Geoff Walker AM 265 My Mk 2
AM
265 came into my life in 1981 when I saw it in an indoor car yard in Wellington
and decided I needed a full size 21st present.
It was sitting in Ross Eggers’ showroom in Cambridge Terrace and was the
subject of much discussion in the Wellington Zephyr Club. I took one look and
decided I needed it. From memory it had $2900 on the price board and I paid
$2650 for it.
Ross
had bought it from a deceased estate in Christchurch as he did quite often in
those days. It was the best original late MK 2 I had ever seen up until then
and have never regretted the paying the amount I did for it. The car had been
bought brand new in Christchurch and was driven by the original owner until he
had a minor altercation with a Christchurch City bus and gave up driving soon
after. The elderly gentleman passed away not too long after and the family sold
the car. It came with the original handbook and sales folder from Hutchinson
Motors and an accessory grille blind for frosty nights. It had, and still has,
the original upholstery and carpets. It was born in 1962, the 134th that came
off the assembly line at Seaview near Lower Hutt that year. Like all of the NZ
built Mk 2’s it has drum brakes all round.
Not
long after I bought the car I had Joe Bell of Black Beauty fame respray the
green under the chrome mouldings to original specs. That paint is still on it
today. One of the first jobs I did on it was to dismantle and rebuild the valve
rocker gear, which made it a lot quieter to drive. I used to do that on all my
Zephyrs with great results. We also fitted new suspension bushes all round and
reconditioned the brakes – not for the last time!
In
1985 I moved to Palmerston North to take up a job as Parts Manager at Selwyn
Motors, the Ford dealers. After a few months I purchased a home of my own and
moved AM 265 to the Manawatu. At that time I also had a Mk 2 Farnham estate in
very nice order, which sadly has now been chopped up by someone who didn’t know
much about car restoration or maintenance. At the same time I had a two door Mk
2 Cortina GT that I traded with John Climo to obtain the remnants of the Bryan
Faloon racing Anglia, which is now with Murray Whitehead.
After
a few years I got heartily sick of listening to leaking hockey stick exhaust
manifolds so had a rush of blood to the head and took the car off the road for
about 6 months for a rehash. We resprayed the engine bay (not falling into the
gloss paint in a Mk 2 engine bay trap!) and fitted all new suspension bushes,
ball joints, tie rod ends etc plus rebuilt struts, brakes (again) and all
rubber detail parts. It took longer than 6 months as these things do! We got
held up due to some replacement parts being unavailable so as I own Resto
Spares we made them using the car as a guinea pig for test fitting. This may
solve the riddle for people of why there is such a range of Mk 2 engine bay
items on our stock list!!
A
very good friend of mine, Bryan Hartley, rebuilt a stock Raymond Mays head for
the engine and the two of us assembled the newly balanced short block after
boring it .015" oversize. I was fortunate enough to be able to choose
between 3 Mays heads at the time. The engine runs the stock original Mays
manifolds with twin SU carbs and into a stainless exhaust system custom made
for me at Southwards. We reconditioned the starter, generator and distributor
and the final prep and tune was done by Peter Lawn at Brayshaws. A Hewland
transaxle specialist rebuilt the gearbox for me, which needed just about
everything replaced in it. We also fitted Michelin zX 640-13 radials with
flapper whitewalls that now need replacing.
The
first outing for the refurbished car was the International Convention at
Rotorua and it was a bit of an act finding avgas for it to run on there and
back. I now run it on BP Ultimate 98 with excellent results. The engine is now
nicely run in and goes pretty well, better than the drum brakes stop it anyhow!
It will be getting more use soon.
In
deference to the previous elderly owners I always made sure that nothing sordid
ever happened in AM 265, which assisted in my quest to have a white wedding –
or so some other club members thought! Speaking of which, it was used as a
wedding car a number of times including for Ross Farland in Wellington.
Speaking of Wellington Zephyr Club members, I drew the short straw on a club
trip to the Waverly Hotel deep in suburban Waverly as I was the last car in the
convoy. I recall one of our committee members of the time had partaken rather
heavily the night before and needed a lift to Smash Palace at Horopito which
was part of the weekend activities. He nearly brought up several gallons of the
previous night’s beer in my car and quick as a flash I stopped the car and
pushed him out to protect my original carpet. No regrets, I would still do that
today!
The
car will never be sold while I am above ground and my son Cameron wants to
inherit it with no discussion being entered into.
The
car still proudly displays the Wellington Club badge on its front bumper.
Geoff
Walker
Geoffs
company "Resto Spares" can be found in our "FAQ/Part
suppliers" section on the left hand side.
Well
worth a look with top service as well.