Wibble’s Wittering - Cortina, Senator & occasional Skoda & family ramblings, soz!

[Datsuncog]

16 hours ago, Wibble said:

Wish I could get that for £675 now!

So do I!

Sadly NJW605X vanished off the DVLA's radar in 2014 - so is probably bean cans now.

[barefoot]

You're not the same Wibble that used to come in a job lot with Botch, Bingo & Ben are you?

[Wibble]

4 hours ago, barefoot said:

You're not the same Wibble that used to come in a job lot with Botch, Bingo & Ben are you?

Nope, I’m the one with a pencil up each nostril and a pair of underpants on my head.

[Wibble]

Well, tomorrow will be “bring a bit of your car to work day” for me.

I work in fire & flood restoration and we are very fortunate to have very skilled furniture restorers in house. Let’s see what they can do with this…

Hope to add some photos of the work in progress tomorrow 🤞

[High Jetter]

A cunning plan!

[Wibble]

55 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

A cunning plan!

As a fox…

[Wibble]

Got to work this morning and removed the veneered panel from the dash:

Then stripper was applied:

Once stripped, the veneer was found to be loose along the narrow top and bottom sections of the instrument surround, so these were re-glued 

Once dried, the panel was lightly sanded and given a base coat

Several coats of semi-gloss lacquer will be applied tomorrow but it’s looking good I think.

Whilst this was being done, I noticed the Perspex over the instruments was quite cloudy, so tried some cutting compound. Not sure these before and after pics really show it but there is a big difference in clarity now😀

I’ll update tomorrow, hopefully with final results.

[Wibble]

It’s nearly finished now but needs a couple of more coats of lacquer. My colleague who’s the restorer working on it, is off now for the rest of the week, so it will be next week now but no matter. Looking good now though:

[grogee]

Seem to remember the bit of timber in my Scorpio was genuine* wood although probably pine; not really polished smooth as such. Good old Ford. 

[Wibble]

The last of the Cortinas , and everything after, seemed to be wood “effect” rather than actual wood, but this is genuine walnut veneer on ply. There is a dash on eBay at the moment listed as mark 3 2000E cortina that is clearly very late Mk5 (hazard & hrw  switches a dead give away) and it looks plastic. I’m now on the hunt for a hazard switch that the symbol hasn’t worn off of yet but I’m not prepared to pay £50 for one!

[wesacosa]

I seem to remember my Crusader had real wood door cappings but wood effect everywhere else. But it was a long time ago so may be misremembering

[Wibble]

40 minutes ago, wesacosa said:

I seem to remember my Crusader had real wood door cappings but wood effect everywhere else. But it was a long time ago so may be misremembering

I think you might be right about the door capping actually. Back in the early nineties my mate had a Caribbean blue crusader when I had a Caribbean blue 1.6L and his door cappings seemed like real wood.

[adw1977]

It seems that the door cappings were proper wood veneer throughout Mk5 production, but the fascia was only wood for the first year, switching to plastic with a simulated wood grain in October 1980 and remaining so until the end of production. 

 

[Wibble]

Thanks @adw1977that confirms it😀

[wesacosa]

Is that your Mk4 I just read about in a Ford Memories magazine I was flicking through @Wibble?

[Wibble]

Please tell me more @wesacosa  I’ve no idea 

[wesacosa]

I was flicking through a Magazine online ( I have a subscription to Readly) and saw this in a Magazine called Ford Memories, Shaping Britain

[Wibble]

Blimey! That is indeed my car. Can you tell me what issue that’s in @wesacosa? I’d love to get a copy as I’ve not seen that before. The car’s  had a fair bit of work done since then.

[wesacosa]

I am not sure if its one of these unusual magazine that WH Smith sometimes sell or if its online only but this is the link to purchase online.  There is a 6 page feature on your car, plus a lot of other Cortina features as well as a Mk1 Transit ambulance and the Original Sweeney Consul GT

Interestingly its the latest issue, which is odd given it seems to be from some time ago, so I wonder if that has featured in a previous classic car magazine and these guys just put together articles from elsewhere in a souvenir type magazine

https://shop.kelsey.co.uk/issue/View/issue/ACF006/ford-memories-6-shaping-britain

[rob88h]

On 3/16/2022 at 9:21 PM, Wibble said:

wood “effect” rather than actual wood,

I can’t find a citation, so this may be bunkum, but I was told while on a Morgan factory tour that safety regulations dictate real wood can’t be used for dashboards to prevent splintering and staking you through the chest like a vampire. Fibreboard and vaneer only. No idea when that came in, or if it is real. My lasting memory was that a safety talk coming from Morgan was a bit rich. 

