopefully next time the turnout will be larger and we can hog even more of the carpark from the ricers.

yeah they are everywhere around here, possibly to do with the ageing population type that live round here. Having said that I know of one guy who as over 20 Fiestas - most of them Mk1's and Mk2s.

Hell, Il make sure Im there for an hour or so the pub will have to wait.

oooh, I could do that , just got the estate back on the road

Wicked , was this one on ebay a few months back>

Very cool! The vinyl roof sets it off.

Well the 30 day temporary insurance ran out last week and as always I left it to the last minute to organize proper cover, which requiers me to give a membership number of an owners club to qualify for classic cover. So while I wait for all that to go through I took the estate off the road for a cheap tidy up. Given that the only rust on the vehicle was cosmetic I decided I could get away with a skim of filler on the bubbly bits and a fresh lick of paint to get it smart. Im halfway through the process now and I finished the left side (including that wheel arch above) and now onto the right side and front panel. I had to get spray cans of terracotta mixed up at the local halfords and despite paying £22 for two small cans I am most impressed with the results, the colour match is perfect and the cans go quite a long way (maybe down to the fact that it only needs a light coat over red oxide primer to get the right match). Its a lot easier to get smart results than the midnight blue on my other escort which im still not happy with. Ive attacked the arches and underside with a liberal coating hammerite car body underseal, which is still dripping off the car and onto the drive . Ive also attacked the nasty looking right rear wheel arch with a hammer to stop it scrubbing on the superlights. Its rough anyway so I thought what the heck, and if I screw up Il pay for a proper new arch and get it rolled properly. A skim of filler should see it right for the time being. Other than sorting out the bodywork ive been tackling cooling system by fixing the leak from the water pump that returened and flushing it through. The amount of crap that came out explained the overheating problems I had had last month with it so thats looking hopeful to have cured it. Heres a couple of pics, I did'nt think to take any of the left side but I promise Il do some soon.

Lots of manufacteurers were doing the same in the early 80s. VW did it with the formal e polos which had much higher 4th gears (again labelled as E). They were great if you wanted a couple more MPG but not so great if you wanted to make it up a moderate motorway incline without falling to 40mph. I think Austin Rover did similar with Metro and Maestro models. The arrival of diesel power made them redundant thank god. Ford have knocked out loads of odd models for every nieche that they thought they could capitalise on, particularly aimed at comerical operators. I think they did a model of MK2 Granada just for taxi fleets that you could only get through the trade department, and tons of variations of transits for particular jobs with unique specs. Europeans got loads of model variations that we would call weird too, like the 2 door 1.6 Mk2 Granada and they got post facelift 3 door sierras as well. 1.3 Litre Capris were an interesting spec combination too. Im sure theres loads more but those are the ones that spring to my mind as odd or different.

Very good, I was perving over that on ebay a month or so ago and had to control myself not to have a bid myself. I reckon if it had been more local or the Capri had already sold when I saw it I would have it in a heartbeat. Very pleased to see its joined the familly so to speak. Looks tidier than I thought it would, your dad got a bargain.

Agree with Vista, if you can try the engine out in the kit car to test it and all is good then maybe, but I'd be very wary of paying big money for anything I hadn't tested or known the history of. Would be lots of fun if its as it says though

Ah, not much, only in a move to combat climate change the government have ordered compulsery destruction notices on all old skool fords and they are all to be crushed We will all be forced to drive around in toyota prius's and alcohol has been banned (because some drinks have carbonated water in them which is melting the ice caps). only kidding, how was your holiday?

Lookin good! Will so be worth it when its done!

Dont blame you, I ended up taking my Mk2 Escort to Leeds Festival (the only working car out group had) last year on a 650 mile round trip. I spent most of the weekend worrying about it after seeing several cars which had been written off in the car park, probably by pissed people trying to drive home. By Sunday night the carpark was a total mess, broken bottles everwhere and trying to get out in the pouring rain (and a typically steemed up escort) in an unlit field with no sign posts is not a task I intend doing again. Car survived unscaved unlike many others though. Was very relieved!

I love corsairs! one of my favorite 60s Fords! They must be well rare now though, I havent seen one in ages

lol, that would be ideal. Its amazing how treasure gets turned to trash and then turned to treasure again. With hindsight and a couple of Tardis Transit Vans you'd be sorted for life. If only ford had had put timetravel on the options list.....

Yeah, your all fired!

Its to warn my cars to behave......heh Dont worry it was from a (brilliant) program called secret life of machines which was made in the late 1980s so its kosher. You can download the whole series from http://sciencezero.4hv.org/tslom.htm if anyones interested (well worth doing). Same episode (The Car) also features a Mk4 Cortina going through a car crusher. I think Ive got a gif of that kicking about too . Hope its not too traumatic

How Apropriate

That is very nice!!

Well done mate, this driving test lark isn't getting any easier is it? My gf has just booked her practicle test so hopefully she can taxi me around to pubs and stuff instead of me having to stay sober . You got same as me too - 4 minors and First time.

Ive brought all my OSFs from or at least through adverts on Ebay and lots of parts. In a way its great to have so many different parts/ cars and things in one place but without a doubt prices have risen because people oftern get carried away bidding on something without the actual act of handing over real hard cash which oftern serves as a reality check until its all over. Looking at adverts on CF, RF and Ebay it seems cars are going for less in the magazines in many cases and thats without "the haggle" discount you get in private ads. The folks on Retro-Rides.com were musing this one over a while back and counted it as a mixed blessing. I've grown up with ebay so I dont know what the situation was before but I am sure that its much much harder to get those bargains that you used to find at autojumbles and freeads when people can just as easily whack them up on the bay and watch the £s come in with a little effort. For selling though its ideal with minimal effort, and im lazy so thats good for me.

I dont think the chap was on Oldskoolford, I totally forgot to ask or mention it to him as it would have been nice to know how it develops from there. I didn't think that was an aftermarket spoiler but then I dont really know much about Capris. I know the wheels weren't original as LS models got steels didn't they? The spare was still a steel anyway. Its a shame I had to sell it as it is by far the best condition car I have ever owned or probably will own again lol. But the neighbors were whinging about the number of "old bangers" and I thought I better not annoy them too much or else they might call the scrap man and have them taken away . I do miss it though it was a lovely car

I never really understood etched windows, wouldn't the reg number be easy enough to polish out with the right tools?