So what's wrong with it?

Okay, here we go….another project!

Well kind of….it is at least on the road and legal with Warrant, Rego and Cert. The idea will be to keep it that way so we can enjoy a few events in a hot rod rather than turning up in the Suzuki.

So what is the prognosis now that it has arrived?

Hmmm, it’s not as good as I had hoped but it is very much what I expected. It will need a lot of maintenance to bring it up to scratch. It has been a good car in its day but it has lacked a bit of maintenance in more recent years and worse still its been mucked around with by people who don’t have an eye for detail or are a bit rip shit and bust.

A classic case of this is the hole that has been drilled in the rear guards for the teardrop taillights. It certainly isn’t a nice oval to match the shape of the fitting. They have used a drill to make a row of holes close together so the centre piece can be punched out. This is quite ok….but after doing that you normally file or grind the edge to a nicely finished hole the right shape for whatever it is you are fitting. In this case though it’s far from round or a nice oval it is completely random and it looks like it’s been cut out with something used for making crinkle cut chips. Never mind it can be fixed.

This winter we will take the car off the road for a respray as Janine is not keen on the orange. It won’t be a bare metal respray instead we will just tidy up any nasties and give it a quick flick. This will tidy the car up, give Janine the colour she wants and will tie us over until I can finish the Coupe. Once that’s on the road if Janine decides she wants to keep the Pop long term, we will then do a rebuild.

Meantime though there are some things that just don’t work, aren’t right or are downright dangerous, so we will get them sorted. Here’s a list;

• Engine running really hot
• Radiator core is all but shot and leaks. Needs replacing

• While I am at it I will
• Remove the manual engine fan and replace the old electric fan with a high volume one. This will be more than adequate with a new radiator core
• Add a switch to bring the fan on automatically
• Add a radiator overflow bottle
• Replace radiator hoses, thermostat and radiator cap
• Change the oil and filter
• Add an oil pressure warning light
• Add an alternator charge warning light
• Replace odd, mismatched plug leads
• Re-route wiring in engine bay. Its all a bit of a mess.

• Replace accelerator pedal as current one is too high and makes for an awkward driving position
• Replace throttle cable to match new accelerator pedal
• Replace transmission kick down cable as old one not locating in bracket correctly.
• Replace throttle and kick down bracket to match new cables
• Replace makeshift throttle return springs
• Replace old blue dot teardrop taillights with more visible LED versions
• Adjust drivers side front guard to sit level with passengers side one.
• Extend boot release from behind rear numberplate to inside car.
• Remove old gauges and replace with a new set.
• Relocate all gauges to centre of dash for better visibility
• Replace fuel sender unit to match new fuel gauge. This will also by default cure a fuel leak around current sender unit. I found it was sealed with RTV gasket sealant (which isn't fuel resistant) and what's more it was just spread over dirt grime and dust so would never have stuck even if it was the right stuff. As it turned out the sealant was like some kind of frilly decoration just sitting there!

I just picked it up and it came away!

• Install High Beam warning light
• Install short window winders. Current ones cannot be operated unless the door is open as they foul on the indicator stalk
• Install short door handles to match
• Install new Trans dipstick as current one is not locating so an accurate level cannot be read
• Install new engine dipstick as the current one cannot be put back in without climbing under the car
• Replace rear shocks. Old ones are tired and offer not shock absorption at all.
• Replace brake pads with low carbon versions. Current ones run very dirty.
• Replace current horn with air horns. Current one is ineffective and has shorted so goes all the time. Had to disconnect
• Replace stereo with spare one I have as the current one can only be turned off by removing the face plate
• Replace rocker covers, air cleaner and front pulley….purely cosmetic

Phew! I think that’s it….I have 22 evenings and 9 weekend days to get this all sorted before Beach Hop. I will have my work cut out but it is all totally do-able.

Watch this space for updates.

GRQWLA....??? What's with the name of the blog?

So some of you may wonder why we have called this blog GRQWLA.  There is a bit of a story behind that.  

I started looking for a personalised plate to go on the Pop and put a few on Colin's Trade Me Watch List.  Just to get his opinion.  Apparently it has to suit the car and it most definitely wasn't allowed to have anything "girlie or chick" about it (like HERCAR or 0EGIRL) or he said he wouldn't be seen dead driving the car.  Perhaps that's a good thing cos then I wouldn't have to relinquish the keys.  