[Wibble]

1 hour ago, wesacosa said:

I am not sure if its one of these unusual magazine that WH Smith sometimes sell or if its online only but this is the link to purchase online.  There is a 6 page feature on your car, plus a lot of other Cortina features as well as a Mk1 Transit ambulance and the Original Sweeney Consul GT

Interestingly its the latest issue, which is odd given it seems to be from some time ago, so I wonder if that has featured in a previous classic car magazine and these guys just put together articles from elsewhere in a souvenir type magazine

https://shop.kelsey.co.uk/issue/View/issue/ACF006/ford-memories-6-shaping-britain

Thanks for this. I have previously seen a photo of my car in an article on line about Cortina prices by Classics World (Kelsey) but was unaware of this and will now order a copy👍

[Wibble]

18 minutes ago, rob88h said:

I can’t find a citation, so this may be bunkum, but I was told while on a Morgan factory tour that safety regulations dictate real wood can’t be used for dashboards to prevent splintering and staking you through the chest like a vampire. Fibreboard and vaneer only. No idea when that came in, or if it is real. My lasting memory was that a safety talk coming from Morgan was a bit rich. 

Yes, safety talk from Morgan, hilarious 😆

[Wibble]

We’ll, I’ve ordered a copy of the Ford Memories mag and they’re quoting 5-10 days delivery. Also checked out two WH Smith’s and they didn’t have it so now I just wait☹️

[Wibble]

Ok, it’s finished, will get it back in the car over the weekend:

I’m really pleased with it 😀

[Wibble]

Ford Memories mag, or “bookazine” as they call it, arrived today and it is great to see my car in print. Don’t know when they saw it but it’s had a fair bit of paint since. I do wonder though if they did actually drive it. They say they road tested it but then describe the “light and progressive” clutch and the steering being “unassisted but light enough not to notice”. They can’t have driven it, unless it has all seriously seized up since then!

As I’ve mentioned before, the steering and clutch in this are horribly heavy and stiff, unlike any other cortina I’ve driven, not to mention the brakes, which feel completely unassisted (although all hopefully soon to be addressed now lighter evenings and better weather is arriving).

There is also a mistake, not unusual for Kelsey unfortunately . They mention the auto choke and pumping the throttle to set it in the VV carb. The VV was later on the mark 5. Mine has an auto choke, but it’s a twin choke Webber and sets with one pump perfectly. 

As for mistakes, later in this edition, they talk about the Mk1 Mondeo auto, with it’s three speed autobox!

Sorry, rant over, as you were😁

 

[Wibble]

Well  it’s back in the car but whether or not the speedometer works we’ll find out in due course.

[High Jetter]

That looks...fit

[Wibble]

Fired up the Senator today for the first time this year. Started first time, as always, and drove well although the water pump is gradually getting more vocal.

What was odd though is that the stereo is working fine again after it refusing to play last year 😀Must have been down to damp.

I have a new water pump and heater matrix for it and hope to do these soon but my useless bloody back is causing me grief after only short periods of tinkering and although I’ve also accumulated ball joints, clutch cable, steering knuckle and fuel sender unit for the Cortina, I may well have to farm these jobs out now🙁

[Wibble]

Evening all, I hope everyone’s enjoying the long weekend. I have a couple of questions that I’d love some thoughts/feedback on:

This is the Cortina engine bay at the moment:

It’s rather better than shown in it’s recent magazine feature but what colour should the rocker cover be on this, blue or black? It’s a 1977 2.0GL for those that don’t know. I don’t like the chrome one on it at the moment.

I like originality but how far do you go to stick with this? I’d like a near side door mirror but it has never had one. It was an option but would it be wrong to add one now?

Finally, what’s the general opinion on electronic ignition? I have an Accuspark distributor, coil, plugs and leads but haven’t fitted them due to the originality aspect, plus mixed comments I’ve seen.

I’d really appreciate any thoughts or comments 🙂

[wesacosa]

https://www.buysellcortina.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/1936-pinto-rocker-covers/

some discussion on here. seems to be related to if its UK or German built