# 19 year old's Mk1 Granada 3.0 Ghia project



## nabby (Dec 10, 2013)

Yeah, the majority 18/19 year olds are messing on putting Redtops in Corsa's and all that sort of stuff, but I've picked this as my weapon of choice.

A Bit of a background story -

RTY 358S was bought many moons ago by my Dad, it was rotten, but cheap, and being green with a green velour interior, it was a pretty rare beast! So we ended up with it. The previous owner paid a fortune to have 'welding' done on the car, which all turned out to be just fibreglass'd into place. We have no idea how he got away with it, but the previous owner could not afford to get the work done, which is when we bought it. We don't have many pictures of it like this, but here's one to give you an idea...



A full nut and bolt restoration was carried out, and although it was mainly standard, it benefited from white wall tyres, clear indicators, and a green vinyl roof, so it ended up looking like this...



In 2006, my Dad passed away, and the car was passed down to me. It was my pride and joy, even though I couldn't drive it...Fast forward to when I was 17 and passed my driving test, and for some reason I still don't know, it was the only car I could get insured on...
So, i passed my test at 11:00, and was insured by 12:00...the amount of petrol I used that week, and the next few months was unreal. I done atleast 8000 miles in 4 month...how I afforded to run a 3.0 'Tank' at 17 and do that many miles I do not know. Anyway, I was young, it was rear wheel drive, roads were slippy...I ended up chucking it 'round corners and...basically blew the engine up...It lay for a while till I found some space for it, but now I've cleared some of the garage...Fast forward to now, and I've sourced and engine, and had some ideas, so the rebuild is on! Here is what I started with-




This is how it look at the minute, it needs a few bits of welding, and front door cards (If anyone could find me some green Ghia front door cards, I'd be hugely appreciative!), a spring, and a few other little bits.




After seeing these cars, I've decided to remove the chrome trim, and fit plain chrome bumpers from a Consul - The plan for the car is to be smoother, cleaner, wider and an inch or two closer to the ground - I know the orange Coupé isn't to many people's taste, including mine, it's purely to show what I mean about removing all the chrome -





So, the plan?

- Remove all the chrome trim from the body and fill in the holes
- Get the welding and bodywork done
- Full respray in the original colour
- Refit the clear indicators
- Proper black vinyl roof
- Custom made lowering springs
- Decent, but discrete sound system
- Clear rear lights, if I can find them...
- Banded 8J Sport steel wheels with 195/60/14 tyres - See the picture below of the car that inspired me to do this!



And that's about it for now, I'll keep you all updated on this, and it WILL get done, as it will be in Memory of my Dad.
Thanks for looking!


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## suspal (Dec 29, 2011)

Good work and all the best mate fantastic cars like rocking horse poo


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## DIESEL DAVE (Jul 26, 2007)

Loved granadas, had a few Ghias over 30yrs ago, nice to see again :thumb:


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## R7KY D (Feb 16, 2010)

Love it , Was humming the Sweeney tune whilst reading


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## nabby (Dec 10, 2013)

Thanks everyone!


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## Melkor (Aug 16, 2012)

Good luck with the project, love the old granadas.


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## Vossman (Aug 5, 2010)

Wow - lovely motor, I had one when I was younger, I will have to dig the pic out, it was a 3.0 Ghia, beautiful to drive and that V6 was a dream, auto choke was a ***** in the winter giving only 9mpg, but petrol was sooooo cheap in them days.
I look forward to this thread - well done on the choice.


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## craigeh123 (Dec 26, 2011)

Quality , although i think id be tempted to go for fully original . But only due to what it is , i do like the sound of what you've got planned


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## Samba1360 (Jun 3, 2012)

Did you notice the two different body styles on the coupes?


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## nabby (Dec 10, 2013)

yeah, the latter is the European version IIRC?


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## sfstu (Aug 3, 2010)

subscribed to this one...:thumb:

hope the below is of interest, saw this and fell in love with it at fordfair a couple of years ago...:argie:








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rgds stu


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## TonyH38 (Apr 7, 2013)

Nice one good luck with the project


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## Audi m8 (Feb 6, 2013)

Subscribed!


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## Starbuck88 (Nov 12, 2013)

Condolences on losing your Dad, I lost mine in February last year.

His dream was to own a nice Jag and never got to, so that's what I'm aiming for.

MY dad had a MK2 and MK3 whilst I've been alive and I think he also had a MK1. I love the look of the MK1, especially the coupe.

Look forward to seeing the progress on yours


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## Fozzer (Jul 19, 2011)

Subscribed as well


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## nabby (Dec 10, 2013)

Thought you lot might like to see my other motor...


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## Ravinder (Jul 24, 2009)

Good luck with the restoration. I too would restore it to standard personally. But your plans sound good. Just keep all the original bits etc if you decide to go for standard in future.


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## nabby (Dec 10, 2013)

Yeah I'm going to mate, i got the roof and panels off yesterday...it's going to need more welding than i first thought...oh well, onwards and upwards!


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## cbred (May 9, 2011)

Nice motor. Great to see your in Sunderland , Alexandra bridge . May see you around mate


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## nabby (Dec 10, 2013)

Well, after a lot of shouting, swearing, hitting things, and more swearing, we finally got here...
After the pictures were took, the seats, carpet, bonnet and boot were removed - 99% of the stripping is done now, bodywork wise, just the engine to come out now!




...things get worse before they get better? I hope so!


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## nabby (Dec 10, 2013)

Sorry for not updating for such a long time, we've been moving garages, so that has taken up most of my time, not leaving me any time for the Granny  But we're moved now and pretty much settled in, so the next set of updates hopefully shouldn't take too long...


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## nabby (Dec 10, 2013)

Well, the engine and box are out, and my wheels are ready for banding...now I just need the money to get the new engine painted/re-gasketed/cleaned up and get the wheels banded...


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## nabby (Dec 10, 2013)

A few pictures of the bad bits...I need to crack on and get this finished...


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