Mk 1 Zephyr Custom
Built
by Rex Mayor
I was a bit younger than most in my class at school and
didn’t turn 15 until half way through the fifth form year. My form teacher put
in the mid-term report “Should find a job a take it.” Well… I had news for that
pr – person. I had a job and was only waiting a week to turn 15 so I could
leave school and take it.
That job was in a tractor repair/engineering workshop as a
welder, with the main objective being to stash away every possible penny of the
5 pounds a week I was earning in order to buy a car. Nine months later while
cruising with a friend Wayne in his Mk I on a Thursday night, we drove past a
car showroom and sitting inside was a gleaming Toreador Red, 56 Mk I Zephyr.
Our neighbour was the salesman at the car lot at that time, so my father phoned
him and a demo was arranged that night. I had just enough for the deposit if I
scrounged back the 7 quid that my brother owed me, so Friday the 18th
March 1966 and still at only 15 years of age I become the proud owner just in
time to cruise the main street of Taumarunui with the other Mk I’s in town.
I had enough left over to buy a set of ribbon white-walls
and spent a hot Saturday afternoon the next day after work breaking the tyre
beads with the heals of my boots, in order to fit the white-walls. Couldn’t
wait until a tyre shop was open on Monday.
The first mod was to make a bracket to fit on the drawbar
to mount the spare wheel continental style. Then make up longer U-bolts and fit
a 2-inch spacer to lower the back. Didn’t quite know how to lower the front but
the old double sway bar had to be installed, and all these jobs were easily
undertaken with engineering skills. The car probably didn’t handle all that
well with the front sitting up, but Mustang’s had that look so who was to argue
about it. I worked for the Massey Ferguson dealer and that was the inform
muffler of the day, so it finished up with one fitted, and the right note.
The ignition key was changed to the right hand side and
replaced with a key-start to confuse anyone strange, and the original starter
button was moved to the left and connected to an “ahuuuga” horn. It gained me a
good chuckle when the local Cop tried to start it up to show me why he had
pulled me over for a noisy exhaust and the horn went off instead. The horn had
been rescued from an old 20’s Desoto that my father had cut down into a farm
truck back in the 50’s and I still have it today.
Everything lasted unscathed until Nov when I was in an
impressive power drift around a corner and the rear wheel hit a slightly raised
fire hydrant cover… it kicked in a complete 180 in the other direction, tipped
on it’s side and then back on it’s wheels again. “Think I got that wrong!” Mk
I’s had a habit of tipping over.
The old bloke who owned the workshop I worked in had built
another workshop next door and a panelbeater by the name of Roy Jacobs and his
mechanic friend Allan Tubby had set up a panelbeating business in there, so it
was only natural to take the car there for repairs. Not only because it was
handy, but Roy had an excellent reputation, having owned a Mk I with a
continental spare wheel cover welded onto the boot-lid, and then a beautiful
black Mk II Zodiac that we all drooled over.
While in the panel shop I made up some clamps to fit onto
the front springs to lower it level with the back. Fitted a dual “hockey-stick”
exhaust and made a manifold adaptor to fit a twin throat carb off a V8.
Couldn’t afford a Webber, which was also why I decided to not get the car painted
in lieu of paying the insurance excess.
It was ready just before Xmas and I set off over the New
Year towards nowhere in particular with Wayne who’s car wasn’t going, and in
the middle of nowhere up the western side of Lake Taupo, the left-front stub axel
broke. We were picked up and taken to Mangakino by a couple of farm workers and
they suggested that we should make arrangements to have the car towed out of
there immediately otherwise the locals would have it stripped out by the
morning. We found a tow truck at a little garage and got towed back to there,
paid the bill and were preparing to sleep the night in the car when the tow man
came back out and said his wife had ordered him to give us a bed inside for the
night.
The next morning they gave us breakfast and I felt guilty
about that until I saw in the light of day that his tow rig set-up had bent the
freshly repaired and re-chromed front bumper. And the twin exhaust had worked
loose at the back bracket from dragging on the loose metal road that he un-necessarily
took, and as it was only a slide fit onto the ends of the Fergie mufflers, they
were gone. He did tell us where to go to find a stub axel and gave us the tools
to change it, so that was good and helped make up for the damage. We had a
quick backtrack but couldn’t find the exhaust, so noisily continued our Xmas
sojourn to where-ever we finished up, and returned home to replace the tail
pipes and try to get the Insurance Company to accept responsibility for the
damage and stub axel, which had in reality lasted for ¾ of an hours driving
after the accident. It had been cracked ½ way through, but for how long was the
question raised. I maintained that had it been cracked before the prang, it
would have broken when the car landed back on the ground. They didn’t pay.
