on june 3rd 1987 i became the proud owner of a mushroom beige 1973 xb fairmont coupe. it was standard in every way. slowly a rear spoiler appeared, followed by mag wheels and even a pk plate on the windows (it was nelson piquet’s third championship year). the bonnet hump was something i wanted on the gs bonnet, but decided against it – for fear of cutting a hole in the bonnet
in 1988 it went in for it’s first lot of panel beating, which included fixing a dint in the passenger door, some rust repairs in the front quard and at the very back of the boot (where the tail light panel meets the boot). the honey comb panel area was removed – also the channels were filled in. i had to redo the filler above the left tail light, because the panel beater did not get it smooth enough. he managed to put rust in that area and also through the use of a porous under coat, he skillfully put in rust that had never been there – the seams where the tail light panel joins the boot, under the ¼ panels/above the bumper bar. it took many hours and applications of sanding and using kitten neutra rust to finally fix it. he was told the car would not be painted for 18 months and the paint he used, had to be non porous. he assured me that was the case. being young and stupid, i believed him. the rust repair on the guard has not come back since though. the pic in the bottom right hand corner is the worst this coupe has ever looked
in april 1990 the guards and bonnet came off in preparation for painting. having lived on a dirt road for the first 18 months of ownership, rust had appeared in the right front guard. it was full of mud about 10-12 cms high. that is why until september 2007 (for echuca) the panels that go in behind the front wheels had not been refitted. i was making sure the front guards would be cleaned regularly. a mate made the support panel for the lower guard and a rare spares replacement panel was used. the holes were drilled for the brake ducts and it was almost on it’s way. the last pic is a reminder to use goggles, when using anything that may be dangerous to the eyes. kitten neutra rust can do horrible things to eyes (my fault for not using goggles). this pic was hard to take, as i had to physically hold the eye open and it would shut almost instantly. now the coupe looks two slightly different colours. it is brighter out of the left eye, than the right.
at this time my mate welded in a new piece below the left front guard. it had not gone at that point, but was on it’s way. this piece was redone in around 2002
the first photo is the first time red pepper had been on the car and the second is within minutes of fitting the gs bonnet. pretty boring really, but it was significant to me at the time
in getting painted, it was a budget job but they were not too bad. they painted straight over the beige where possible and fitted the front guard repair panel and did some minor rust repairs in the sills and removed the rivets for the sill trims
within 3 weeks of getting it back on the road, someone reversed into it. it went off to the fourth panel beater who removed some rust above the right tail light. it came back 3 weeks later. 4 panel beaters and not one used twice.
it then went to brian from autostyle bodyworks in seaford and he was the only one who touched it from 1991 through to 2002. he did a great job over that time and kept it looking great.
in 2007 tas from palace automotive in moorabbin took over the panel duties and it has never looked better. tas and brian always had a difficult time with the coupe. they have only ever been allowed to make the best of what is there. it has never been taken back to metal, only ever maintained – and virtually all of the mushroom biege is still under the red (except the bonnet of course)
i made a console in 2007 to house the stereo and heater controls. i got sick off the xa-xb problem of the stereo not fitting the dash, so when the time was right a landau dash went in. the console has a fuse box in it with all the aftermarket wiring going through it. all other switches are housed in the console too
this is the interior (almost) then and now. unfortunately i did not get photos with the standard radio, steering wheel and unmolested kick panels. it had a gs dash for many years, but i like the look of the landau one now. tas from palace supplied it, filled in some unwanted holes, painted, fitted and fitted the tacho
it took a long time to find this coupe (we looked at more than 30 coupes over 3 months and this was the only one worthy of a test drive). most we did not even knock on the door. it was worth the effort though, because it has been a dream. hardly any problems with either rust or the mechanical side
the weird/sad thing is although most were heaps back then, 21 years down the track there would be many people falling over themselves to buy the ones we did not even look at - and they would probably cost 15,000+ in the condition that we considered rubbish