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1975 Ford Granada Coupe - Lots & lots of tinkering


TripleRich

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That paint finish is a work of beauty Rich.  The car looks absolutely amazing so far and it is going to be a stunner.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Ford wanted it for their heritage fleet!

So is there anything you can’t do?  You’ve mastered welding, fabrication and painting so far!  Will you be rechroming stuff yourself?  

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52 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

Jesus fucking wept, if this isn't in prime position at the NEC Classic next year then I'd like to seriously know why.

Absolutely superb quality job, your patience and skill has to be admired.

Thanks, patience is the key for this stuff.  It's so tempting to just get the paint out before things are ready.

Some of my work will be on display at this years NEC show.  I didn't do the welding or painting on that one, but I did put it together.  

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19 minutes ago, Parky said:

That paint finish is a work of beauty Rich.  The car looks absolutely amazing so far and it is going to be a stunner.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Ford wanted it for their heritage fleet!

So is there anything you can’t do?  You’ve mastered welding, fabrication and painting so far!  Will you be rechroming stuff yourself?  

This car has been a great learning exercise for me over the past few years.  Wish I had the equipment to chrome stuff!  Its bloody expensive to get things chromed these days.  

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If you find there's anything missing or broken at the reassembly stage, come to me.  I have some assorted Granada saloon spares left over from my Cyprus car.  As long as you don't need anything coupe-specific I might be able to help.  I don't even know exactly what I've got, lol....

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On 9/7/2019 at 9:34 PM, TripleRich said:

This car has been a great learning exercise for me over the past few years.  Wish I had the equipment to chrome stuff!  Its bloody expensive to get things chromed these days.  

There used to be a place in Bedworth that was more than reasonable, they were an industrial chromer as opposed to automotive stuff but the guy who ran it was a car and bike nut so would do cash jobs as long as you weren’t in a rush (the last load I took there were with them a couple of months). Quality was second to none though. I can’t remember the name of the place unfortunately, but can’t imagine there could be many there, last time I used them was about ten years back.

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Another day of masking & painting finished.  Quite good fun but it takes ages due to the amount of masking required.

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Picked up from where I left off last time.  The rear window frames and B post need to be black.  The door frames are covered with black trims which will be repainted & fitted later on.

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Next up is the rear panel.  I'm using pictures from the fabrication process to remind me of where the masking needs to be.  I've used soft edge tape again on the rear to replicate the slightly crap factory ford finish.  You'll notice I've also had to do the boot lid as this forms part of the black rear panel.  Various bits of trim & the rear bumper separate this area from the rest of the car.

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Just about had enough time to do one of the sills.  Still needs a bit of work but you get the idea.  Originally this car had sill chromes which were available as an option, they only came as standard on the Granada Ghia.  I think they look crap and the car has quite enough chrome already in other areas.  I'm reverting to standard spec which by 1975 was black sills.

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I've also refitted the bonnet  Nothing has been flat & polished yet but even with the orange peel I'm very pleased with how things are looking.

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Still a long way to go but its very nice to finally have a painted shell.  I wondered many times over the last few years if I would ever reach this stage.

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I hope to drive and enjoy it!  Got a few places in mind where I'd like to go with it.  Looking forward to some long journeys/road trips with this car.

I have other hobbies besides the car that have been neglected of late.  I'm sure some other pile of junk will turn up in the future but I would like to enjoy the coupe for a while before that happens.

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28 minutes ago, JeeExEll said:

Rich did the rough Mk1 Mexico and damaged Oselli Capri 3.0 get finished?

I'm still working on the mexico.  Its going back together but struggling with literally every part being knackered or missing.  You can get almost everything for one of these, but don't count on any of it fitting properly!  I'm getting there...

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The Oselli had been sorted out.  We're not putting that one back together as it was a metalwork/paint job.  I've just finished putting the old sub frames back in so it can be mobile for the owner to work on it.  Should be heading home soon.

Still busy as usual, a number of cars have been and gone.  Went to view this last week for the next potential job.

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13 minutes ago, TripleRich said:

I'll need a big sheet of steel for that!  Love american cars, we don't get enough in, too many bloody Fords!

Rich, you don’t fancy painting my Mercury do you!?

