An Old Friend Turns Up

[ChimpofDarkness]

This amazing thing just happened to me; so I thought I'd share the story with you.

It all starts with me slowly trying to add some snaps of my old restoration projects to my FB page.

Then I found this FB group discussing old Ford Zephyrs, Consuls & Zodiacs, which was my specialist subject when I was playing with cars for a living.

I do something completely un-car related for a living these days

Then this other Ford specialist I knew years ago contacts me out of the blue, and we get chatting about various cars we restored & where they are now.

Then I posted some grainy old scanned prints of a Mk1 Consul convertible I restored & sent to Germany back in the early 1990's, and he said:

"I know that car, the same guys still have it, & they brought it back to the UK a while ago for me to complete a few small jobs"

Then he sends this photo of the car at his workshop, can you believe it!!!



Almost exactly 20 years ago to the day I completed the restoration and she still looks perfect.

Sorry, but all this just happened to me & I needed to share it, hopefully some of you will get how I'm feeling?

It's like seeing an old friend again & I'm so happy

Thanks for listening folks, Dave.

[CAPP0]

[944Nick]

I know how you feel. I came across an Austin 1800 I restored and modified for road rallies a few years ago and the car was clearly well loved and being used. It made my day.

[ChimpofDarkness]

Here's another one we restored for Practical Classics Magazine.

We saved "212 APX" from a Fenland country & western singer who had painted it bright pink!

He could be seen rolling across the fens in that pink lady with the roof down while sporting a large Stetson.

We soon found out under all that Mr Blobby pink paint was a world of body filler & rust.

It was a challenging restoration to say the least, but they were happy days.

I'd love to meet up with this one again too, anyone seen it about?

[Travis Mcgee]

ChimpofDarkness said:

Here's another one we restored for Practical Classics Magazine.

We saved "212 APX" from a Fenland country & western singer who had painted it bright pink!

He could be seen rolling across the fens in that pink lady with the roof down while sporting a large Stetson.

We soon found out under all that Mr Blobby pink paint was a world of body filler & rust.

It was a challenging restoration to say the least, but they were happy days.

I'd love to meet up with this one again too, anyone seen it about?

Date of Liability 01 08 2013
Date of First Registration 10 02 1961
Year of Manufacture 1961
Cylinder Capacity (cc) 2553cc
CO2 Emissions Not Available
Fuel Type PETROL
Export Marker N
Vehicle Status Licence Not Due
Vehicle Colour BLUE

It's obviously still out there somewhere.

[Huntsman]

ChimpofDarkness said:

Here's another one we restored for Practical Classics Magazine.

We saved "212 APX" from a Fenland country & western singer who had painted it bright pink!

He could be seen rolling across the fens in that pink lady with the roof down while sporting a large Stetson.

We soon found out under all that Mr Blobby pink paint was a world of body filler & rust.

It was a challenging restoration to say the least, but they were happy days.

I'd love to meet up with this one again too, anyone seen it about?

I followed that rebuild in the magazine, remember it well.

[mrmop]

ChimpofDarkness said:

This amazing thing just happened to me; so I thought I'd share the story with you.

It all starts with me slowly trying to add some snaps of my old restoration projects to my FB page.

Then I found this FB group discussing old Ford Zephyrs, Consuls & Zodiacs, which was my specialist subject when I was playing with cars for a living.

I do something completely un-car related for a living these days

Then this other Ford specialist I knew years ago contacts me out of the blue, and we get chatting about various cars we restored & where they are now.

Then I posted some grainy old scanned prints of a Mk1 Consul convertible I restored & sent to Germany back in the early 1990's, and he said:

"I know that car, the same guys still have it, & they brought it back to the UK a while ago for me to complete a few small jobs"

Then he sends this photo of the car at his workshop, can you believe it!!!



Almost exactly 20 years ago to the day I completed the restoration and she still looks perfect.

Sorry, but all this just happened to me & I needed to share it, hopefully some of you will get how I'm feeling?

It's like seeing an old friend again & I'm so happy

Thanks for listening folks, Dave.

I too have must found that FB page, very interesting stories and cars, the MK1 still looks great

[ChimpofDarkness]

Huntsman said:

I followed that rebuild in the magazine, remember it well.

I'm looking to make up a magazine collection of our restoration of 212 APX.

Most of the project would have been covered in the 1993 editions if I remember correctly?

Has anyone got any old copies of Practical Classics from this period?

Thanks, Dave.

[tapkaJohnD]

Can't match that personal story, but more than forty years ago a school friend had a 1933 Morris 10-4 tourer with a dickey seat. We took it to Beaulieu, can't remember the event, and an old guy was very interested, because he had worked at Cowley making them! He was an upholsterer, and told us to pull up the rear seat. Sure enough, there was his signature on the baseboard.

John

Edited by tapkaJohnD on Friday 18th January 17:55

[HereBeMonsters]

Brilliant.

[ChimpofDarkness]

tapkaJohnD said:

Can't match that personal story, but more than forty years ago a school friend had a 1933 Morris 10-4 tourer with a dickey seat. We took it to Beaulieu, can't remember the event, and an old guy was very interested, because he had worked at Cowley making them! He was an upholsterer, and told us to pull up the rear seat. Sure enough, there was his signature on the underside.

John

Lovely

[forsure]

I know how you feel.
When I was a kid - in the sixties - my dad had a 1930 Riley mkIV Special as a restoration project.
I spent many weekends watching and helping out.
For various reasons, redundancy being one, he sold it on unfinished.

I've just managed to track it down, spoken to the current owner and exchanged photographs with him.
It's not a ridiculously long way away, so I hope to find time to visit this year.

[ClassicMotorNut]

We took our Midget 1500 to a local car show in August 2011 and a chap came up and was very pleased to see her because he had been a friend of her first owner. He said tha she was exactly as he remembered her, except she had a tan interior then, as opposed to the black one she has now. The black interior doesn't look that nice, but we're not responsible for that. We are also thinking of replacing the Minilites with Rostyles.

[LordBretSinclair]

I had a black Mk I way back in the dark ages (sadly can't find any photos).

Great memories of sliding around on the shiny bench seat - sweeping left hand bends brought any young lady passenger very close.

Happy days.

[esso]

ChimpofDarkness said:

Huntsman said:

I followed that rebuild in the magazine, remember it well.

I'm looking to make up a magazine collection of our restoration of 212 APX.

Most of the project would have been covered in the 1993 editions if I remember correctly?

Has anyone got any old copies of Practical Classics from this period?

Thanks, Dave.

Great minds must think alike!....i too had a Mk1 Consul although not a convertible,i remember the resto of 212 APX in the mags and probably still have them in my loft,i will look them out,and i notice from your profile that you now own a TVR....so do I......

[SiredR]

So many old cars "dissapear" , great to hear of a survivor especially an old Fix Or Repair Daily

[ChimpofDarkness]

esso said:

ChimpofDarkness said:

Huntsman said:

I followed that rebuild in the magazine, remember it well.

I'm looking to make up a magazine collection of our restoration of 212 APX.

Most of the project would have been covered in the 1993 editions if I remember correctly?

Has anyone got any old copies of Practical Classics from this period?

Thanks, Dave.

Great minds must think alike!....i too had a Mk1 Consul although not a convertible,i remember the resto of 212 APX in the mags and probably still have them in my loft,i will look them out,and i notice from your profile that you now own a TVR....so do I......

Many thanks from one TVR man to another Alan

I would absolutely love to see those 212 APX articles again, there's one with me making up the fuel lines I would especially like to see, no idea what month I'm afraid.

If you can find your way up in that loft I would be eternally grateful.

Best regards, Dave.