In our first of many features on our members restorations we focus on Paul's obsessed restoration of a 1974 Ford Landau Coupe Once you have finished reading this story (and I highly recommend you do) you will know that this car is going to be something very special We hope this story gives you the motivation to never give up and see your vison come to life! We thank Paul for his story and contribution to the Aussie Coupes club |
Prologue 1989 (Melbourne) – I am sitting in a ’69 XW at the lights waiting for a green light. I hear the gear down of a “Decent” V8 behind me. I look in the rear view mirror. It’s big, black and has a solid grille with no headlights!
I was in awe and impressed at this little glimpse. I purposely drive like an old man, so it will pass me. It passes, and I was in love. I had no idea what it was or even if it was an Aussie Ford. I spoke to a mate of mine that is a Ford nut and has owned a coupe since he was 16 (he built it from a rolling shell himself at 16) and still owns it to this day in 2009. He told me what it was ( a Landau ) and ever since that day I wanted one! In fact 6 months later I bought my first one from a second hand dealer on Mahoneys Road in Thomastown. Bought my second one in 1992 and was using the parts from the two cars to make one good one, as the first one was a little shabby. But as luck would have it a neighbour or a friend of a neighbour backed in to it at some silly speed and destroyed the front end of the “Better” car after I had sold off the donor vehicle. I was as shattered as my car was. I gave up and sold everything I owned Landau wise. |
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Years went by ..forward to 2001. I was living in Sydney and my current stable of cars was a 1996 Wrangler (Jeep), a Mitsubishi EVO III Lancer and an Audi TT Roadster. The EVO was for sale, and on the Friday night before the guy was going to pick it up I was too lazy to put it back in my driveway after garaging the TT. Saturday Morning the EVO was gone. Saturday night it was on the news. “Daring hold up of Liverpool RSL, 8 guys with machetes steal over $50,000 in cash”. My EVO and a V8 VL commodore were the getaway cars (both stolen) when the cops gave chase the VL pulled up and gave themselves up after 10 minutes of high speed suburban chasing. My EVO’s driver thought he could and actually did out run and out-manoeuvre the cops. They called the chase off for safety reasons. Unbeknown to the criminals they were still running at 160Km/h through an intersection. The drivers luck had run out, an unsuspecting Landcrusier driver was proceeding through the intersection under green lights and hit my EVO in the rear quarter. The driver of the EVO spun across the intersection sideways, clean broke the kerb side rim’s at the bottom so they looked like the letter “D” and then wrapped the car around a power pole. The cops got to the scene within minutes and all criminals were taken into custody. The only thing that survived the wreck of the EVO was the CD/Radio head unit. By the way the only serious injury of the occupants was a broken forearm of the rear seat passenger on the “Pole” side. |
I wasn’t insured on the EVO as I had cancelled the insurance when I had confirmation of my sale of the car (lesson learnt). The TT was too expensive to pay for without the additional money the EVO was going to provide. So I sold the TT at a loss, consolidated my debt and went looking for an “old” car again. I was especially looking for a Landau as I always had fond memories of the car. Three months later I found one in Melbourne at a dealership out Ferntree Gully way (it was the first and only one I had seen for sale in that three months). So I flew down to Melbourne, negotiated a price and drove it back to Sydney. All I know of its prior owner was that he was an older gentleman and that he had decided to get a newer car. When I got the car it was on stock rims with the Fairlane hub caps of the period. It was painted a Bronze Walnut colour which I think was one of the Landau colours for that model. I was to find out later that it was Tropic Gold originally. |
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Back in Sydney I was having a few problems with the electrics and I had decided to overhaul the engine and the suspension. The suspension I had custom made by Whiteline Suspension in South Sydney. The engine work was being carried out by a cousin of mine who had just been awarded apprentice of the year and he was an engine builder. The engine was finished and even though it had some good bits in it, to my dismay it delivered a whopping 200bhp, 90hp less than factory and well under what was asked or expected!! I was then referred to another engine builder who built a pretty much stock engine that detonated on the 5th cylinder 3 months after completion. Took it back at a further expense got another engine built. I moved back to Melbourne (2005) and 6 weeks later the second motor failed. Still trying to figure what caused that one. 4th attempt, I went to a Gas Specialist who built yet another disaster engine that lasted all of 2 or 3 months before I took it off the road again. At least that one hadn’t failed at the time. But after the tear down, I saw that it wouldn’t have been long before it did. The obsession goes into overdrive. |
2006 - Biting the bullet - The REal journey begins I decided that I had enough of the “Mickey Mouse Show” I was being dragged through at my expense. The Money Sink Hole, that was my Landau, was about to be hit with a Kilo of C4! I caught up with my old mate who has had his coupe since 16. Told him of my hard luck story and asked him to put me in touch with people that don’t make mistakes, stand by their product and have done it 100’s of times successfully. With NO Realistic Budget, and the Phrase, “Whatever it takes” I started on a complete and utter rebuild of the Landau. Quotes from Paul at the time: “The only thing I expect not to be replaced or to be original after completion is the Body, and I expect a lot of that will be fixed or replaced also.” “The car is to be as good as the day it drove off the assembly line, if not better. If Ford should have done it then we will do it and I want every bit of electrical and mechanical over engineering put into this car so it is true to the period but benefitting from 30+ years of additional technology and knowhow.” Having expected rust and issues the body was in surprisingly good shape. The rear was a little worse for wear but nothing serious and really there was no rust to be overly concerned about. Body wise she was intact and terrific. |
