Dean Parker - Mklll Zephyr
I guess it all started when I was 14 living in Nelson
Friends of ours had a mk3 My mates mum use to drop us of to Saturday sports and
I always remember cruising around the main streets hanging out the windows
yelling out to people.
One time while at a BBQ at Rabbit island the parents
all got too drunk and therefore had no sober driver, since I was the oldest
teenager there I was made to drive us home! With no license or driving
experience I got behind the wheel and had a quick lesson, then with plenty of
gas and slipping of the clutch, we were off .I crunched the gears once on the
way home but I was told I had driven the old girl well!
My first car was a mk3 at 16; Mum gave it to me for my
Birthday (Couldn't believe my eyes). I had only had it for a few months when I
woke up one morning to find it had been stolen from right outside my bedroom
window, never to be seen again (Scum bags).
Then at 18 after many cars (appox 10) I was offered a
mk4 Zodiac from a mate for $600. It was silver with black interior, the motor
went real well .So I put the 12 slots rims off my Toyota Crown onto it and
cruised. It was a great car I drove it daily for three years. I sold the mk4
when I decided to move to Auckland to be with my Mum .I got $1000 for it, not
bad back then.
Then after many more cars in June 2000 I decided I
wanted another mk3. I always had a thing for them, I loved the finned back
guards and the front grille, so different to any other car and they have a real
personality.
I picked up the Christchurch press newspaper one
Saturday morning and found a Zephyr to look at. I called the guy (a teacher)
and found out a bit about the car.
It was a 4-owner vehicle but had only been in two
families. The old guy was selling on behalf of his son who had moved to Aussie
and wasn't coming back. He told us there was minimal rust, it was a good runner
and it drove real nice. He wanted the Zephyr gone so he could put his new
Skyline into his garage (on the orders of his wife).
It sounded nice so I got my good mate Gavin to come
for a drive out to Kaiapoi .We pulled up at the street and there it was on the
guys drive. I said to Gavin “it looks like a good one”. We got out to the car
and had a look around it .It was very original apart from a repaint at some
stage. Tidy Interior, good headlining, solid body and good chrome. A good
start!
I opened the bonnet, typical rust pitted engine bay
but still tidy enough. The original motor had thrown a piston out the side so a
reconditioned mk2 motor with mk3 bits had been put in.
I fired it up and the motor ran quiet as, no knocks or
tappet noise, I looked at Gavin and just smiled. After a drive up the road I
was hooked. Following negotiations we got to a price of $1900, I was happy as
.We changed ownership and drove the Z home.
Any way I drove the old girl for the next 3 years
daily with no trouble at all. Then one day I decided to take the motor out to
paint the engine bay as it was quite rust pitted. I drove it into the garage
and started pulling it apart.
Well since
then it has grown into a bit more than just a repainted engine bay as you can
see from the pictures I got more and more into it.
Some of the things I have done to date include
repainting the engine bay in glacier white (Original NZ white), painting all
the front-end parts and installing nolathane bushes throughout. I then lowered
the front springs 2 inches as well.
Starting on the engine, I reconditioned the carbie,
put in a new clutch system, recon radiator, plus a new gasket kit for the
motor. I had the engine bearings, bore, pistons, head etc all checked out (they
were in good condition so were left alone). Finally I painted the motor Ford Red
but may change it to Ford Blue yet.
Any way this is my first real car I have started to
restore, I am pleased with progress so far and I will keep you all up to date
on future progress etc.
Dean.