1960 MKII Ford Zephyr
by Jane in Scotland
As a young
teenager, I’d had a notion for a classic car after spotting a rather nice Ford
Consul - and seeing the film "Christine" I then knew that one day I
must have one!
Years down the
line, the time and the money were right to start looking. We dug up my lovely
perennial flowerbeds, dug a huge hole in the garden and built an enormous
garage to house our purchase. It was decided I would get to pick the car as I’d
never owned a car before having always been fortunate enough to borrow my Dads.
It’s not easy
when you’ve never really done anything like this before and the hardest thing
was being taken seriously by your friends and family. But harder still was
being taken seriously by "The Scene".
I joined many
forums in search of help – I was generally ignored by most or given a brief
answer. I think there was perhaps a little snobbishness about the fact that I
was a complete beginner (and female!) and I dared to seek out a nice Zephyr to
call my own. I persevered and finally got into a good chatty site where many
folk offered support and advice. However, very soon that forum got a little
excitable with members turning against one another over advice given. I just
wanted to stay neutral and try take on board what everyone was saying. Handbags
at dawn it certainly was!
(A wee note
forum users – please acknowledge newbies – its very disheartening when you are
ignored)
However, one person
seemed like a good guy (thanks Jonny B) and soon we were emailing each other.
Then came the day when the email entitled "May be the answer" arrived
in my inbox.
A car that I
had previously spotted in a club photo was possibly coming on the market and
more importantly, was within our budget. I mustered all my courage and called
the owner. He too was a little perturbed at the prospect of selling to a
complete novice especially since I had never even driven column change.
I found out as
much as I could and set about doing an HPI check – it all looked good. I came
across more photos of the car online and stared at it in awe. Could this car
soon be mine? I had to organise day cover insurance for the test drive, which
was a total headache. Many of these companies will not insure you if the car is
pre-1997. Eventually I had to do something radical and take out a full year’s
insurance and if I didn’t buy the car, I would cancel and incur a charge of
£15. (Footman James – best and most helpful).
We drove down to
England on a sunny Sunday to meet the owner and car. Having a quick glance at
the car before we chapped the door, my stomach lurched with excitement and
trepidation! Fantastic green velour seats, green carpets in great nick, recent
respray, portholes, cherry bomb exhaust, chrome smoothies gleaming and plenty
evidence of her Rock ‘n’Roll past with a member of a band.
The car had
been overhauled within recent years and seemed sound. Over the next four and
half hours, we checked over the car using all the tips we’d been given online -
on weak points, potential problem areas and using a magnet to check for filler.
All seemed good. Test drive was a bit of a laugh and I did a hell of a lot
better than I thought I would despite stalling several time. The steering was
much heavier than I expected but I would soon adjust to that. A lot of the
online community had been concerned that the car would be too big for me – I
think they were referring to the steering!
Finally, it
came to negotiating the price, which was a cringe worthy process. Eventually we
shook on it and agreed that he would deliver the car to us the following
weekend, as he was anxious about letting us take it home after only a test
drive.
We left a
decent deposit in the hope he would not back out. As we drove home, a little
wave of anxiety washed over me. It felt wrong leaving without her.
A week later –
a very LOOOONG week later – our new car was delivered to our door in
Lochwinnoch, a little grubby and very cold after being towed overnight from England,
through the freezing Southern Uplands. We gave her a helping hand to start and
she roared into life much to the delight of the curtain twitching neighbours.
She sat there looking fantastic rocking slightly, itching to go! I must say, I
felt very sorry for her past owner as he drove away without her – but we
promised to love and improve her and that he would see us again soon. Also I’m
sure the money will come in handy to continue the upkeep of his fantastic
Hudson Hornet. What a beauty!
We cleaned her
up and went for a cruise down the coast on a beautiful, sunny day. What more
can I say – Nora will be welcome here for quite some time and hopefully when I
sleep tonight, my face will finally relax from this maniacal grin – or perhaps
not.
I’d like to thank
everyone who gave me advice and, more importantly, the encouragement to chase
my dream of owning a Classic Ford! I hope to meet some of you in the New Year
with my gorgeous wee car. Just promise me you will be kind to her! She may well
be a "Christine".