Well I saw GRQWLA and put it on the list as a joke, cos I didn't really think he would like it and more to the point I didn't think I could go through with it anyway.  You can imagine my surprise when he didn't say "you can't have that!".  He actually thought it was great.  He then made the mistake of challenging me by saying "well you wouldn't dare have it anyway!"  I'm afraid that was a bit like a red rag to a bull and before I could stop myself, I was hitting the Buy Now button and lo and behold it was mine.  Do you think he did that purposely?

It has generated a few comments as you can imagine.  Especially when Colin was inviting half his mates round to "come and see Janine's growler".   An example of the replies range from:

"Ooooooookay!" and "If she shows me hers does that mean I have to show her mine?"

Some have responded with stunned silence, others have said "well that will be the first thing that has to go", but others think it's great.  I guess for a guy to be seen hopping out of the car with that plate it kind of gives you the message of something aggressive and a little bit offensive.  But when a girl (ME) hops out of it ....well I will leave that up to your imaginations as to what that conjures up!

So that was the first thing officially bought by me for the car.  Colin is going to make all the other purchases and he will enlighten you on future blogs.  

Oh, by the way, I did spend a day with Colin at Pick A Part looking at some bits and pieces.  (Wearing appropriate foot wear, not jandals, as has been known to happen to one of our friends).  I followed him around all the cars at 2 different sites, carrying a particularly heavy tool bag - just in case we found something of course.  Well that was an exciting experience.  Hmmm seriously - not really for me I am afraid.  I'll leave future forays there to Colin.

Janine  

The Purchase

For those of you who know me well, you may remember from many years ago, my “so called” disinterest in Hot Rods.  When Colin was building his 1933 Ford Coupe, affectionately known as Lula, I wrote a few articles for the magazine for the local Hot Rod Club Colin belonged to back then.  It was all very tongue in cheek and written under a pseudonym – Reluctant Hot Rodder’s Wife.   

I just reread my first article; taking a trip down memory lane, so imagine my surprise when I read the last line again.  At the time it was said very much in jest, never thinking for a minute that it would come true.  I probably chose that type of car then as I knew it was small and one that I could comfortably drive.  Isn’t it strange how things have completely gone full circle since I wrote that?  To get what I mean you might want to read the first article again, so I have pasted it in at the end of this post. 

In following Colin’s blog you will know he is slowly working away on getting his dream car on the road and that it is going to take quite a few years to get there it seems.  It’s not nearly as much fun turning up to Hot Rod events in the Jappa, but this is what faces us until Colin’s car is on the road.

I’m not really sure who started the idea of getting another car but we saw this little Ford Pop on Trade Me and I instantly took a liking to it, but dismissed it as a possibility.  However, I kept thinking about it and happened to mention it again to Colin who was quite surprised that I was pretty keen.  So we looked at it more seriously and several telephone conversations later with the owner (who lives in Wellington), having had it looked over by Juniors Kustom Rides, we made a deal and low and behold, I became the owner of the car. 

Buyers remorse set in a few minutes later as all the doubts came in – OMG what have we done? OMG it is orange!  Where are we going to park it?  But that means my daily driver has to go outside.  Heck it doesn’t have air conditioning, how am I going to manage without that in stinking Auckland humidity?  Holy crap it's orange!  (I got over all that soon after, as we made plans to retrieve the car.)

I was still on holiday so made plans to fly to Wellington where I was met by the owner at the airport and did the hand over there.  I would drive it back to Auckland – by myself! 

I never really thought of this journey as a big deal, but I have had so many people be genuinely surprised I did that and be quite amazed I did it all by myself, that I really do feel quite proud of myself.  You will be surprised to know that I was more nervous getting into it and driving off from the airport in case the owner watched me than I was about the whole trip.  Stupid eh!  The trip was done over a couple of days stopping in and staying with family all the way up the island. 

First stop - my nephew's house in Wellington and I snapped a pic of my great-nieces in the car.

Wellington to Greytown (for my first night stopover) was managed ok with wind being a problem over the Rimutuka’s.  I thought the wind was responsible for the bad handling of the car but Colin assured me it was probably just a matter of needing to get used to the different feel of an old car.  I did have to keep my speed down at about 90 - 95 km’s though as it felt pretty unsafe if I went any faster due to the fishtailing effect I was getting.  Little did we know what was really happening but I will leave those details up to my knowledgeable husband to explain in future posts.

My sister Julie, thrilled to be taken for a ride.  

Greytown to Napier (my second night stopover) was the next leg and I did feel it handled a lot better as I got out of the wind but was still bothered by the fishtailing on the bumpy corners. 

