The Swiss Chris Ford F15
 

Bit of a red letter day here today - the F15 moved under her own power. Even drove her a little distance without any trouble - brakes are good (they should be!) changes gears easily, and the gearbox is nice and quiet, relatively speaking.

Still quite a lot to do before Chris comes, but at least he'll have his new toy.

... jjjjjiiiiiipppppiiii :kangaroo :kangaroo :kangaroo

Excellent Keith! A shame I missed this historic moment. But there will be another when a Swiss first drives her after 67 years :D

As Bob would say, only about 35 days to go and she is going to be deflowered by my Swiss Gear Polisihing abilities as seen on Keith's Coroway 2007 DVD :sheep:

Greetings
Chris

Gears
 

The gears are so far completely unpolished as they are all new. Perhaps you should practice on another blitz first. :cheers:

Where's the photo's of this historical moment then? :D

Ahhhhh the sound of a Flat Head in the distance...
 

Congrats on the F15 movement. Being from the birthplace of the Ford Blitz it is good to hear another has been resurected. :salute:

cheers :cheers:

Mike Timoshyk

42 F15A
42 MB
52 M28

Photos?????
 

Cliff,

Dont you know????

Keith is building suspense for Year of the Blitz II I am sure that the F15 will feature in it.. :) If it doesn't I will want my money back :yappy:

Not long to Corowa; Time is against me & my F15A, but I will be there. Unless someone has a float for free the old girl is staying home.

Chris: LEARN DOUBLE CLUTCHING NOW>>> so you don't end up with a set of spare teeth in the bottom of the box.

Ian

F15
 

Well, as you can imagine the business of restoration is dirty and all-consuming so all I have is a series of still images.

Here's one I took this evening after fitting the front shell - a fiddly procedure with the splash panels in the way of everything it seems.

Still a lot to do. Hopefully will fit the spare wheel carrier (Aust type) tomorrow. I'll put it on with the spare on the drivers side for Chris in European conditions, not that I expect him to use the spare. (Does anyone ever get a flat in Switzerland?)

... hmm, never had a flat tyre in my family or friends. We have very clean roads with no stones etc :kangaroo The only flat tyre I've had so far was in Invercargill NZ, when a stupid horned Kiwi tried his tyre stab abillities at my car before piercing all 4 tyres of his former girlfriends car. That was the only night I parked my car on a public road, next to my backpackers. Shit happens...

Ahh nice picture
 

Great to see its more than a myth.. It is looking good;

Looks like all you have to do is the wiring, headlights, clearance lamps, rear lamps, indicators, fit some chairs, windscreens, knobs, dash, doors, tray, a coupla fuel tanks, brush guard, canvas top, new tyres, tac plate, bridge plate, number plate, only 41 days to Corowa....give or take a few.

She's getting there though. I am very pleased for you.

Chris, practice that double clutching...

Ian

Summary
 

Yes, that's most of it - also the rear body is being welded to repair some rust before painting and fitting.

Today doing some fiddly stuff like installing the drivers toeplate and throttle linkages which seem to fit really well.

... hmm, well, unfortunately I can only practice double clutching in Aussie. All European cars have nowadays a synchronised gearbox (or how you call it) :D

I can do the double clutching exept changing gears downwards from Gear 3 to Gear 2. That's the most tricky one for me. When I drove Max's Ute from Yass to Corowa and back I could nearly do the double clutching.

However, with Keith's new gearbox I should change gears like a little goodess :note: hi, hi, hi

The trick
 

Just as well the gears stand up to a lot of polishing!

The trick is to let the truck slow to the right speed because of the large gap between third and second gear, and also be relaxed about it. If you're stressed it's much harder.

I've always found that shifting gears without using the clutch works best on non-synchro trannies. It's mainly a matter of matching the engine rpm to the tranny rpms.

Clutch
 

Good. Then I can remove the new clutch I put in? :yappy:

Actually it is a good way to do it, but it takes experience, practice and a real feel for the vehicle - and not a little courage if you've never done it before.

The sound
 

This is the sound of Swiss Chris driving his CMP in the mountains...

Sound

... and that's my smile

http://www.dahnyogadcmetro.com/wp-co...02/smile12.JPG

Swiss Chris
 

Jeeez Keefy, you are a Wally. Great find.

:D Bob

Chris there are two of you smiling in the photo does this mean you are going to use the blitz as a honeymoon vehicle?

Max

... probably Max, if I take back a Aussie Jillaroo as well :kangaroo

Jillaroo
 

Well you'll have the perfect chick magnet.

No I have the perfect Chick magnet. Her name is Princess and she is my Assistance Dog and constant companion. :D

Chris I'll have to have a talk to you when you arrive I think you've got the wrong idea about Aussie Jillaroos.

Kathy

Chick Magnet
 

I put the body on today.

What chick will be able to resist you in this Chris?

... I don't think that any chick could resist me :D

http://www.ellabeebaby.com/catalog/chick-magnet-lg.gif



And Kathy, that's the image we have in mind when we think in Europe about Jillaroos :giveup

http://www.freewebs.com/bretttucker/...8ffa52d956.jpg

Princess could not stop laughing when she saw this one! :D

Chris it's not the Blitz that attracts the Jillaroos it's the Jackaroos, did you notice them in the photo, and I'm sure the Jillaroos have changed since that the photo was taken, by the way it takes more than a raincoat to be a Jillaroo.

Kathy

Funny, I never knew loving old trucks were a registered disability.

Out of curiousity, if she is a service dog (as we call them in Canada) what does she help you with? I've seen many blind and low vision service dogs. A lady at work had one so she because she could not hear fire alarm frequencies. Some people have them for calming in social situation. One lady in Ottawa kept a small monkey for that reason, but the bus drivers refused to let her ride the bus, which made her doubly anxious.

Oh yes it is a mental disability :D

Princess comes into her own when I am by myself at home. As I cannot hear people come to the door she will come and get me. She also is trained to turn lights on and partially trained to pick things up for me as well. As I can still walk a bit I have really neglected her training a bit but as she is also a companion dog I guess it does not matter. :)

New dog laws for Blind, hearing and assistant dogs are due out here in Queensland this year as only Blind dogs are covered at present I only have the anti-discrimination laws to help me if someone objects to Princess coming into a shop with me.

Jillaroos
 

Ummm.... Chris... I don't know how to put this... Those girls would last about 15 seconds on a cattle station! (I would last about a minute & a half)
Most Jillaroos I have met could kick-start a Kenworth.
And bight the nuts off a bulldozer. :giveup

Good body... back on the track...
 

Keith,

The truck its looking fine WITH a body :eek:
Great work. Is completion day next month??

Ian