The car that started it all! I have owned two of these (three if you count the one I took apart for
spares), my brother owned one, and my dad owned two, although not all at the same time! My family has
therefore almost single-handedly been responsible for the disappearance of these wonderful cars from
UK roads (that and the 1960's Ford tinworm virus).
We bought the first one as scrap, with a broken automatic gearbox, so it was uneconomical to repair. We towed it home regardless. A trip to a different scrappy unearthed a Cortina manual gearbox which we - ahem - "adapted" to fit. We also had to fit a "new" pedal box (to get a clutch) and cut a hole in the floor for a gear lever (5 minutes with a chisel sorted that bit).
And so we were mobile! I was only about 14 at the time so couldnt drive it yet, though...
We used this car for 2 years, until the tinworm took a grip and it failed its MOT test through terminal rust, everywhere.
At about the same time, we had noticed another sad-looking example in a public car park, near the MOT garage. It was sitting in a pool of its own oil, with a broken rear quarter-light window. Closer inspection revealed that it was being used as "home" by a gentleman of the road.
We tracked down the rightful owner as the proprietor of a car accessory shop in the High Street, and made him a generous offer, of £30. He said no.
A week later we noticed that it had a 7-day notice to remove, stuck to the screen. Another approach to the owner - £30 or crusher... He said ok so we towed it home and up on ramps to inspect the damage. The automatic gearbox had blown up big style, and had obviously been leaking for years, because the whole underside of the car was soaked in gear oil. While the gearbox was well past its best, the chassis was therefore almost entirely rust-free!
We started the engine, and it sounded like a sack of bolts falling down a lift shaft. Clapped.
We transferred the engine and gearbox out of the rustbucket into this one. More floor cutting etc. This then became our family car, and the car in which I passed my driving test!
It was not without its little quirks, however. It had a voracious appetite for starter motors... every fortnight, it wore the teeth down to nothng... ie no go... We went for ages changing the starter pinion every second Sunday, and had it down to a 10-minute job - the Ford Rally team couldn't have done better!
Eventually we found that there were two different starter gears - one had 11 teeth and one had 12. Our car somehow had the wrong teeth on the engine flywheel so we needed a 12-tooth pinion instead of the 11-tooth the parts book specified - this was why the teeth were getting chewed.
We decided to change the flywheel teeth as well. This involved taking out the gearbox and clutch, then removing the flywheel off the back of the engine and chiselling off the old starter ring gear. The starter ring is a shrink fit onto the flywheel, and the manual said it had to be heated so it expanded, then shrank to a tight fit. We had no welding or acetylene gear to heat it, so we were stuck. Well, not quite.
Turn up the kitchen oven as far as it would go, and put the gear ring in there. At the same time, we put the flywheel in the freezer compartment in the fridge. It worked! No more starter motor problems!
This car was responsible for a rapid learning curve in car maintenance. The alternative was to be stranded. Frequently.
As a single example, it suddenly lost all power and cut out while I was heading home one day. The all-too-familiar diagnostic checks showed that there was no fuel reaching the carb. Further testing showed that the fuel pump wasn't working. Dismantled the fuel pump (remember this is at the side of the road!) and found a split in the rubber pump diaphragm. Stranded!
A brief walk up the road, looking for inspiration, and my eyes lit upon a crisp packet. A salt and vinegar one (although that's not essential). Back to the car, stretch the bag over the diaphragm and screw the fuel pump back together. It worked! Drove home, stopping to buy a proper new diaphragm on the way!
A superb comfy car, pure class, and I still want another one. Maybe.
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