Napier to Auckland was done in one day so was a bit of a journey really.  Apart from the car running really hot at Hamilton once I hit the slower traffic, this too was all achieved with no major problems.

And so it was I made the journey home and I have to say I feel I really got to know the car and “bonded” with it over this time.  It was a way of me getting to know all the little ins and outs without having someone looking over my shoulder as I made any mistakes.     Oh and by the way the journey cost me about $260 in petrol (approx 740 km's).  Couldn’t have transported it for that could I?

And here is that article I wrote all those years ago.  

Why am I so surprised?

Soooo……..”The Husband” announces he wants to buy a Hot Rod! Yeah right! What a wannabe. My heart sinks as realisation sets in - he’s serious. He must be having his “Mid Life Crisis”. I’m thinking “How much is this gonna cost”. Why couldn’t he just buy a slotcar set? To top it off, I immediately visualise him hanging around with a whole lot of other Rodders boozing away their life whilst drooling over each other’s cars.

Now, before you all jump down my throat, I hasten to say at this point, having met some of you, I must revise that statement. Well some of it, let’s not get too silly. The people involved in this club that I have met, in no way match my initial thought. We have been welcomed into the club, have made many friends, and the only drinking seems to be a few beers at the club on a Friday night. As for the rest of my statement I’m afraid it still stands – why is it they feel the need to purchase a Hot Rod and talk shit about it for hours on end with their mates. 

Apparently having a Hot Rod has been a lifelong dream of “The Husband”. When I think back the signs were all there, he’s always been into cars. Why am I so surprised? This very husband is the same man who has memorised all number plates of any car he has ever owned and let me tell you there have been quite a few.

Our life together started out with him racing Minis. Well what can be so bad about that I thought? I can enjoy these little cars too. What can be so daunting about a little mini? They don’t go that fast do they? Except when they are highly modified, with a lumpy cam and compression so high it will only run on avgas. I did drive this Mini to work on several occasions and loved the feel of that power which responded with the slightest touch on the accelerator. The lumpy cam took a bit of getting used to, but dare I admit, I enjoyed the looks of longing this little rocket demanded. I seem to remember a few minis came and went around that time, but what the hell was that Rover all about. I believe it could have been a harebrained scheme of “The Husbands” to do it up, flick it off and make some money to spend on the minis. Who knows, but man that car was “fugly”!  

The Minis were replaced with an FE Holden running a Small Block Chev. This car still needed work before the certification process so he spent many hours on this and finally got it road worthy and legal. Being much too heavy for me to drive (oh except for that one time when I got snapped by one of those lovely cameras on the side of the road!) I was just a passenger. 

Unfortunately this car had to be sacrificed so we could buy a house.  I allowed “The Husband” a suitable period of mourning thinking at long last it was out of his system. Hmmm not so it seems. 

A few years on now, “The Husband” announces another Street Rod was to be purchased and installed in our garage. This new arrival was legal and on the road.  Suddenly “The Husband” has a new lease on life and could be found most nights, weekends, in fact any spare minute he had in the garage tinkering around on this car. 

He talked so much about this car at work (using the female nickname I had given it), his boss of the time was lead to believe he had a mistress and I knew all about her.  He was very taken aback at how the 3 of us had all gone away together for Beach Hop.  He couldn’t believe we had such an open relationship. He was finally told the truth and had a good laugh.

The mistress was finally ousted only to be replaced by another which arrived on the back of a tow truck. Imagine my horror. You paid “how much” for that? And it isn’t even bloody drivable! What the hell was he thinking? Well apparently it was a bargain. This has the makings of a good Tui advert I reckon.

For many months now I have put up with someone I never see, who occupies my garage making unbearable noise, the smell of grinding steel, welding, paint and petrol fumes, wafting into the house. Then, there is the annoying excitement and step-by-step updates on all the certification needs etc. Tell someone who gives a damn. Through all this I am expected to watch progress, provide meals and refreshments, make suitable enthusiastic noises, express my delight and praise “The Husband” on what a wonderful job he is doing. 

I have to admit though, I am slowly beginning to get excited about a project I was immensely uninterested in and dead against, to now finding myself secretly looking forward to many cruises in this car along with all our club friends cruising in their “mid-life crisis” cars. Needless to say I won’t be revealing this secret to “The Husband”. You’all can keep a secret can’t you? 

Now what can I do for my mid life crisis. Anyone got a Ford Pop they want to sell?

Reluctant Hot Rodders Wife.