By now I had gained some welding certificates and was
making about 7 quid a week but the company I was working for needed to cut back
on staff and I was single so therefore one of the ones to go. It didn’t really
matter because I’d had the best welding teacher in the world (Because Winni
told me so) and my certificates put me into a job earning 16 quid a week
working on bulldozer tracks and track frames.
What does a 16 year old do with this sort of money? Spend
it on the car of course. I did buy a pair of new jeans, some Beatle Boots and a
suede jacket though, and I always had enough to shout the boys when we went to
a party, instead of only just being able to look after myself.
The car got 2 inch widened wheels on the front and Dunlop
SP Radials all round. I scored a finned alloy inlet manifold that could run
either 1, 2 or 3 carbs. Think it had something like Klenig Sydney cast into it.
I opted for the lot - 3 Mk II Zenith carbs. I don’t know what sort of a cam
went in, we called them a ¾ race cam in those days, so long as it was lumpy
without needing to have the choke out was all that mattered. It also got a set
of extractors at some time and the Fergie mufflers had been torn off and
battered so many times that they needed replacing and the new flavour was a
Mini Cooper muffler at the back, and with extractors fitted there was no sense
in running twin pipes just to look good and cost more to replace when they got
ripped off, so a single pipe was used.
It was amazing how many people would scoff at me and say
“Push the choke in ya Wally” as that old Mk I sat there going
Blurp-blurp-blurp-blurp-blurp-blurp. With pretty noisy exhausts most of the
time too, but the joke was on them… it was real.
I’d taken the car into Roy and Tub at Central Panelbeaters
to have some rust taken out, and they asked as they always did when they saw
me, if I knew of anyone suitable for them to take on as an apprentice.
About 6 months into this new job they were also closing
down, and moving to Hamilton. I was offered the chance to go as well but 2 jobs
in 2 years, both closing down?? What I needed was an apprenticeship so I went
to see Roy and Tub and one week I got paid 16 pounds as a welder and the next
week I got paid 11 dollars on the 10th of July 1967 as an apprentice
panelbeater. The date decimal currency kicked in.
Back to being broke in a big way and no more shouting the
boys.
The advantage of working in a small workshop means one gets
to learn very fast. I already had engineering skills but gas welding was a new
art… I marvelled at the machine like finish to Roy’s gas welding but soon
picked it up. It was only a short time before the rear bumper got turfed and a
new rear lower panel was rolled up to replace the old beaten up one. The rear
tail lights were replaced by 54 Customline lenses mounted into a base and
reshaped guards. The chrome boot release and number plate light shroud
also got the heave and the locking barrel was fitted directly into the boot
panel with all holes filled and leaded over. The boot release was redirected to
exit just under the bottom edge of the boot lid. Number plate lights were now
required to be fitted and the thought of some ugly bolt-on type items didn’t
turn me on, so half sections of exhaust tubing were welded either side of the
number plate, slightly angled over the plate to help hide the bulbs that were
plugged through from inside the boot. The original turn indicator lights were
retained although the panel was moulded out so they pointed on the same plain
as the tail lights.
Other than the tail light lenses, this had all cost nothing.
Roy regarded the materials as a bonus to the work I was turning out. But that
was also due to the fact that I was always shown how to do things, and given
the time and opportunity to do it properly.
Just before Xmas that year 3 mates Barry, Bob, Ken and I
travelled to the Motor Races at Pukekohe, and the motor started sounding a bit
sick just out of Auckland. We picked up some more mates from Otahuhu and
chugged out to Puke where it promptly stalled in front of some Cops doing
points duty. It wouldn’t start so everyone piled out and push started it. One
of the Cops said “What a heap.” as we spluttered past, and someone from within
the car yelled. “At least I paid for it.” Much to the delight of the crowd
walking along the road verge to the racetrack.
We drove into the main car park and stopped, then moments
later a heat shimmer followed by a light haze of smoke appeared around the
bonnet. I pulled the bonnet release and half a dozen guys leapt out and started
blowing and smothering the flames around the carbs and fuel lines. This also
attracted a small crowd amongst which were some young ladies… one of the
plastic fuel lines was leaking quite badly and there was no extra length to
enable the burnt section to be cut off. Bob said. “I know” so he fished into
his wallet… unwrapped a condom and wound it around the hole and tied it in a
knot. It worked a treat but sure did disperse the young ladies in a hurry… the
guys all cracked up, but they were impressed with those carburettors and
manifold.
