That day the heavens opened and hailstones pounded everything in sight, we held grave fears for the Tbird’s bodywork. Although it’s kept under cover in the garage, we watched in horror as hailstones the size of lemons rebounded onto the car.
The next day we gingerly peeled back the cover and were amazed to see no real signs of damage. We could have used a Lifeguard out front – our front lawn was converted into a lake.
How did your car fare?
Compare the above 2 images. What’s wrong with the second picture?
Anyone out there with a TBird with a removable hardtop will be able to relate to the misleading advertising (or creative licence) of the illustration above.
See the ease with which these 2 be-suited gents can remove the roof, smilingly? As Tracy will attest, the fibreglass shell roof is no featherweight. And after tears were shed (OK, that was me), we decided to agree to leave it to the wonders of engineering to remove and replace the roof.
So I ordered the original Spare Part roof pulley to do the work. In due course, the pulley arrived from Larry’s Tbirds in U.S. After further due course, and due indolence, it was attached to the garage roof.
Problem is, my garage doesn’t exactly feature Cathedral ceilings. So the process of removal involves: removing car cover, reversing the car with pinpoint accuracy, detaching the aerial, attaching the pulley straps, winching the roof, driving the car forward, replacing the aerial, and eventually driving to destination.
To replace the roof, perform the above in reverse order. Or consider the guidance of the ad: “the hardtop can be leaned against the garage door for months!”. Unless you need to use the garage door on a daily basis… in which case whingeing and winching go hand-in-hand.
The weather was a little lacklustre, but the Fiesta on the South Perth foreshore was a good opportunity to show-and-shine the Tbird.
Luckily there were no kiddies hopped up on sugar pretending the cars made reasonable substitutes for Pinatas.
Back in 2006 a few TBird friends met in Freo for a coastal cruise one HOT afternoon. Summer drives in Perth are testing on a vintage radiator, and yes we did have one overheating incident. (And one guy shouting abuse as he drove by… in a Commodore.)
Afterwards, the boys – and the usual requisite girl, Tracy – indulged in a welcome amber brew at North Beach.
The cars belong to: Neil, Paul, Paul & Tracy, Ray and Tony. That’s one helluva lot of glare in one carpark!
