General - My Sister's Mustang

My Sister bought a Mustang last year and I have been meaning to put up a few pics for a while now. I was reminded to do so though recently when Des told me about a rather funny incident that I just had to share with you all.

Anyway here are the proud owners on the day they picked the car up from Wanaka. Des, her husband Scott and my nephew (an up and coming Petrolhead) Daniel.

In fact here is a pic of Daniel a couple of weekends ago. We were going to stock cars so we bought him some ear muffs and in the pack was a face mask and goggles. A budding dragster driver. See the similarity here?

Anyway back to the Mustang...... it was a great buy and is in bloody good nick. The guy that owned it was a mechanic and had a log of everything he'd done to the car. He'd even taken bits off and rebuilt them just for the hell of it!

Here are a few pics from when they first got it home.

Now.....the funny story.....Des, Scott and Daniel had the car up at their Holiday Home in Cromwell so they could attend a car show up there. Des and Daniel stayed on for a weeks holiday though and Scott had to go back to Dunedin for work. He took the Mustang back and left Des and Daniel. with the daily driver.

Now on the way back gas was getting a bit low so he pulled into a service station, fuelled up and went inside to pay. But when he came back he opened the door and got in.......on the right hand side.......bugger its a left hook.

It would have to have been one of those moments where you sit there for a tick and think to yourself.....Bugger!

Now that would have been alright except a local who was filling up alongside, saw all this happening and when Scott got out of the car he came out with this gem......

You can picture him now.....a heartland New Zealander....salt of the earth kind of guy......with no emotion in his voice at all.....just a few priceless words....

 "Not your car is it mate"

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General - Pick-a-Part

I have mentioned Pick-a-Part a few times in previous Blogs and while the name kind of explains what its all about, I thought because most of you wouldn't ever go there, it might be worth posting a few pics so you can actually see what its all about.

Pick-a-Part has about 5 branches from memory and as luck would have it 3 of them are in Auckland. Just like a kid in a candy store!

The setup at Pick-a-Part is pretty basic but that's what I like about it really, there really are no frills. That said they also have a website which allows you to check what stock they have available in case you are looking for a particular car and you can also look up the part prices.

On the whole though they are pretty good to deal with and pretty cheap. Like everything they have changed a bit over the years.....it used to be free to go in, then $1 and now its $2. You are given a stamp though, so once you have paid your $2 you can go to any other branch on that same day and not have to pay again! Bargain!

You also have to sign an indemnity form to the effect that "I am going in at my own risk and Pick-a-Part won't be responsible if I get hurt". Then you put on one of their grubby Hi Viz vests and pick some parts.....oh and I almost forgot....you have to have shoes on (no jandals). Tony that was for your benefit.....it will save you having turn round and go home to get your shoes.

Once you are in there you can grab anything off any car. I tend to use the place not only as a source for parts but also a source for ideas. Sometimes you don't know what you want until you see it. I find its best to go along with an idea of what you want and then look at the different styles and options. The thing is car manufacturers have spend thousands on creating cars and the various components so there is no point me trying to reinvent the wheel when I can use something that has already been created.

It is also a good place to go when you are trying to work out how something goes together or like I have been.....trying to work out where some of the wires go on a Toyota Celica Aircon unit.

Anyway here are a few pics of the Mangere branch.

What you can see in this photo above is about 1/3rd of what is there, with a lot more around to the left behind the sign.

Right I better get going as I am planning another trip there this afternoon!










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Article - Show Rodder

There is a bit of a standing joke among my hot rodding mates. If your car makes an appearance in a magazine or pops up on the Hot Rod forum or in a video on Youtube, you are deemed to be a Show Rodder. 

You might think this would be a good thing, but make too many appearances and you never hear the end of it and you are chastised and......well......generally have the piss taken out of ya.

It was no surprise then that a few phone calls and texts started coming my way recently. That open day we went to at Juniors in Wellington recently (where my chassis is being built) happened to be covered in both NZ Rodder and Hot Rod Magazine and there was a picture of my chassis in both mags......Doh!

Unfortunately I missed grabbing a copy of NZ Rodder before it sold out, but I did pick up a copy of NZ Hot Rod, and I have copied the article below. If I manage to get a copy of Rodder I'll add that to the blog later.

Anyway hopefully if you click on the image of the two page spread below, you will get a larger one that will be big enough to read. The offending picture of the chassis is in the centre of the second page. My chassis is the one between the chassis in the foreground and the red chassis jig in the background.

 Yeah I know, barely warrants a mention but that's all it takes.....fairs fair though, I have been known to torment someone cause their front wheel could be seen in behind another car :-)

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