After the races we dropped the Auckland boys back off and
made an attempt to solve the problem but failed, so the best idea was to head
for home with plenty of weekend left. Just before the Papakura over-bridge
there was an almighty clatter and cloud of smoke and steam behind so we pulled
over under the bridge to find a “leg out of bed” having taken the starter motor
with it.
Bob and Ken decided to hitchhike home to Taumarunui to get
help (A 4 hour trip by road) and the other two of us spent the night in the
car. The next morning we walked to a dairy to get something to eat and on the
way back to the car we called at the last house before reaching the motorway to
see if we could use the phone to check up on progress… finding to our amazement
that they had arrived and already left to rescue us 3 hours ago. They had been
lucky enough to catch some good rides. The kind people insisted that we have a
coffee and wouldn’t take any money for the call, and just as we left to return
to the car the other two turned up in a Hillman van!
We gingerly spent the next 6 hours towing the Mk I all the
way back to Taumarunui with the Hillman, which duly needed a new clutch soon
after Ken innocently returned it to his brother.
It was many many months before I could afford to put the
car back on the road again and with no wheels to use other than having the use
of Tub’s spare Morris 8, what else could I do but spend lunch hours and
weekends continuing with the customising process. The sills needed replacing
and the inner sills were rotted away at the bottom, The best course of action
would be to cut the old sills off and trim 2 inches of the rotten steel away
from the inner sill, hence back to solid steel, then fold up new sills 2 inches
narrower than the originals. I also made the fold by the bottom edge of the
door about ¼ of an inch wider in order to step it out a whisker for a different
look. As the bottoms of the front guards were also tatty, they were cut off and
the sills made to extend right to the front wheel arch, and as it was planned
to weld and fill the seam where the tops of the guard met the windscreen wiper
panel, these mudguards were never to be removable again. So the guard was
welded to the new sill at the bottom.
All chrome mouldings and badges were removed and the holes
welded and filled, even the seam along the tops of the front guards received
the same treatment, as well as the seam between the top and bottom of the rear
guards.
I had shelled out for another two widened wheels so the
rear guards were radiused to make room for them.
This is something that I’ve always been proud of. I had
seen a Holden in an Aussie magazine done with slightly angled twin headlights
and liked it, so I made up bases and tacked them in place slightly more angled
than the Holden. I had acquired two Mk II Zodi grill tops broken on opposite
ends and found that they could be made to fit the top of the Mk I bonnet/grill
opening even if slightly angled, they looked good, so they were cut to size and
butted together. In fact, this finished up to be the only part of the car that
was recognisable enough for it to retain it’s identity, and that to me was
important. This now meant that the Mk I bonnet needed to have some cut off the
bottom of the lower front edge to line up with the grill, and to look right
anyway.
I fashioned the grill shape by bending up 1 inch exhaust
tube to weld onto the headlight bases, halfway up for the top tube that was
bent to follow the Zodi grill, and the bottom tube curving up to weld into the
light base at the bottom. I then set about making up panels to fill the gaps.
The number plate was recessed into the new front panel, which was also lifted
in profile to match the sills.
In essence, the car was lowered 2 inches but didn’t really
look like it… and probably not the look we’d be after today. For instance, the
lower 2 inches of the radiator support panel could now be seen below the front
panel but it was symmetrical with the shape of the front panel so didn’t look
out of place. A couple of Mk III style park lights made from exhaust tube, were
fashioned into the front guards on the outside of the headlights. Aluminium
surrounds were later made to fit around the headlights with two flasher lights
per side nestled where the Y section of the panel separates the lights. Nothing
was sketched or planned it was just held up until it looked right and tacked in
place.
The original Mk I bonnets have a wide half-round raised
swage down the middle and Roy had this bright idea that I should split the
bonnet down the guts, hammer the swage out flat and weld it back together
again, So I did… but this time it wasn’t easy. There was no such thing as a Mig
welder so the whole lot was done with gas then hammered and filed. No bog was
used either… all filling was done with lead.
After I’d finished the bonnet Roy told me he’d been looking
out for another one to replace it as he’d watched the days of struggle and had
thought he’d put me up the creek by suggesting that I attempt it. Never mind… I
won, and the bonnet was now smooth all over and he did commend me on the
effort.
