Don't hate. Power Windows are just as good in my 4WD as they are in my on-road car... both of which are better than the ones that were in the ghia

It is safe to assume you are going to get rid of the Patrol badges, and make it some pseudo Maverick........

You turn-coat........

Does look nice though......try not to f**k it up.......

No Daz I am just replacing a s**t load of panels with ones that will do the job in the best way.
The Maverick soul will always be there.

Blue truck is pretty much stripped to its undies.
Time to start chopping it up tomorrow.

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Been pretty busy as of late.
The Fairute has finally had the extractors fitted. They are 220 XR8 ones that have had the collector removed and opened out to 2.5" and then fitted with 2.5" high flow cats.
Made a massive difference to the performance but unfortunately has made it very loud.
Will see how it goes but might need to shut it up a bit.
Got $80 at the scrap yard for the factory cats so gotta be happy with that.

The blue patrol had been chopped up and disposed of. The black over grey truck has had most of the very valuable stuff Im not wanting to hang onto removed and sold off so it now owes me nothing. Ive actually turned a profit on it. Win there.

So now its time to move on and the Mav in its current form has been put into long service leave. I took it for one last drive for a while this afternoon and put it out the back to be started. The strip down will begin this week sometime.
As a parting jesture and to keep a timeline of how it was to what it will be , good friend and member here Edzie did a photoshoot on it the other night.
Here is some more of his work.








Edzie is a car nut first and photographer second who has a strong passion for the Blue oval having owned a genuine John Goss coupe sometime ago. Unlike a lot of photographers who only look at the image , he looks at the image and person and tries to get a bit of warmth and realism into it. A bit more of a personal touch. Suppose you get that when its not your main job and you can afford to take a bit of extra time and show some love for the work.
He also is a regular in the Hill Climb championship at Ringwood Circuit so can actually chat about cars and real life experiences while doing the shoot.
He loves a joke and makes the whole thing fun.
Here is the shameless free plug.
If you want to check out his work which is still in the early stages , check out his facebook page here
https://www.facebook.com/#!/Edziephoto

Here's to the Mav's menacing return to the road and bush. I really do hope it returns and does not end up like some projects that come off the road never to breath life again. Let the joy it brought you be the inspiration for its return, no matter how late the nights get or how much blood gets shed.

Nope it will be returning.
A lot of people would be thinking it wont. I have had a lot of people bag s**t on the old girl and me over the years when I was sorting out some reliability issues and the fact that she is pretty rough.
I know there are a lot of people out there who expect me to fail and I reckon secretly want me to.
So its a case of f**k them and show them whats what.
Way too much time , money and pride has been sunk into it and lost over the years for giving up on it to be an option.

I still remember the one and only time I saw her. I am sure Thor is in that exhaust, and he's p****d.
Just a thought though, maybe setup a swear jar for when the build starts and donate the funds to the Cancer council, I'm sure they'll have enough money to find a cure in a month

The truck scrubbed up sweet! Well done, onwards and upwards though. Daunting project ahead, full respect to you.

Thanks. Goes to show you can make s**t look good in a pic.
Build is no longer as daunting as it once was. I am going to be using a method that most people will laugh at me for but I reckon it will work.
As the Mav gets stripped down instead of stock piling s**t everywhere the stuff will be fitted to the new black truck.
Then one the Mav chassis is cleaned and painted and ready to go the black truck will be stripped back down for a couple of weeks for the swap to take place.
Yes it is twice as much work , but to see the good gear going onto a good body will be a good motorvation tool to keep plugging away. Also it means I dont have piles of parts under my feet in the way and getting damaged and me getting the s**t. It wont be that much more work really. Lets face it. I can pull these f**k apart and put them back together in my sleep now.

Let me know if you need any shanty town items, or an extra pair of hands to turn s**t and lift stuff.

same, same.......

Ditto, I aint no mechanic but a I fetch a good beer. f**k, I still owe you for the column anyway

Bit of an update on it all.
Fairute. Got fuel put in it and driven.
Ghia. Took it over the weekend for a trip to the Central West of NSW to attend a family funeral. Did a bit over 800km with running around and catching up with some friends while out west and only used $120 worth of fuel. Premium was around the $1.65 mark so pretty happy with the useage especially since I didnt drive it gently at all. All in all it was just the well behaved , nice drive that it is.
This is pulled over for a smoke break and piss stop somewhere in between Orange and Wellington.

There will be a fairly large update with the Ghia over the next month or so. Will be well worth waiting for.

Maverick.
Have made a start on it all. Here is how the poor old girl was sitting as of this arvo when I finished working on it for the day.


As I am stripping the old girl down I am fitting a lot of the gear straight across to the new body. Keeps stuff clean and tidy and in order without getting a huge pile of parts earlier then required , also while I have a very clear mental picture of where its all heading , a little bit of motorvation and inspiration to look across at doesnt go astray.

Looking good Matt nice to get some luck going your way for a change! Ditto on the help mate!