Hi all,
Thought it might be time to tell you all about my latest project. A '96 EF Falcon wagon ex-taxi (Option 25) I've dubed Big Bird.
So, it all started before Christmas. I was looking for a cheap car so I could take my XR6 wagon off the road to do up. I found Big Bird on eBay, but at $1000 I just watched it. After no bids and being relisted weekly for a month, I contacted the seller and we settled on $800. Organised a weekend to pick it up, then set off. Once I got there, permit in hand the seller only took $700 because it was running rough. Sweet.
Some of will be wondering, why an ex-taxi. Yes it was cheap, but came with heaps of spare parts. New carpet and underlay, front & rear cross drilled/slotted rotors with pads, headlights & indicators, front bumper bar. All this was new and not fitted.
This is where the fun begins......
So, after leaving home on the morning of January 6th at 7.30am to drive 1.5hrs to Cockatoo to get a car, my day went like this. Picked up said car and started to drive home. Only got as far as Emerald, car dies in the middle of a roundabout. A local tows me into the servo, only to find the battery is dead. Replaced that. Car starts, but won't run. Wait an hour for the RACV, then told, coil pack is dead too. Then, drive all the way back to Werribee to get the Volvo & a trailer. Spend an hour trying to get a tandem trailer, then drive out to Emerald again. Try to load car onto trailer, find it's too low, exhaust hits the trailer. Another local to the rescue, car is then locked & loaded. Drive home. All this turns out to be a 12 hour mission! Thank god for my woderful woman, allbeit grumpy, riding shotgun & helping.
At home.
With Big Bird sitting on the front lawn for two weeks and me feeling a little dejected, I got off my ass and brought, and fitted, a new coil pack. I drove her to work for a week, then the work started.
I took her to work with plans of doing a closed door respray......
..... those plans soon went out the window after finding out most of her had been painted in acrylic!
Paint stripped the bonnet.
The worst of the rust was in the RHR door.
Spot welds cracked, re-welded and bogged.
Doors.
As of 09/02/13.
I found a rear dickie seat on eBay, $61. Sent the Mrs. out to Bendigo to pick it up. Needs a clean.
Also found on eBay, a front bench seat $100.
I plan on staying with the taxi theme, I've also got personalised plates too.
So, there we have it peeps. The story so far....
Thought it might be time to tell you all about my latest project. A '96 EF Falcon wagon ex-taxi (Option 25) I've dubed Big Bird.
So, it all started before Christmas. I was looking for a cheap car so I could take my XR6 wagon off the road to do up. I found Big Bird on eBay, but at $1000 I just watched it. After no bids and being relisted weekly for a month, I contacted the seller and we settled on $800. Organised a weekend to pick it up, then set off. Once I got there, permit in hand the seller only took $700 because it was running rough. Sweet.
Some of will be wondering, why an ex-taxi. Yes it was cheap, but came with heaps of spare parts. New carpet and underlay, front & rear cross drilled/slotted rotors with pads, headlights & indicators, front bumper bar. All this was new and not fitted.
This is where the fun begins......
So, after leaving home on the morning of January 6th at 7.30am to drive 1.5hrs to Cockatoo to get a car, my day went like this. Picked up said car and started to drive home. Only got as far as Emerald, car dies in the middle of a roundabout. A local tows me into the servo, only to find the battery is dead. Replaced that. Car starts, but won't run. Wait an hour for the RACV, then told, coil pack is dead too. Then, drive all the way back to Werribee to get the Volvo & a trailer. Spend an hour trying to get a tandem trailer, then drive out to Emerald again. Try to load car onto trailer, find it's too low, exhaust hits the trailer. Another local to the rescue, car is then locked & loaded. Drive home. All this turns out to be a 12 hour mission! Thank god for my woderful woman, allbeit grumpy, riding shotgun & helping.
At home.
With Big Bird sitting on the front lawn for two weeks and me feeling a little dejected, I got off my ass and brought, and fitted, a new coil pack. I drove her to work for a week, then the work started.
I took her to work with plans of doing a closed door respray......
..... those plans soon went out the window after finding out most of her had been painted in acrylic!
Paint stripped the bonnet.
The worst of the rust was in the RHR door.
Spot welds cracked, re-welded and bogged.
Doors.
As of 09/02/13.
I found a rear dickie seat on eBay, $61. Sent the Mrs. out to Bendigo to pick it up. Needs a clean.
Also found on eBay, a front bench seat $100.
I plan on staying with the taxi theme, I've also got personalised plates too.
So, there we have it peeps. The story so far....