So Have a great Christmas and new year and we look forward to seeing you and your Cherished Classic in 2012. Keep ane ye out also for my ongoing Bond Equipe GT4S restoration which has stalled a little due to the NEC show, but the event has insipred a few ideas so watch this space.

All the best

Pete & Team

I know the PA Velox isn’t finished yet but I couldn’t pass up the chance for this rare beast…

See if you can guess what it is??

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Yep, a mk3 Zodiac….Estate!!
The old girl is in a bit of a sorry state and will obviously be a long term project…
I know from the photos it doesn’t look like much but believe it or not pretty much everything comes with the car.  Albeit in bits.

Apart from 2 front doors, 1 rear door and the panels that sit above the rear door frame to square them off into the roof…
The plan is to restore the body work, update the handling and do my homework on the existing higher compression engine with a bit of period straight 6 engine tuning…
Such as Triple carbs and inlet manifold, re-profiled cam, ported and polished head,  if this doesn’t meet expectations I may look into other engine changes or forced induction??
The natural philosophy would be to stick a V8 in it, but I still like the idea of keeping a straight 6 so things like Chrysler Hemi-6, and the American Ford Inline 6 300ci engines keep popping into my head…

Even the odd  :shock: Nissan Skyline engine idea has filled my head…
Anyway its a long way off yet, im just waffling and banding around idea’s at the moment…
Would it be a travesty and also a form of desecration to modify something that is, apparently, 1 of only 12, left in the country??

What would you do, if you had one?

If any of you lovely people have any advice, experiences or suggestions about Vauxhall PA Cresta/Velox’s, Ford Zephyr’s, Zodiacs, that maybe of help or I can help you I the same way,  please get in touch…

Oh yeah, and If anyone wants a quote or advise on their Classic car, Hot Rod, American or Custom Car Insurance don’t hesitate to give me a call here at Cherished Vehicle Insurance on 08450773080 or 01212376040.

Alternatively you can email me at greg.ikin@cherishedvehicleinsurance.co.uk

As promised i have attached a copy of a Bond Equipe Newsletter from 1981, this was obtained with a number more from the previous owner of my new project a Bond Equipe GT4s 1966. It is a good read with some interesting stories of shows visited and the spares the club offered for sale to members. I did promised some interior shots but as yet i have not returned to where the car is stored but I will be over the next week and i promise to have them uploaded shortly.  I am trying to learn as much as I can about the Bond Equipe so if anyone can help me with such things as checking engine numbers, as mine starts with a BF which i cant find any links to on the web.

I will be at the Cherished Vehicle Insurance stand in Hall 4 at the NEC classic car show so please come and say hi and it will be good to meet as many people interested in Bond cars as possible. We are also having a driving challenge aimed at the over 40s with the fastest time of the weekend winning a xbox 360 and the brand new forza 4 game.

 BOND_EQUIP_NEWS

All the Best

Pete

www.cherishedvehicleinsurance.co.uk

Well, as you all know the Velox is still not finished but the time has come to move it to a new home as Mick has a life of his own and numerous projects and repairs to complete himself…

I’d like to give a big shout out and thanks to Mick and Sharon for all of their help, food and coffee to date!!

Cant wait to see Mick’s new project make progress, its big, its currently in his backyard and its gona have (of course) a big block Mopar lump in it.

If you know him you probably know what car it is, but out of respect i’ll leave it to you to decipher and for Mick to tell you when he’s ready…

Its been emotional and an end of an era!!

It goes without saying that you should always advise your insurance company of any change or amendment to your policy.  So a brief phone call to Cherished Vehicle Insurance HQ that my storage postcode had changed and I was ready for pastures new.

Bones my future brother in law stepped up, borrowed a low-loader and helped with the journey north where it will be worked on in its new workshop, In Stoke.

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Next weekend, a clear out of the garage where it’ll be kept and I’ll finally knuckle down again and make inroads to get it finished.

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Until next time…another project in the pipeline??

If any of you lovely people have any advice, experiences or suggestions about Vauxhall PA Cresta/Velox’s that maybe of help or I can help you I the same way,  please get in touch…

Oh yeah, and If anyone wants a quote or advise on their Classic car, Hot Rod, American or Custom Car Insurance don’t hesitate to give me a call here at Cherished Vehicle Insurance on 08450773080 or 01212376040.

Alternatively you can email me at greg.ikin@cherishedvehicleinsurance.co.uk

I have to admit i can see the link but i have not passed on the news yet i will be respraying black, as the blue is a pretty poor paint job that covers the original Bronze bodywork.

