Lack of experience didn't stop Greg
S. from taking on his first project, and with the help of friends, he achieved
his goal and then some
Many of us lust after a car during our
younger years only to return to that car in later life and Greg Smith is one
such enthusiast. "I always wanted a 1600E when I was younger. Back in the
'70s the 1600E was the car to have, but I was an apprentice electrician and
could never really afford one, I got married, had a family and that was it. The
usual sort of thing."
Classic
Fords restored: Lack of experience didn't stop Greg Smith from taking on his
first project, and with the help of friends, he achieved his goal and then some
So Greg moved on and forgot about his
desires for a 1600E for a good many years until this car came to his attention
thanks to a friend. "A mate of mine who does a lot of restorations put me
onto it. I'd never tackled a proper, full-on resto like this before. It was
quite solid but it had been left outside with no windscreen in it," he
recalls. Rot had reached the windscreen scuttle panel, as well as the A-post.
"As soon as it came back I took it up to my mate, Stuart Bird's place. He
runs a company called SJB Sheet Metalwork (01278 781056). He's a fabricator by
day but does Cortinas on the side. As soon as I got it to Stuart's, I started
stripping it."
Once the car was stripped back, Greg had
the car sandblasted, to reveal anything he might have missed. "The inner
wings are all original and the floor pan was fine, and it didn't need anything
underneath." Though he was keen to tackle as much of the project as
possible, Greg's not able to weld, so called on Stuart's expertise with the welder.
"The car moved between Stuart's workshop and my garage during the process.
He'd do jobs on it and then it would come back to mine for me to do the next
bit," Greg remembers. "I built it up really high on axle stands and
dropped the suspension out."
Once
the car was stripped back, Greg had the car sandblasted, to reveal anything he
might have missed
Elsewhere, the Cortina was missing a rather
vital component, in the form of its engine. "The engine was in bits, I had
no idea if it was any good, or would be any good once it was back
together." Bearing this in mind Greg contacted a fellow Cortina Mk2 &
1600E Owners' Club member and was able to source a replacement engine for his
project and Greg simply swapped his non-running engine for the good unit.
Just over a month later, with the welding
complete, Greg was able to put in some serious time, prepping the car for its
re-spray, which was done by a local garage. By April 2010 the Cortina was
painted, something that proved to be a real turning point for Greg in the
project. "Getting the car back from the spray shop gave me such a
lift," he says. 'It really did give me the motivation to finish the
project."
Small pleasures
Greg's work means that he's often home by
the early afternoon, something he was able to use to his advantage. "I was
in the garage every day, which really helped. It was super to do so many of the
little jobs, like the wiring loom which I totally replaced, or the brakes pipes
which I fabricated myself, by hand." Though Greg was able to turn his hand
to most jobs, one area that he wasn't able to repair was the Cortina's wood
trim. "My wood was too far gone." he says. "I tried to restore
it, but it was pretty bad. It's $600 to get it done professionally, which I
couldn't really justify. I found a really good replacement set in Leicester for
$255 though."
"This
chap was looking over the car and said to me, 'You won't believe this, but I
used to own this car.”
Greg's car was finished in July 2010, and
the Cortina was soon pressed into use on the show circuit. It was at a show
when a weird twist of fate brought Greg into contact with one of the car's
former owners. "This chap was looking over the car and said to me, 'You
won't believe this, but I used to own this car.” He was a local car dealer and
was able to give me quite a bit of history about it, including a photo of
himself with my car in the '80s. He explained how my driver's seat had been
ripped, too. He'd lent it to his local butcher, he had a metal comb in his
pocket and it ripped the seat. I love little anecdotes like that."
A member of both the Cortina MKT &
1600E Owners' Club and the local Norton Radstock Classic Vehicle Club, Greg did
feel that his car was lacking one thing that he felt vital, its vinyl roof.
"When I bought it the vinyl was badly damaged, so I just pulled it all
off. I wanted a Webasto too, so I sourced one second-hand and then cut the
roof, though I did get the vinyl done professionally, with the new
headlining."
Greg's
car was finished in July 2010, and the Cortina was soon pressed into use on the
show circuit
So how does Greg reflect on his first full
project? "I really enjoyed it," he says. "Just the pleasure I
got from doing the most simple of jobs, like when I did the loom, for example.
To fit the wiring, test it, and then to see it all working because I did it,
well, it was just brilliant. I've learnt an awful lot about these cars and made
some really good friends through it. I've become involved with a great bunch of
people through the car." Great people and great cars: exactly what the
classic Ford scene is all about.