A sunken aerial hole was fashioned into the right hand
guard and much later when my brother was returning to Singapore with the Army,
he swapped my aerial and radio for the electric aerial and signal seeker radio
out of the Falcon that he had brought back from his previous tour. That was
pretty flash and really startled people when an aerial popped up from out of
this hole in the guard.
At a stage where I had $80 saved up and enough to get an
engine, the very same salesman that sold me the Mk I turned up with a Mk II
trade-in needing some panel work and paint. With a bit of coaxing he agreed to
sell it for $150, So Roy, Tub and I all put in $50 and resurrected that to it’s
pride and glory, and more than doubled our money in a very short space of time.
Roy’s brother-in-law in Palmerston North had brought a Mk III engine for a
stock car but now didn’t need it, so I could have that for the $80 he’d
originally parted out. The Mk II project had provided the extra money that now
allowed me to buy a Mk III gearbox as well… along with a Berry & Chung
inline shifter to bolt onto the box and in it all went.
I had also sold the rear bumper and the near enough
straightened front bumper, front panel and grill, so I was getting pretty flush
on dollars. The rocker cover, side plate and fan were chromed and really
finished the engine off. The lumpy cam out of the Mk I engine was the only
survivor of that set-up as the flash inlet and carbs wouldn’t fit a Mk III head
so they were sadly sold to Bob, and a twin choke Webber was fitted.
That thing could spin the wheels in 1st 2nd
and 3rd, and sometimes get a little chirp in top. It was well over a
year off the road but once again it was finished just in time for Xmas so I
headed for a mates place in Auckland for New Year and it didn’t take long for
the V8 boys in Queen Street to learn that it was better to look the other way
when I pulled up beside them, but the Mk I diff was never going to last, so
when it eventually reached the time when not even banana skins could’ve
quietened it down, the diff was chucked out and a Mk II one fitted. But I
wasn’t doing away with the widened wheels either so the gas axe came out yet
again and the rear wheel arches were radiused even further, only this time the
rear doors needed to be cut away as well. Roy stood back and had a look during
the process and reckoned something didn’t look right. The rear wheels seemed to
stick out too far at the back and he suggested cutting through beside the roof
and down beside the tail light, then move the whole rear end of the guard out
until it looked right. Then weld panel steel gussets into the gaps.
OK… I did it. About 2 inches was eventually required in
each side at the back. This also necessitated the same to be done to the side
edges of the boot lid in order to fill the gaps left there. A Hillman Hunter
petrol filler and cap were added at this stage and I made a much larger petrol
tank seeing as the rusted spare wheel well had been removed and plated over.
This also made room for the muffler to be fitted up out of harms way at last.
The wheel spin was reduced only to 1st and
2nd now but this gearing was real good and it was great to finally
have a Mk I with a decent handbrake. The drive shaft also needed to be modified
yet again. The car stayed in this configuration for some time until I
discovered the local Auto Electrician had ordered a triple side-draft manifold
for someone who never came back and he had been “landed” with it, so he offered
it to me for cost. As it turned out it was a good move on his part because I
then needed to order three Stromburg carbs as well… but I got them for a good
price too.
Now it had some boogie especially up top… but not much
torque down low and it was difficult to get moving without heaps of revs. I
persevered with this for a while but after spending two weeks at Trade School
in Auckland and driving around in the city, I drove home on the last weekend…
ripped off the whole manifold and refitted the original manifold and Webber. It
was much more driver friendly and I had forgotten how much grunt it actually
had down low. The side-draught set-up was sold and the single Webber remained
forever. It was much less hassle to keep tuned and quite honestly, it didn’t
need anything else. What it did like was the instant squirt of fuel from the
downdraft carb instead of waiting for the sidedrafts to supply some.
The deal of buying the Mk II diff also included a steering
box and even though there were no intentions of using it, at a later date when
the Mk I box had too much slop to pass a warrant, the Mk II box was fitted just
because it was there. Unfortunately the original Mk I drop-arm wouldn’t fit and
the Mk II drop-arm angled slightly upwards. This created a small amount of
bump-steer that kept one on their toes at times. It should have been rectified
somehow, but never was. Perhaps dropping the box down would have solved the
problem.