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Im half serious btw! It does need doing but it’s quite an undertaking and I have no idea what it’d cost...

Its currently all original factory applied paint but it’s getting very thin and actually worn through in places, plus it’s peppered in stone chips and age related marks and little dings. It could do with a new vinyl top too really.

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Wowzers I have always loved these from the days when the banger crew were racing oxfords and they’d have the coupes as their fun cars.

As a 5 year old looking at the coupe lines I was in love from day one. Never been able to afford one sadly.

Vicariously through you is fantastic.

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Bit of corrective work this weekend.  You can't expect everything to go well first time round.  When I painted the car I observed a low spot on the drivers' rear quarter as I was spraying.  I couldn't do anything about it then so decided to ignore it and see how things look.  I already knew at that point I was going to re-do that wing.  I tried to ignore it but I couldn't un-see that low spot so set about correcting my mistake.

It only needs a small skim of filler but due to all the shapes in this area it will take me a few hours to get it perfect.

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I rubbed it down and applied a large skim of filler.  I then re-sanded and re-applied repeatedly as I'm very inexperienced in this sort of work.  I found it very difficult to get the area back to shape but in the end I managed it.

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I then re-primed the area and waited for it to dry.  While the primer was wet I checked my work from various angles under the light and it looked good.  Two of the trim holes have been filled in, I can sort that later.

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Since this requires repainting this quarter I also took the opportunity to solve the other small issue I wasn't happy with.  The body line on the drivers' front wing has a tiny bit about the size of a finger nail that looks crap.  This is because I sanded this area with the edge of my thumb a few times too many.  The result is an odd reflection in the paint.  Didn't take very much to fix this.

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I then sanded everything to be repainted with 800 and also ensured the car was masked up.

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Made sure I had paint left over for this reason.  Put the car in the booth and repainted.  First impressions are much better and I think I've got it.  Will check in the morning when I unmask everything.

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I saw this on the M25 this morning, is it the same colour that you're painting the coupe? It's seriously distinctive , noticed it from about a mile away. A bit odd with all the chrome trim and badges from a GXL , but no vinyl roof and late Ghia seats. But I still like it, probably because of the colour , oh and the banded rims . I know I shouldn't like them , but I do.

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  • 2 weeks later...

With the paintwork now sorted I've moved onto some actual reassembly.  I've been so looking forward to this moment for a very long time and it feels kind of weird that I've actually reached this point.  The paint still needs a polish but I've decided to give it a few weeks to fully cure before I go near it.

Now you may have wondered why on earth I bought such a bad car that needed so much work.  Well as part of the deal I got a literal mountain of spares with the car.  These aren't just good used parts but rather brand new parts still sealed in Ford bags.  It's really the only reason why I considered buying it. 

Parts for these, especially trim is very hard to find and expensive.  Mine is especially difficult because all the coupes sold in the UK where Ghias and have a different trim package.  Most stuff for sale in the UK for coupes is Ghia specific and of no use to me.  I'm very thankful to Dave the previous owner's determination to make sure every part, washer & screw had been sourced for a GL spec coupe.

I started off refitting the screen post gutters.  These are screwed on with a little bead of sealant behind them.  The chrome gutter trim clips over this.

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Put a few items on the front.  All these parts are new genuine Ford.

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Some new door seals.  Very pleased to have these as they are unique to coupe and colour coded to the interior.  The aftermarket seals for most of the classic Fords are usually too fat or questionable in some way (I've fitted loads).

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Door handles & catches next.  The greasy latch was cleaned in an ultrasonic cleaner.  These are great for cleaning fragile & complex parts and ours is usually on every day.  The handles themselves often break on Granada's and mine where no different.  Took them apart and fitted the locks into some new ones.

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Moved to the rear and started to build the back end of the car.  Again the parts mountain was put to good use.

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Now the bumper.  The original is dented, rotten and scuffed, I saved what I could from it and swapped them to a new one.

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Before fitting I waxed the inside of it as most chrome bumpers have little or no protection on the inside.

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I've also done a number of roof related bits as I'm working towards getting the headliner, vinyl roof and windows done.  From there it's sound deadening & wiring.

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Very happy man, it's like Christmas with all these boxes!  If all goes to plan the car should be on the road next summer.

 

 

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