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The Engine was stroked to 383c.i. and built specifically for torque. As it is a heavy car and torque is what gets it moving. It was also designed to rev out to 7,000rpm and stay there for 9 hours if required. So the bottom end is pretty tough. 3V Race Spec Alloy heads, matched with a torque inducing inlet manifold. This, in turn, is bolted to a modified twin Gas Research throttle body system. The gearbox is a TKO 5 Speed, replacing the original FMX Auto. Meaning the Landau will have FOUR pedals across the driver’s floor. Accelerator, Brake, Clutch and PARK BRAKE (hope you got small feet Paul!). Exhaust and extractors are custom, due to the fact that the 3V alloy heads are slightly different to the factory positioning and this coupled with the Landau’s pedal park brake exiting from the firewall at the wrong place means that you cannot use "off the shelf" extractors without them hitting the firewall right where the park brake enters the engine bay. Steering column is from an XC and thus has the horn and the high beam dipper on the indicator stalk. Suspension is still all of the custom setup from Whiteline. The fuel system is LPG/Propane only, as the petrol tank has been removed. The fuel delivery system has been modified to ensure enough flow and gas gets to the twin throttle bodies on the engine. The body after being completely stripped was sand blasted to show us where to start the body work. Surprisingly and thankfully there was only a little rust and it was easily contained and repaired. |
Interior I decided to re-do all of the electrics with a custom loom as I was going to be changing anything and everything electric in the car anyway, so I may as well have a custom solution to ensure the best and most flexible configuration for my cars setup. There will be relays and fuses mounted in both the boot as well as under the dash. There will not be any light bulbs anywhere in the car. Everything will be changed to LED including the four headlights which will now be HID units. Indicators, brake lights, parkers, interior lighting, dash lighting, everything! In addition the old radio section of the dash in the console was modified to fit an Automotive touch screen that is connected to a fully computerised entertainment system. Thus the occupants will be able to play CD’s, DVD’s, or digitally stored movies/music. Surfing the Internet will also be possible while driving down the highway. (The perfect "work from home" solution Paul!) I will even be able to stream live web cam footage while I drive. GPS will be built in. There is even a reversing camera fitted. Essentially anything that you can do or use at the home or in the office, I will be able to do or use in the Landau. |
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Custom doors I saw the Lambo door conversions and thought for practical reasons they would be a good idea on the Landau. Due to the fact that the coupes are big and wide, having doors that opened vertically made sense to save space when getting in and out of the car. After much pain and effort getting the hinges from the US, they turned out to be less than ideal. But as I had started the ball rolling in this area I had decided to see if a workable solution was possible. I have put together a modification of these hinges and their fitment into the Landau, they are yet to be thoroughly tested in a practical and real world environment but I hope to have a working and useable solution when it's all finished. |
Colour I have decided to use a custom colour for the Landau. It is a Gold, in homage to the original colour but it is radically different from the original colour. In fact photographing the colour is impossible because it changes colour depending on available light and angle. In addition it has a metallic fleck that is only noticeable under full direct sunlight that changes the car completely again. All of the glass except the windscreen is tinted with a Mirror Gold Tint to match the car itself. The car has a full tilt and slide modern electric sunroof. In the wheels and rubber department a am running ROH Monaco 17” Rims and currently Falken tires (Front 17x235x45 and Rear 17x275x40) |
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Progress report I am hoping to have this mammoth restoration completed by August 2009. The Aussie Coupes Forum, was something I stumbled across and have since wished I had found them earlier. It is a great community of people. In addition we all have a similar passion. It is different, from say the Aussie Ford Forums in that this community is very specific to a particular type of Ford and thus the focus and the camaraderie is more relevant as we all share a specific common passion. I was and still am a member of the Ford Forums but I find I get more from Aussie Coupes as everything is relevant where as at Ford Forums, it is luck if 15% is relevant. Aussie Coupes have provided me with contacts, assistance, ideas and friends, let alone the wealth of knowledge and experience that is openly and freely shared by its members. |
Challenges The main challenges I have found is ensuring that your vision and quality standards are followed. There are too many individuals out there that are keen to take your money but provide less than good if not appalling work for it. In addition you are forever the lowest priority for these guys. Something that should take a week takes 4 weeks due to some excuse or another. On top of all the poor service and quality issues there is a great lack of knowledge or true care for the end result out there which is frustrating. This is where the forum has been great as others share their experiences and knowledge so that mistakes aren’t repeated and good ideas and good service get spread to all to benefit from. It really is a great thing to know that there is always someone that has your back and is willing to help. |
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And the question eveyone wants to know.. why the nickname lokjaw? The Nick-Name Lokjaw (originally Lockjaw) was used by me in the mid eighties on the CB. Yep, back before mobile phones, CB’s enabled the youth to keep in contact with one another in a few kilometre radius. So when the parents told their kids to be inside, we could continue our mindless banter on the CB. Lockjaw came about because I would scan many different channels and then just start involving myself in conversations (invited or not!) |
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