detritusmaximus

I like the new 124 spider. A friend has a 500 Abarth Turbo that keeps me thinking about getting one of those. The problem is it sounds too much like an idling tractor.

I rebuilt the front and rear suspension in a friends Mach1 about 15 years ago. Some of this may be no longer relevant...or hazy. On the front strutrod to frame bushings, do not use Midolyne (if it's still even sold anymore). We used them and they cracked and fell apart within months. Polyurethane is too stiff at that location as well. It will break a 50 year old strut rod. Make sure that you have zerk grease fittings in the front upper control arms that you can actually get too later on. The fittings that came with the new shafts could not be accessed once in the car. I think they were pointed front and back and we changed them to right angle fittings. On the rear, we used polyurethane bushings on the shackle to leaf spring, but used rubber at the shackle to frame. It took up some softness but still allowed some movement at the frame where poly might be too stiff. Poly is good for swaybar links and mounts, but don't make them too tight or you'll risk breaking swaybar end link bolts. If you use polyurethane anywhere, factory hardware torque numbers are not necessarily right.

Don't forget that controlling the weight transfer (fore and aft, side to side) is a big piece of the puzzle. Even if you get 50/50 distribution, weight transfer can still cause you problems. Especially if your weight balance requires moving things further from the cg...the longer the pendulum, the more it takes to control it.

Jim, I'm more partial to a dark red, like my old 70 fastback. It wasn't the original color, but it was like blood red. Normally I don't care for the bright reds. But, vermillion fire is a good one. It's not red, it's not orange.... I looked at buying a Mach1 that color in the early 90's.

Thanks! That is a nice sunroof.

Greg, Any chance you have pics of your sunroof?

Do you have someone in the states that could help process it thru a "bill of sale" state? It's a paperwork shuffle. Some US states do not have titles for older cars. So a "bill of sale" is required for registering the car. You "sell" the car to someone in one of these states and they register it there, then they "sell" the car back to you with paperwork/bill of sale from that state. Now it is in the system in that state and the other states have a system for dealing with transfers from that state to theirs. States the require a title generate a new title. That is a simplified explanation, but there are companies that do this for you. And it's all legal, provided the car is not in any stolen car database. Your situation may be more complicated being in Europe, but you might get around that using a stateside friend as "you". The trick is to stay away from states that require a visual inspection in person of a vehicle transfering in from out of statebefore they will allow the registering of the vehicle. The services used to be listed in Hemmings Motor News.

Yeah, I ran into the same thing looking at a 72 or 73 sportsroof back around 89. The kid (although we were probably the same age) swore it had a Boss 302 in it. When I questioned that he said they had verified it. They probably thought the same thing that all 302s were Boss 302s. If I had been thinking a little quicker I would have asked him if with the stories of the legendary Boss 302, maybe they were a little disappointed in the performance of their car? Like maybe there was something wrong with it...

Not for those that have passed on, just fun memories we have of our dads..some true, some not so true... I was thinking of the time i talked to my dad about that time in your life when things start to change. Your body starts to fill out. Your voice changes. You grow hair in new places. Your interests and feeling towards other people starts to take on new meaning and new directions. Parts of your body begin to react in new ways you never knew to expect. I remember his wise words of wisdom like it was yesterday... "Welcome to middle age."

Glad to hear I'm not the only one to dislike BF's. I've never had a set I liked, always seemed like they lacked grip and seemed downright scary in the rain. On the other hand, I do have a PAIR of BF's that I really liked...

Depends on the type. Standard aftermarket pop-up s are not a hot item and are usually too small. If I remember right the Cougars had an actual metal sunroof as an option, but I could be mistaken. If it's a really well done conversion, it might not hurt the value, otherwise, it's probably not a good thing. Pics would help.

Here are some pics of Opel lights. They've been used for a lot of conversions as the bucket only needs a round hole large enough to fit it. The lenses can be swapped around to some extent. The buckets range from single bulb/single filament, single bulb/dual filament to two bulb with one single and one dual and possibly one with the back up built in (I don't quite recall on that one, but It would explain the center clear circle. The GT and Manta lights are about 5-6" in diameter. And this is from the euro market Opel Rekord, with a different light and trim detail:

The joys of ultraviolet light. They keep saying plastic lasts forever, but the UV eventually breaks it down. and it gets chalky. Same with paint.

When is that show. I have been in years past. Thanks Jeff Collins Ford's Unlimited....July 26, I believe. Might want to confirm that.

Yes, there will be a baby boom...in a decade and a half they will be known as the 'QuaranTeens'...not my joke, but still good. On a 'perspective' related note...as a selfaware species we have a tendency to think that old things have been around for a long time. Like, you know, a Model T...that's ANCIENT! Before hydraulic brakes! But, I feel like I'm on the younger side of things compared to many on this forum having gone to high school after what most would consider to be the 70's, I missed any real involvement in the muscle era, they were just used cars. My grandfather was born in 1915 and past in 2017. I grew up in St. Louis in an urban area, not suburban. One hour walk to downtown (The Arch). Except for one building, all the schools I went to were brick filled with oak woodwork, chicken wire security glass and oak or cork floors. Oh, yeah, and no air conditioning. Old stuff. On to my point...probably more than 80% of this entire metropolitan area was built within my grandfathers lifetime. 50-60% within my dads. And I'm at halfway thru my grandfathers lifespan...50 years to go.