FirstMate

The photos so far are where things were left at Christmas, with the assumption that this would end up dismantled and forgotten in the shed. Was surprised to hear a month later it had been lined up as a downtime job at a local panelbeater and was dropped off shortly after. Got to see it a couple of weeks ago and there’s been decent progress: Replacement doors sourced: (For those following from the discussion thread -@Lord Gruntfuttock and @locost_bryan - think these were out of an XC coupe, and he’s deciding whether to tweak for XA handles or just going with the XC ones). Minor repairs to each door step: A tidy up of the quarter panels etc:

In addition to the deck rust, disassembly showed rust in a front pillar, door steps, bottom of quarter panels, and a few minor issues in the floor (in addition to historical riveted repair patches). Previous pics show doors were pretty knackered, with both bent and rusty:

Been down south and have an actual update on this, but need to post some previous disassembly pics to set the scene. Having gotten it home and running, the initial enthusiasm lessened as it came apart. Worst was under the deck around the fuel tank where rats had been camping, and a fair amount of the body didn’t stand up to the screwdriver test:

Did the booked repair cert inspection happen? How’d it go?

Nice Val. You mentioned a fair while back you’d driven around Newlands - you still up this way? Interested in the floor pan replacement - will have to sort my AP5’s at some point.

Bit slow on this but will work through some more updates. Small mishap getting it off the truck - the rear brake drum was seized and it took a good 30m to get loose. Once free the truck was realigned with the driveway, and an oversight on chock placement saw the now free-rolling ute collect the truck deck handrail: After a couple of beers and an afternoon tinkering, this earlier setback was forgotten when we got it running. Ran sweet for something that had sat for so long - was a happy runner after the first fire, with no smoke etc.

@deankdx plan is to get it back on the road, although is going to be a fair bit of work. Have a couple more posts to follow, but had both a seized brake and a rusted fuel tank - the latter tempered the excitement of getting it running yesterday arvo. @igor nice spot - has had a fairlane bonnet and grill fitted. Old man is pretty keen on this and will retain.

Came back a couple of days later for pickup. Thought mate was bringing his car trailer but he arrived with a recovery truck from work. Was handy - found brakes were seized on a rear wheel. Winch made short work of it, and was out in daylight after 15+ years. Was a nice moment following it home too - one of the previous owners’ mates was waiting at an intersection as it went past. We saw him do a double take and point it out to his dog in the passengers seat….

Discuss:

Discuss:

Hi all, This will be an intermittent/limited series as it’s not mine, but had a wee Christmas treat that was worth sharing. Travelled home for the break and the old man let slip he’d been offered a 1973 XA Falcon ute. A well-known daily driver in town with the previous owner, it’d been parked in a barn by his son in the mid 2000s, with the rego on hold. Old man has a matching set of an XR8 and XR6 ELs - he and current owner got talking and it was offered. A day or two after arriving in town we went for a look to plan pickup:

Discussion thread:

Discuss

Hi all - is time to post re my recently-arrived AP5 before it's spotted in the wild: Had quit and offloaded a 10-year-plus Mini rebuild project earlier in the year (there's an old build thread here somewhere, and seriously - cannot recommend enough the cathartic release of seeing a project you've grown to hate being loaded onto a trailer and taken away). Had been looking for a road-legal mid-60's saloon that I could enjoy and tinker with like a Mark 2 Cortina or a Mark 3 Zephyr, and nearly snagging a decent Cortina in late March. Had a yarn with an uncle re what I was after at a family event at Easter, and a week later he rang to say he'd serendipitously come across a yellow AP5 for sale by a small-town mechanic owner while picking up an engine. After googling what an AP5 was (and having the old man's eyes light up at the mention of an AP5 Valiant), a week or two later it was mine. It needed a bit of work to get back on the road (last on road in 2019; the WOF-issuing mechanic seller said from the outset he'd fail it on rusty sills). I'll post a couple of threads on the work done between purchase and its arrival last week, but it's here (Wellington), and road-legal. It's pretty solid, including a recently-reconditioned motor - the plan is to enjoy it and gradually improve it over time while keeping ahead of WOF inspections (while not major or obvious there's a couple of bits of rust that need to be addressed).