Model Cars: The Ferris Collection

I love classic cars. The shape and styling, the history, and the uniqueness of certain models really appeals to me. Of course the dream is to one day have a garage full of classics, each car in mint condition and perfectly maintained. The reality, however, is that I don't have the money to create such a collection. Come to think of it, even a large garage would break my budget! Not to mention the full-time mechanic required to restore and look after the vehicles. So, it looks like my dream is destined to be unrealised for some time. That's where model cars come to the rescue. Over the past year or two I have started my own model car collection. It's early days, but I am slowly purchasing new cars... particularly when I pass through Braidwood, where the excellent Car Models of Braidwood shop is located. I've included some photos of my model cars below. Apologies in advance for the average quality of the images- photographing small objects is hard! : )

Chrysler Charger E49

Austin Healy Sprite

Austin Mini Checkmate

Volkswagen Golf Mk1 GTI

Golf engine bay

The legendary Hemi 265 Charger. Hear it scream.

I'm not sure that this post needs words as such.   Simply watching the video- especially around the 30-second mark- is enough to send tingles down the spine of all true Mopar fans. Even if you don't have pentastar-blood running though your veins, you just can't beat the sound of an Australia Charger with a Hemi 265 (4.3L) straight-six...

Charger E49 - wish you'd bought one 15 years ago?

The Charger E49 is revered as the mightiest of all Australian-built Chargers, and rightly so. With a 0-100 kph time of 6.1 seconds, the E49 would impress in 2008, let alone in the 1970s when they were brand new. Not quite up to speed with your knowledge of Aussie Chargers? Never mind, the Chrysler in Australia website should fill in the blanks. As you'd expect, the second hand value of E49s has always surpassed that of common garden-variety Chargers. At the time of the photo, which I took at an "All Chrysler" day in the early 90s, I reckon E49s were selling for around the AU$30K mark. A quick check of the Australian Red Book (used car values) website demonstrates just how much the Charger E49 has appreciated over the years. Go on, take a look for yourself and prepare to be amazed. If you're anything like me, you wish you could have bought one 15 years ago and kept it in storage...

VK Charger 770: the early years...

Before the rust and restoration, my VK Chrysler Charger 770 was in exceptional condition.  I won't add the word original, as the car had already received some aftermarket wheels (265s on the back, 245s on the front), along with extractors and exhaust system. The photos you see here were taken at an 'All Chrysler Day' in South Australia, where I proudly displayed my Charger amongst the other MOPAR-goodness on show.  

If you look carefully and compare these photos with those taken after the restoration, you will see that I made a few slight changes to the exterior.  These included removal of the rubber strip down the side, painting the grill black (the white teethy grill just didn't look tough enough!), and painting the entire rear in the original 'topaz gold metalic' colour.  As for the interior, well...  let's just say I decided on a whole new look which didn't include a trace of brown, orange, or tartan anywhere!  More on this later...

Unique Cars drives the Chrysler Charger 770

Here is a magazine article on the Chrysler Charger 770.  The article originally appeared in the Australian Unique Cars magazine -  a few years ago by my guess.  Interesting article none the less.

(image from Unique Cars)

Chrysler Charger: pre-restoration pictures

Looking back at the photos it's hard to believe just how bad the rust was.  Of course it was obvious that my Charger had rust, but it was only when the car was taken back to bare metal that the full extent of the problem was revealed.  And the problem was extensive!  I did not do the work myself - lacking both the skills and the equipment - but I managed to find a body shop that was happy to undertake the project for a price.  It is inevitable that a car built in 1976 will eventually start to rust, and given that I had already had the engine rebuilt, I felt an obligation to also rescue the bodywork from the sorry state it was in.  Was it worth it?  Yes and no.  Financially, no.  The sheer amount of time required to restore the bodywork to original condition (which included the fabrication of new metal panels) meant that the labour cost was very high.  On the other hand, the end result was stunning, with the Charger looking the best it had for many, many years.  There is no doubt that restoring the Charger's bodywork was the most expensive part of the project, and given the choice it may have been wiser (and certainly cheaper) to buy a different Charger without the rust issues.  But this was my Charger, my dream car that had served me well for many years.  I even displayed it at Chrysler car shows in the early days, when it was still in pristine condition.  Actually I have some photos of the early days, but I'll save them for a future post...

Hey Charger! :)

The title won't mean much unless you are (a) older than me or (b) an Aussie muscle-car nut. Hey Charger was of course the catchy advertising slogan for the Australian-built and designed Chrysler Charger of the 1970s. The beautiful looking example in these photos - a 1976 VK Charger 770 -  belonged to me.  The Charger was my daily driver for around 8 years, and I loved every minute of owning it.  Well... that's not quite true, I didn't love spending the bucket-loads of cash to restore the car.  But you gotta blow a lot of money restoring an old classic car at least once in your life, right?  And you aren't doing it right if you don't lose a bundle when it comes time to sell the car :)

For those tech-minded readers out there, my Charger had a 4.3 litre '265' straight-six engine, a 4 speed manual gearbox, extractors and a nice sports exhaust.  It went well and sounded amazing!  More about the Charger, including restoration pictures, later...