As the fitting of the Mk II steering box changed things
somewhat inside, the dash was the next to go and a complete full width dash was
folded up housing a full set of round gauges and a speedo from a Humber 80. A
steel spoked Morris Minor steering wheel was cut down to a very small diameter
and a ½ inch tube was rolled up and welded onto the spokes for a rim. This was
achieved by drilling holes right trough the rim and poking the spokes through
and welding them on the outside. This was then padded and a lace-on vinyl cover
was cut and sewn to size, then I utilised my farm upbringing to painstakingly
sow the cover onto the wheel with a suitable thread using a never forgotten
wool-bale stitch.
Anyone who has driven a Mk I or II uphill in pouring rain
will appreciate that I finally got sick of the vacuum wipers. A Mk III set with
the tube between the spindles shortened to suit the Mk I, fitted just nicely
after these following details were seen to. First the shortening of the tube
between the spindles now meant that the inner cable would protrude past the
exit of the end tube and was likely to foul on something during operation. I
looked at cutting the inner cable and welding the end, but I didn't want to
risk it unravelling. So I fitted another end tube, longer by the same length
that the centre tube had been shortened. Then it was nothing short
of brilliant to flick a switch and get action when needed.
Luckily the car was never painted during this time, but it
did get a coat of black primer with two Shelby type white stripes down the
bonnet and boot. This meant that any alterations were easily touched up when
necessary. Right from the start, all bare metal was always painted with
Sechrome before priming. Ordinary primer is porous so it will not protect the
steel properly and I knew it would be some time before a decent coat was
applied.
I was driving home one lunchtime and on rounding the bend
into our street the right hand stub axel broke this time. I walked back to work
and collected the tow truck then later went to the local Wrecker and ferreted a
Mk III front suspension to try for size. The springs and top bearing retainer
were too large to fit into the Mk I towers so I transposed those items from the
Mk I legs. The bottom spring retainer needed a spacer ring to be welded in
place so the spring didn’t wobble all over the place. I discarded the ugly
clamps made years ago and set the car up to settle down on blocks when the
bottom coil was heated with the gas torch and subsequently dosed with old
engine oil when the temperature was just right. I was smart enough to allow a
bit, as I knew it would settle further once driven. Now… anyone who is thinking
that I didn’t have a clue what I was doing is right… but the end result was
perfect.
I used MK III track arms and purchased a set of cam
adjustable inner pins from the Ford dealer. I think a Mk II sway bar was the
right width and the twin system was dispensed with. The footprint both front
and rear was now quite spectacular.
The front wheel arches now needed to be flared and as the
rear ones had never been finished, these were all completed at the same time
using ½ inch tube wrapped around a wheel and allowed to spring back out, then
welded to the flared guard edge. The rear doors needed new inner frames made up
and the panels folded around to look like nobody had touched them. The left
rear door had previously had a lower skin fitted and pop riveted under where
the side moulding would cover it up, and as there were no mouldings going back
on there could have been a problem. Fortunately the local car painter had a
complete new skin hanging in the rafters and I had known it was there for some
time, so it was always in the plan to score it, which I did, and it was fitted
at the same time as the door was modified/finished.
I also now had disc brakes and needed the Mk III power
booster and master cylinder as well. The bracket between the booster and the
firewall only needed to be flipped over and it bolted straight on with a few
other small modifications.
The only stock standard panels left on the car were the front doors and the roof… and even the roof almost had the turret top cut off and a skin off a Customline welded in to form a low-line profile and I had already saved a complete roof for the job, but some forward thinking kids tried to use it as a trampoline one weekend, so that put paid to that idea. I had even eyed up a Morris 1100 rear window for the back and that would have been raked forward a bit.
Finally Painted
With the roof job scrapped and all other bodywork finally
finished it was getting time to paint it properly, so I spent hours with a
block, wet sanding the multiple coats of primer that had been applied over the
years. It looked like an orange, grey and black lolli-pop but there definitely
was going to be no sink-back, and no extra priming was needed at all… other
than the new door skin. The car was painted a Routes Group colour called
Aquarius. This was a colour used on the current day Valiants and Hillmans. It
got a red pin-strip down the side too.
Unfortunately the only colour shot is the one above and
that was not originally of the car. The original photo is of my daughter
sitting on a tricycle and the car just happens to be in the background, and is
cut off just behind the rear wheel. This destroys the myth that a picture is
worth a thousand words, when computer technology is at the loose. There are two
other photos in black & white and I have two more when it was black primer
with stripes. Even the photo from back on originally had a tow-bar in the
picture, and that’s been digitally removed.
