The Transplanter

Nice lineup of Eee's! I was going to make the effort and go this year, but the hotel prices are taking the piss tbh. I worked out for me and the missus, with an overnight stay, entry, fuel, food etc. It was going to be getting on for about £400 to look at some old cars! Maybe I should turn up in a dinghy and get full board at the Premier in!!!

I looked at this a bit lately and you can get those bluetooth modules, but many need hardwiring in. But if you can find a suitable old HU with an AUX you could wire in bluetooth through that input. I still have my pioneer KEX900 that I bought new in 1988 that I plan on doing the same to.

Sweet looking MK1, has that RS1600 look about it 😎 Not you normal first post neither! They normally start; I just bought this rotten POS where is the best place to buy panels 😄

I don't have a problem with re-shelling per se. But you might have a different view if that later shell once belonged to you and was stolen off of your driveway! And when Escorts were £50 it didn't matter so much, but a tidy up and running MK1/2 2dr is £20k now. How would you feel if you spent £40k on a MK2 Mex and it turned out not to have the provenance that the V5 suggested? Personally I would be utter fooked off, when you could buy the same car without Mexico on the V5 for £20k! Even since the 80s you had to be armed with the knowledge when buying a genuine RS or Mex as they are/were to many shysters ready to turn you over!

Yeah, I bet Bellend Brewer is a proper diva! Must be related to that James Cordon 😆

Its a good book, with good general knowledge, but it doesn't go into deep details that some of the enthusiasts will know! A bit like that Odd Autos YouTube channel restoring a 1968 MK1, when most MK1 guys can see it was a December 73 onward shell 😏 What car are you looking at and do you have any detailed pics of it?

I used to work for Fiat UK, way back when V55/1s were printed out the info was only as good as the person typing it! So you could end up with several variations on the description for the same car, which I would imagine was pretty much the same for all manufactures of the time. i.e. Uno Uno 3dr Uno Formula Uno Formula 3dr Uno 45 Formula Uno 45 Formula 3dr All above are the same car, so you get the drift. Which also makes a mockery of the "how many are left" website! As for the MK2 Mex. I would imagine a lot of the info will be the same as the RS2 and the chassis details the same as all MK2's if you know what they are You will have the basic stuff like: Speedo cable bracket Spare wheel bracket Top mounts & strengthening gussets Front crossmember strengthening & tca holes Tramp bars Rear box hanger Plus chassis bits that I wont mention on an open forum (year related for all MK2s)! The problem you do have is that restorations are so deep now, that if you know what you are doing in the detail you can make any shell look genuine from a V5 doc! Editing as I jog my memory lol

Santapods not bad from Wakefield, its only 3 minutes difference in travel time from where I am down south!

Problem with these old motors is that they didn't use relays so the full amperage went through all of the wires & switchgear which often got very hot when there was a bad connection or poor earth! When I get round to doing my MK1, I would seriously consider building myself a complete new loom with a proper fusebox from scratch. This is some of the joy that I found in my VW 😄 Superglue used as insulation! Plasters & needles used on what looked like an old alarm wiring. Many wires just bare & twisted together And a paper clip bridging part of the brake light circuit When you find stuff like this, dont you just want to meet the person who did it, just so you know what an idiot looks like lol

The programme has always been shit, and the figures have always been made up to draw the casuals in. Cant stand that bellend Brewer, how he is still on TV is beyond me.

Still? More like; Ever!

Best I can do at the old Ford wise at the moment! Cleaned ready for the Chelsea Cruise this weekend just gone.

No wonder so many caught fire 😲 I bought a old VW Caddy a couple of years ago, you didnt wire it up did you lol 😄

Or as we call it "The good ole days" 👍

I have no idea, I have not actually seen one of theirs done, but I think they remove the original vinyl and repair the foam if needed and then vacuum new over the top, so the vent holes in theory should remain the same!?

Cant classic trim vacuum form a new oem type vinyl over these now ?

EARs were good and cheap, I remember buying a complete RS2 twin box exhaust system with 4 branch manifold for about £80 😄 Mind you, that was 2 weeks wages when I was an apprentice! There was also Croydon Race & Rally. Used to drive to them all years ago before mail order, plus it was a Saturday morning out, followed up by a trip to a breakers yard 😋

Im advertising this for a friend (Same person Colin bought his MK1 Cortina GT from). The car has just arrived from California, so is rust free an LHD. Its been sitting for a number of years, so will be recommissioning/restoring. I have had a quite look around it and it look totally rust free apart from small bit on one rear wheel arch You can see his ad on car and classic https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1423335

I would imagine it would be the same as importing a car from anywhere now. I have imported a few from the US. You will pay 5% duty on anything over 40 years old, then your normal, import/shipping/clearance fees/VAT etc. If you know the person selling, just get them to reduce the value on the invoice to you so you don't pay as much duty.

Iron Bridge Garages, Southall (and then Neil Smith when it changed hands in 1984). How did you know I was from the racecourse???

Yes! Are you Deon? who had the lockup in South Harrow behind the shops, who was building a 3.0 MK1 back then?

A lot of shaggin' must go on in Feb. I have two mates with birthdays today as well 😅

I had been meaning to do this on my return, so thanks for the reminder. I know what it takes and costs to run a large forum, but the main thing as well as money is the commitment needed by the admin to keep on doing it over and over whilst others come and go at their leisure, it can be a thankless task much of the time.

Sorry, should have read; "descendant of the Twincam which "also" had the exhaust manifold on that side". I guess it was initially mounted that way to get as far away from the manifold heat as possible to stop the heat from destroying the rubber diaphragm.

I buy a few classics from the States on just a handful of pics and a brief description, but I have been lucky so far as I only deal with one guy that I have built up a rapport with. But if I were buying anything in the UK new or old I would 100% want to inspect it first. The only people that buy blind is what I call "Retail People", they are my favourite customer when I sell something 😂