This week i will be attempting to start the beast so keep tuned and i will also post some interior shots.

Till the next time

Pete

Well the time had come for another project. I have to admit that a Bond Equipe wasnot my 1st choice but it came my way and with classic english cars being my first love this Triumph Herald based classic fits the bill. The car is a 1966 model that has been in a garage and unmoved since 1987 needing much work but complete.

The plan is, well there isn’t one yet but first of all I will be seeing if i can get the 1147cc engine up and running, and then take it from there. I will be updating weekly with the project progress and photos, as well as cuttings from the Bond Equipe club newsletters from the early eighties that came with the car, these include reviews of meetings, and of all things the cost of insuring a Bond Equipe in the eighties.

If anyone can give me any tips or advice it would really be appreciated please email me at peter.mcilvenny@cherishedvehicleinsurance.co.uk and if you do want to insure any type of Bond or any other english classic ar go to our website www.cherishedvehicleinsurance.co.uk or call us on 0845 0773080 and mention you have seen the blog and i will do my best to give you a special discount.

Cheers

Pete

Its got a V belt pulley!!  Its got 70 amps!! Its modern and not original!! who cares??

and worst of all, it was under me nose in a box on the shelf in the garage…

A Bosch unit from me old Ford Escort…RS Turbo!!

Okay, my credibility in certain circles may have just taken a dive but I was young(er) and naive…What can you say you live and learn.

But here it is my, Holy Grail.

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After many a pep talk in the past with both, my dad and my friend Mick, I should be well versed in the saying “measure twice, cut once”…

Alas.  A little modification was needed to shorten the adjuster bars that connect the tie rods to tie rod ends so as to ensure correct toe-in angles…

Steering column next.

Ive modified the original bracket thus dropping the entire column 4 inches and shortened the outer column sleeve.

A further bracket has been made to connect from under dash to lower column.  This will stop the column flexing and causing any fatigue.

The steering column itself will be a hybrid of  Ford Cortina Lower outer shaft Plug Welded to fit the Vauxhall Velox upper inner shaft.  This in turn will bolt up to the Ford Cortina coupling and rack…and, I can still retain the Velox steering wheel.

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Job done…nearly…

Last time we all hung out it was at the SoapBox Derby raising money for the Cae Dai Trust, A free entry, non profit 50′s Museum that housed memorabilia and Classic American/British cars from the period.

The museum was sadly razed to the ground in 2009, a suspected arson attack but with help and kind donations the site is being rebuilt…

For more info heres a link to their Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cae-Dai-Trust/109777422385367.

Right then.  Saturday 3rd Sept,

finish work,

load up the car and make the 2 hour  journey from Birmingham to Towyn, North wales for the Guzzlers Kar Klub annual Hotrod and Kustom show…

Again,money raised over the weekend goes to several charitable causes as selected by the Guzzlers.

Saturday nights pre-show get together in the Klub tent is a right scream.

With the Guzzlers BBQ sizzling in the background theirs a chance to talk shop, catching up over a couple of shandys, checking out each others rides, projects, progress and exchanging ideas.

I even finally managed to put faces to names that I had chatted to regularly on Rods n Sods, Retro rides and other forums…

A few photos depicting saturday nights antics!!

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Sunday and the official car show starts filtering into the field from around 9 in the morning.

Some awesome machinery turned up, amongst them a “Nitro Express” a Fordson Gasser owned by “Ken Mee”.

And  my personal favourite, also winning an award for “Guzzlers Choice” the Hemi Powered, Black Ford 5 window coupe owned by Originals Car Club member “John Kellett”…

Some photos of the cars from the Sunday show field.

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So, some friendly advise.

If you haven’t been to the show yet, be sure to put this date in your diaries for next year…

Again a big thank you to all of the Guzzlers for an absolutely awesome weekend…

A steering box maybe in the way of your headers but you still need to steer not just to keep the MOT man happy but an array of safety issues could arise…

The answer, rack and pinion and after a bit of fettling, the correct rack came in the form of a Left Hand Drive Ford Mk3 Cortina  brand spanking new from Kiley Clinton of Digbeth, Birmingham. Their website can be found here http://www.steering-racks.co.uk/

Owner Roger and his staff were more than accommodating helping me adapt the rack by shortening it and making up adjuster bars to fit the rack and crazy rare Vauxhall Cresta 9/16 BSP x 16 Threads per inch tie rod ends…

Cheers to Roger and the guys for helping me a step further!!

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