ONE MEAN Mkl
Right a bit of history on my car.
My Mk1 was born early 1954 and the first owner was the New
Zealand Police, yes she was a Police car, a bit ironic considering how the car
is now.
The next owner was a Police sergeant who got the car as the
police fleet was being update to Mk2 s etc and he was retiring at the same
time. He had the car for many years until his death in the 1970’s, as his wife
couldn’t drive she sold the car to a local wreckers as she didn’t think anyone
would be interested in an old car. Luckily a local bloke spotted the car
and bought the black mk1 saving it from being dismantled (it is this bloke that
I have been in contact with and was able to find out its early history).
The new owner fitted a hot Mk3 motor and gearbox with a mk3
diff head and shortened axles, he used the mk1 as a every day car until he
decided to go overseas for a couple of years so he sold the car to a mate. When
he arrived back a few years later he found the mk1 sitting on the found lawn of
his mates place. The Mk1 was in a sad state, deregistered and his mate had
hacked the rear guards about to fit a mk3 diff casing in, so he bought the Mk1
back again and rebuilt her.
He removed the mk3 diff casing and replaced it with a mk1
one (plus bottom half guards) and it was at this time he was able to get hold
of a Raymond Mays head with the triple webers.
He owned the car for a few more years till he had to sell
the car to buy a house, he sold the car (approx 1982) to a member of the local
hot rod club who is the one who modified her. He removed the Zephyr running
gear (sold the head and motor to a member of the Auckland Zephyr club who
fitted it to a Mk3 Zephyr and I spoke to the owner of this Mk3 at the 1989
International who said he got it from a bloke a couple of years earlier who had
removed it from a black Mk1) after removing the running gear he built a full
chassis and cut everything from the firewall forward, welded the bonnet, guards
and grill together to make a tilt front. The running gear he installed was very
worked 289ci V8, a tricked up C4 auto and a Wolseley diff with Standard
Vanguard brakes. For the front end he narrowed a HG or HT Holden front
suspension unit and made up his own steering out of god knows what (more about
this later) and painted the mk1 a light
metallic purple.
The history of the mk1 from this point is a bit murky but
what I do know is that it had a couple more owners and upset the Auckland
Zephyr club quite a bit as they were being blamed for this mk1 that was doing
huge burn outs up and down Queen Street on Friday nights.
At the end of 1988 the mk1 was bought by a fellow
Wellington Zephyr club member who had the motor fully rebuilt and had the car
painted a dark metallic blue (it was a bronze colour when he bought the car)
and used it for his wedding and honeymoon.
In 1989 he put the car in storage while he and his wife
were overseas when they return in 1994 the certification laws had been brought
in and as the mk1 was so modified he felt he would never be able to get it back
on the road (non of the certifiers who he approached told him that he could get
a declaration for the mk1) so he left it sitting in his garage.
Middle of 1996 his marriage failed and he had to get rid of
most of his cars including the mk1, he told me to make him a silly offer which
I did and he accepted so I became the proud owner of the mk1.
Since owning the car I have rebuilt a fair bit of the
mechanical side of the car including the heads as they are fitted with chevy
exhaust valves which need shims under the springs to get the correct tension
but someone had fitted them under the inlets instead this in turn caused the
timing chain to snap on me one day. Also the bloke that made up the steering
used only one universal on the shaft and this snapped (luckily) when I was
backing out of a parking space (minutes earlier I had been giving the car a
blast along the motorway, I shudder to think what would have happened if it had
snapped then). I have also moved the starter motor to the passengers side and
been able to position the steering rack correctly (before this the car bumped
steered quite badly).
The trip around the South Island for the International in
2003 showed that there still more changes to be made to make the Mk1 more user
friendly and they include a heater as I nearly froze my pink bits off on the
drive from Te Anau to Invercargill and improve creature comfits like
suspension, ok for a Friday/Saturday night cruise but no good for long trips.
Once I’m happy with the mechanical side I will get in to
the interior and body but like usual when time is available there is no money,
and when you have the money no time available so I’ll plod along getting bits
done as I can.
Spec’s
Ford 289ci V8
650 cfm double pumper 4 bbl
Offenhauser 4 bbl alloy manifold
Stainless steel Manley exhaust valves
Screw in rocker studs with guide plates and harden push
rods
Flat top piston
Isky cam of unknown grind
Shift kitted C4 auto
Wolseley Diff (4.5 to 1 ratio)
Standard Vanguard rear brakes
Holden front end (narrowed) with Mk4 brake callipers.
Steelie wheels made chromed rims 14 x 8 rear, 13 x 6 front
265/60 x 14 rear and 175/60 x 13 front
Cheers
Ross