Peter Harris And His Mk1 Zephyrs
Here is a story from MoT tester Peter Harris in the UK,
Thanks Peter!
Hi, I’m Pete, I’m 47 years old and I live in Leicester. I
have had many cars, including a Mk II Zephyr with a Rover V8 engine, a 1970
Ford Mustang and a couple of Mk I Zephyrs, all running V8’s.
My car at the moment is a 1955 Mk I Zephyr which I bought 9
years ago in a very bad way. The doors were in a rotten state, the sills and
out riggers all gone and the engine block was cracked from frost.
It’s been a long haul from pulling the engine out and
fitting a Mk II block with a Mk III head, installing a Mk II overdrive gearbox
plus a UK made Aquaplane triple carburettor set up.
The bodywork was undertaken by my younger brother who also
runs a Mk II Zodiac (it must run in the family!)
We decided to keep the car black so we painted it Ford
panther black with blue pearl with amazing results.
Next was the interior, new red carpet was installed with
reworked seats. The headlining was good so it was left as is.
The front suspension is from a Mk II giving me discs on the
front and a servo was also fitted.
The exhaust manifold from a Mk III was used to give better
flow through a single silencer.
Just to finish it of a set of American racing mags were
fitted with white band tyres.
Having ran this car with this set up for 3 years with no
problems, in the mean time I had been building a Ford 302 V8 to replace the old
6 pot which as I write this, is now in the car with a three speed auto and a
narrowed 9” rear end. With keeping the cars body standard, the car looks stock
on the outside part from the wheels and two chrome tail pipes dipping down
behind the rear valance.
I am in the middle of the wiring at the moment and a set of
Sun pro gauges in the car should see it on the road in a couple of weeks.
So now I have this lovely inline 6 engine and gear box in
the garage with people wanting to buy them, when I saw an advert for a Mk I convertible
less its engine being shipped back from OZ by a trader, so I contacted him and
I soon became the proud owner of a
Mk I convertible shell and a pile of boxes. This car has
been bead blasted and welded in parts but the OZ weather has been very good to
her body over the years. The car is now in a body shop having been stripped to
the bare bones; the next big problem is what colour to do it in as it was
orange before as an export colour. Maybe white or fawn? Anyway it’s a long way
off yet, in the mean time I am reconditioning all the running gear and powder
coating all necessary parts (it helps having a friend with their own powder
coating plant!).
That’s about it for now; I will send you more info about
both cars later as we progress. Regards, Pete Harris