I will forever kick myself for not being more click happy,
and realised this when I discovered that I only took one picture of the Mk IV
and the Monaro that followed. So everything since has been well photographed.
A set of bucket seats were fitted and a consul was folded
up to fit. But the problem was that it all looked too good now, and after
driving it for all those years in unfinished form, after 6 months or so of
having it painted a Shearer asked how much I wanted for it. My first gut
reaction was “Not interested” but I was married now and had a daughter and
another on the way… and had been looking at a more sensible but beaten up Mk IV
Zephyr, so when he insisted on a price I gave him one that would cover the cost
of the Mk IV or scare him off, and he fronted up. I heard later that he was
prepared to pay much more.
I never did find the perfect lower grill to compliment the
Zodi grill. There was no shortage of grills to try and I had cut many to fit,
but they all got chucked on the rubbish heap where they were originally
destined. Nothing seemed to catch my imagination enough to get the nod. A cut
down Hillman Avenger grill came close.
It was also only a whisker away from getting some mag
wheels, but money was needed elsewhere. Some had been ordered but when they
didn’t turn up I didn’t pursue it any further.
I thought I should add this as it might help someone with
the same problem, and I have no doubt that it’s happened before.
At some stage I had rebuilt the Mk III gearbox and from
that time it would never select reverse properly. In fact, it needed to be held
in most times otherwise it would jump out, and backing up hill was best
avoided. I couldn’t find fault with the gear change adjustment and gathered
that I must have done something wrong inside but didn’t fancy pulling the box
out again when nothing else seemed to be going wrong. So I put up with it.
At the time when the car was sold the gearbox bearings were
a little on the noisy side and I agreed to replace them. With the box on the
bench I removed the first bolt from the side cover to discover that it was
shiny and worn on the end. “The light went on immediately,” I looked down the
bolthole, grabbed hold of the reverse selector and it went right into gear, and
I could see the mechanism sliding past the end of the hole.
The side plate on Zephyr gearbox’s are thicker in the
centre than the ends so the centre bolts are slightly longer than the corner
bolts, and I had inadvertently put a long bolt in the only corner where it
shouldn’t have been and it protruded into the gearbox thus fowling the reverse
selector.
I suppose two things would have eventually happened. The
reverse gears could have worn down and stopped meshing, or the bolt could have
worn away and let the selector past and then probably jamb. Both were trying
their hardest to oblige.
The car was around Taumarunui for a while… the Shearer put
it into a ditch and damaged the left front guard and I repaired it. Then I
heard it was in Wanganui with a V8 in it. Having just made the discovery of
Roy’s old Mk II that we turned into a station wagon, and having been able to
fill in the empty gaps for the present owner has stirred up memorabilia.
Wouldn’t it be great to find that old Mk I stashed away somewhere?
Extra notes from Rex.
Now just to really get you going.... during the time of my
apprenticeship the same Bob that hitched home from Auckland when my motor blew,
owned a MkI Convertible, but being as mad as Bob was/is, he drove it without
sills and no matter what Roy tried, the thing wouldn't stop sagging after
new sills were fitted. So the only remedy was to make a roof for it and this
was done ah-la 64/66 Mustang style.
But that's not all, complete new rear guards were made with
the Mustang hump and side scoops, plus new door skins to match. EH Holden
tail lights were fitted in the back, and then Bob needed to spend a lot
of money on it, so progress came to a stop.
He then won some money and used most of it to
buy a Humber 80 coz he needed instant wheels and set about terrorizing the
community while also providing sport for the local cops. Upon losing the
right to drive for quite an extended period after writing Humber
80 #2 off, and having had the wheels and that flash manifold and
carbs that I sold him stolen off the MkI, Bob decided to sell the car
unfinished to some hoons in Turangi, which I later found out to be the one's
who pinched the gear in the first place, when they turned up at a mutual mates
place in Auckland in another MkI sporting the
unusual "drilled" wheels while I happened to be there.
Bob used the Police in a different mode to recover the
manifold and he had it hanging on the wall of his workshop for quite some time.
I phoned him the other day to see if he still had it or
knew of its whereabouts, but he had no idea of what ever happened to it. I
had also called him to see if he happened to have any photos of the car...
but once again, no-one bothered or thought if was necessary. I think the
hoons drove it without finishing a thing, so it probably would have got
wrecked. Maybe?
Sketched
and written by Rex Mayor.