I'd done a mechanical pre-apprenticeship through TAFE and had a fair bit of knowledge and a lot of blind faith. Soon the motor was out and stripped down. The pistons felt fairly good in their bores so after honing, new rings, bearings and lapped valves I reassembled the motor. Unfortunately, the motor was locked solid and wouldn't turn over. After pulling it back out and stripping it down I found I had been supplied 10 thou undersize big end bearings by mistake. It was still reluctant to start when back in the car, so we entertained the neighborhood towing it up and down First Ave in gear. Finally, it fired up and soon ran quite well.

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Shortly afterwoods, I fitted a weber 2 barrel, extractors and a hotdog exhaust. When looking for a slightly less noisy replacement gearbox I was lucky enough to find a remote shift GT box with straight cut gears that transformed the driving experience!

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Although I repaired all the rust, I never finished the paint job, so it was always spotty with primer though mainly sage green, a colour I am still fond of. Once, while 'driving spiritedly' against a friend in his Mum's Gemini, (it was faster), he remarked that he loved the way my front end would rise up under heavy acceleration! More to do with worn struts than power but I still took it as a compliment.

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I've always preferred the look and feel of the older cars and feel they have heaps more character than anything modern though I've become used to power steering, air con and cruise control. There will always be space in my yard for an old banger...or two...

Dave Pole