I wasn't going to do a "build thread" on this because its not an active project, just a semi-daily driver and parts chaser but wildrover asked about it so here it is and if there's no interest the thread can just gracefully sink away down
Back in 2016 I thought I needed an estate car as a parts chaser and DIY support vehicle. The Country Squire was originally advertised as beinng able to take a sheet of 8x4 ply in the load area flat so I thought "theres a car aimed right at a practical DIY chap like myself" so I set about looking for one.
A fella called Mally had a couple advertised to I took a run up to the East Coast and had a look. There was a '69 with a 390-2 and there was a '72 with a 400 or 351. I forget. I decided the '69 was more "Muscle car" and at that point I think I was all "muscle car" so I bought that one.
It sort of ran, mostly, and when it sort of ran it seemed to drive. That seemed a good start.
Not for the last time, it arrived at my house on a flatbed.
The car had come from Washington State which is oddly where most of my cars seem to come from. Certainly the Fords do. Anyway it was an ex-farm car, which means it had no inspection for years. It was also flithy inside and out and had some questionable bits of wiring and so on. But underneath it all, the car seemed good.
So I got cleaning and tidying and so on
And I had the help of a certain Dutchman you all may know when we tackled the 2 way tailgate which had become a no-way tailgate. That was a monster pain in the ass as I recall.
Then it was just a question of MOT and registration. They needed MOT back then! Also I think back then you needed an MOT to register it. It was a fairly pain free process as I recall it now.
"WTF have you bought now?"
Testing times
Anyway that was that for a little bit apart from the fact it just kept conking out. Long story short the fuel lines, fuel filter and carburettor were full of desert sand. We found all this out in reverse order and also ended up flushing the tank out.
Misc other repairs happened...
More trips on flat beds
It tried to set fire to itself a couple of times and my mate Paul helped with wiring issues
Then that time the lfiters colapsed... (this is Alan and he's not as short as the photo makes him appear LOL)
and when it went for an MOT and the brakes failed...
And at various points things got tweaked resulting in the fitment of a Summit Racing electronic "billet" distributor, Edelbrock Performer intake manifold, Edelbrock VS 4 barrel carb and then, my favourites, a set of Sandersons ceramic coated headers
And basically it just works now, very nicely, and does what it was bought to do...
I've got a "One day, I will..." list for it but its just what it is right now really
Back in 2016 I thought I needed an estate car as a parts chaser and DIY support vehicle. The Country Squire was originally advertised as beinng able to take a sheet of 8x4 ply in the load area flat so I thought "theres a car aimed right at a practical DIY chap like myself" so I set about looking for one.
A fella called Mally had a couple advertised to I took a run up to the East Coast and had a look. There was a '69 with a 390-2 and there was a '72 with a 400 or 351. I forget. I decided the '69 was more "Muscle car" and at that point I think I was all "muscle car" so I bought that one.
It sort of ran, mostly, and when it sort of ran it seemed to drive. That seemed a good start.
Not for the last time, it arrived at my house on a flatbed.
The car had come from Washington State which is oddly where most of my cars seem to come from. Certainly the Fords do. Anyway it was an ex-farm car, which means it had no inspection for years. It was also flithy inside and out and had some questionable bits of wiring and so on. But underneath it all, the car seemed good.
So I got cleaning and tidying and so on
And I had the help of a certain Dutchman you all may know when we tackled the 2 way tailgate which had become a no-way tailgate. That was a monster pain in the ass as I recall.
Then it was just a question of MOT and registration. They needed MOT back then! Also I think back then you needed an MOT to register it. It was a fairly pain free process as I recall it now.
"WTF have you bought now?"
Testing times
Anyway that was that for a little bit apart from the fact it just kept conking out. Long story short the fuel lines, fuel filter and carburettor were full of desert sand. We found all this out in reverse order and also ended up flushing the tank out.
Misc other repairs happened...
More trips on flat beds
It tried to set fire to itself a couple of times and my mate Paul helped with wiring issues
Then that time the lfiters colapsed... (this is Alan and he's not as short as the photo makes him appear LOL)
and when it went for an MOT and the brakes failed...
And at various points things got tweaked resulting in the fitment of a Summit Racing electronic "billet" distributor, Edelbrock Performer intake manifold, Edelbrock VS 4 barrel carb and then, my favourites, a set of Sandersons ceramic coated headers
And basically it just works now, very nicely, and does what it was bought to do...
I've got a "One day, I will..." list for it but its just what it is right now really