[Jaymac69]

Hi, been on here a while but first time posting, just saying hello.
I’m an old school Panel Beater, started out in the 80s, back when most cars were still made of real metal, although even then they were thinning out, learnt most skills the hard way, through persistence, blood, sweat and weld burns 🥵😂
Did plenty of Restos throughout the years but rarely for myself, mostly was just trying to make a living doing smashies and if I did clean anything up it was sold pretty quick.
So now The kids are old enough to take care of themselves I’ve got a very original but rusty Zircon Green XT Falcon 500 V8 Wagon with original motor which appears to run well. I stripped most of it back to bare metal and started welding in some new metal when I came across a nice looking white ZD Fairlane with a clean black interior and a 351 Cleveland that reminded me of the one we used to cruise around in our leather jackets back in the 80s, lol. Figured I could have it on the road much quicker than the XT so picked it up and started the task of breaking it down for a roady.

So now the ZD is a complete bare metal shell, sitting in my double garage next to the XT, I had to build a whole new shed in front of the old one just so we had room to move, engines getting the full rebuild and I’m metal filing each panel to remove as many of the dents before primer and welding in rust sections and replacing where necessary 😅, sealing the panels with deoxidine to fend off the surface rust, so much for getting it on the road 😂

I’ve replaced inner and outer sills, drip channel rust sections, rebuilt 3 levels of the plenum chamber, hand made the rear windscreen lower inner/outer, sides and quarter panel seams using nothing but an offset vice and a good anvil and a shitload of cutting discs. I’ve rebuilt all the inner corners and sides of the boot area and picked up a n American 67 Fairlane rear panel to replace mine, not identical but very similar as the Fairlane were modelled off their American counterparts. If only they sold rear wheeelarch sections not just whole quarter panels.
Currently filing up the front guards, looking mint, not just the general dents but even a couple of decent wallops I thought had no chance of straightening up, it’s amazing what some patience and a few good metal files with a dolly, a shitznagel gun with a slidehammer and a flipper can do.
I’ve electroplated any parts I could with a Jane kit, rebuilt every possible accessory and tried to obtain as many original parts as possible but as it’s not original engine I’m not aiming for scratch, it came with a ZC grille and I actually prefer the metal one to the Plastic one on the ZD, lashed out on some CHI heads and some quality engine gear hoping to build something that’ll be fun but also last if I look after it.
So that’s it for now, dropped in to the All Ford day for some inspiration and saw some beautiful Fairlanes there, can only hope this one holds up to the competition 😂
Cheers Jaymac