Project Youve Been Tango'd
Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2014 8:19 pm
So as a hobby i like to find old cars, generally Ford, spruce them up and sell them on. Being a Ford man i have a very soft spot for Capris especially the mk3. They look great!
After i decided ill do another Capri this time, i set my heart on a black mk3.
A couple of days of ebay hunting and this rocked up... a Black 1.6 Laser
Advertised as needing a little fettle and respray i decided that would be the one. It had the 2.8i wheels, recaro style front seats and a healthy pinto engine so fter a few mintes deliberating i went for it.
So a few days later I had in the workshop and unfortunately it dawned on me that the advertisement wasnt exactly as described...
Basically she needed a new rear valance, new front wings, strut tops, floor sections... and then finding brake calipers with no pins but tie-wraps made me wonder who the hell had been driving it! Anyway, i didnt view the car before i bought so i cant blame anyone but myself an in all honest its a 30 year car!
So a quick decision was made that a proper restoration was needed...
By this time i had pulled out all my old copies of Retro / Classic Ford looking at various Capris and although i always used to think that Capris Looked best in black i saw this....
Amazed i thought bugger it, lets try something a little different. We've come this far, whats a colour change gonna do! Needless to say over the next wee or 2 and whilst she was primed i changed my mind various times. If i was going to change the colour, why not go all out and go Candy Apple Red and Gold Wheels...etc
So in the end i did it, i wen for Cand.....ahem i went for Signal orange! I just could stop looking at that mag! Apologies for the pics, its come out alot more orange than it really is!
Although the bodywork was a little less than advertised, the mechanical side was faultless! Absoloutely Sweet little pino, 4 branch manifold and K+N, 5 speed box an quiet Axle meant a nice quiet drive and all the internals were clean and tidy and even the heater kicked out hot air! Because of this i didnt want to hassle all this by removing all the engine and box to spray the bay..So going down an orange and black theme i left these in-situ. Having had brighly coloured engine bays before, although they look great when clean 10 miles of driving with an older engine especially means oil / muck and god knows what soon covers the inner wings and they look messy so im quite happy that its black and adds some real character to the car!
Now for the detail... Although shes a "Laser" i much prefer the look of the "S" basically because of the stickers no other reason so ive badged her as so, maybe people wont appreciate this but inho it suits the car so much more!
Im quite proud of how these turned out as well!
Today i fitted all the doors, bonnet and boot which just leaves the bumoers to be painted and refit the interiot. Underneath needs a good rub a dub dub and a shultzing in but all easy stuff now shes looking where i need her. This time next week she will be complete and ill be looking for my next preoject!
After i decided ill do another Capri this time, i set my heart on a black mk3.
A couple of days of ebay hunting and this rocked up... a Black 1.6 Laser
Advertised as needing a little fettle and respray i decided that would be the one. It had the 2.8i wheels, recaro style front seats and a healthy pinto engine so fter a few mintes deliberating i went for it.
So a few days later I had in the workshop and unfortunately it dawned on me that the advertisement wasnt exactly as described...
Basically she needed a new rear valance, new front wings, strut tops, floor sections... and then finding brake calipers with no pins but tie-wraps made me wonder who the hell had been driving it! Anyway, i didnt view the car before i bought so i cant blame anyone but myself an in all honest its a 30 year car!
So a quick decision was made that a proper restoration was needed...
By this time i had pulled out all my old copies of Retro / Classic Ford looking at various Capris and although i always used to think that Capris Looked best in black i saw this....
Amazed i thought bugger it, lets try something a little different. We've come this far, whats a colour change gonna do! Needless to say over the next wee or 2 and whilst she was primed i changed my mind various times. If i was going to change the colour, why not go all out and go Candy Apple Red and Gold Wheels...etc
So in the end i did it, i wen for Cand.....ahem i went for Signal orange! I just could stop looking at that mag! Apologies for the pics, its come out alot more orange than it really is!
Although the bodywork was a little less than advertised, the mechanical side was faultless! Absoloutely Sweet little pino, 4 branch manifold and K+N, 5 speed box an quiet Axle meant a nice quiet drive and all the internals were clean and tidy and even the heater kicked out hot air! Because of this i didnt want to hassle all this by removing all the engine and box to spray the bay..So going down an orange and black theme i left these in-situ. Having had brighly coloured engine bays before, although they look great when clean 10 miles of driving with an older engine especially means oil / muck and god knows what soon covers the inner wings and they look messy so im quite happy that its black and adds some real character to the car!
Now for the detail... Although shes a "Laser" i much prefer the look of the "S" basically because of the stickers no other reason so ive badged her as so, maybe people wont appreciate this but inho it suits the car so much more!
Im quite proud of how these turned out as well!
Today i fitted all the doors, bonnet and boot which just leaves the bumoers to be painted and refit the interiot. Underneath needs a good rub a dub dub and a shultzing in but all easy stuff now shes looking where i need her. This time next week she will be complete and ill be looking for my next preoject!
