So what did I achieve in my first day in the garage? Absolutely jack shit….. but I moved a few boxes around, picked up a wrench and wandered around aimlessly trying to remember what I was up to. I unpacked a few of the boxes, wondered at the shiny chrome on some of my treasured parts that I thought I had lost a long time ago. Boy does it suck packing up a double garage, 2 and a half years of things I just had to have, flogging off the parts car and moving the good one across Australia. But going through some of those special parts, donated from old friends, colleagues and even people I don’t like got the juices flowing again….. There is a story behind every single part that will go on the car, where it came from and who donated it to the cause.
I’ve had the car for 4 years; it has traveled with me across 3 states of Australia and is still a hell of a long way from finished. I bought it as a poor uni student with lots of time and a little bit of money I got for my 21st birthday. 1 grand for a rust free 1963 XL F alcon sedan delivery and a garage of parts that the old owner had collected over a couple of decades of playing with early birds. His misses had told him that he had to get rid of it, and I was in the right place at the right time. Unfortunately I should have lived by the rule “don’t buy an incomplete car, it will cost you more in the long run”……ain’t that the truth!
It’s come a long way from a collection of miscoloured panels that it was, but as a complete novice to the car building game I’m learning as I go along. So its time to modify the firewall, move the motor back a bit and sort out the radiator, gearbox linkages and exhaust. The plan is 15’s and whitewalls with original hubcaps, emu grey paintwork with some kind of crazy roof scheme (metal-flake weiss?), 200ci “big block” straight six, 3 speed auto and boosted drums all round. Interior probably blau leather bench, under dash AC, column shift and a mattress in the back! Got to have something to aim for.
Time frame: stopped giving deadlines years ago!



Time to get the wrenching again.