My latest thoughts

The Cougar has moved on to a better life in Birmingham. The Mustang is still having bits added to it (new passenger door mirror, seatbelts).

It's great when I can spend all day outside messing around with cars, which is what I did today. The Mustang is all polished and ready to go, and all the other vehicles in the family are up and running. The latest addition, by the way, is a Toyota Hilux pickup which I bought for Yukari, and which is great fun to drive.

Our latest overseas trip was to the Mustang 40th Anniversary in Nashville (see the travelogue page), and last weekend I went to the UK's equivalent, at the Ford engineering base at Dunton in Essex. I even got to drive on their test track, which was great fun.

I'm not very good at this keeping up to date business. Since the last update, I've been to Zurich and Los Angeles. Lots of interesting things have happened, but not to me. Maybe I should do something interesting? If there's anyone interesting out there that can tell me what to do, please email me.

Wow, another year! A trip to the Columbus swapmeet last November yielded some good buys for the Mustang, such as a 'proper' antenna (one that retracts), and some gaskets so that I could finish off the amber tail light conversion. I also got a washer motor, which I fitted into the 'proper' washer bottle I bought off eBay.

Nothing much else going on really. I'm playing around with selling classic Mustang books (see them here), but this is more a hobby than a serious attempt to make money!

We've been to Spain! Alicante, to be precise. It was cooler than we expected, and I came back with a cold (recurring theme here?). Latest Mustang job is converting the rear lights to one amber, two red on each side (see photo, right). As usual I'm finding lots of other "while I'm at it" jobs along the way, so it's taking longer than I thought.

Well, Yukari was so impressed with my account of the Pomona Swapmeet that I took her to the one in August! It was just as hot, but I didn't buy much stuff this time. A little while after, we took a short trip to the Lake District with Yukari's parents. We also went out to Zurich to see my friend Saul, his wife Paola, and their new baby son, Daniel. I think that's where we also picked up a nasty bout of flu. Anyway, we're better now, and I've just finished painting the Mustang's engine bay. Only 324 more jobs to do and she'll be perfect!

Still working on that car! Did some more POR-15 painting today. I recently went over to Los Angeles to do some shopping, and finished the trip off with a visit to the Pomona Swapmeet (absolutely awesome! It starts at 5am and finishes when it gets too hot to stay outdoors...) Anyhow, I now have an electronic ignition to fit to the Mustang and some new tools from Sears.

I am now officially "a bit famous" having recently been heard on Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time, and seen loitering in the background on BBC TV's Top Gear. To prove it, here's a small pic from the Top Gear website with me clearly shown:

By the way, if you're in the UK, there's still plenty of time to vote for the Mustang as Greatest car of all time. See the Top Gear website for details.

Since I last updated this page, I've been to Miami for a holiday, and had lots of work done to the Mustang (rebuilt engine, recored radiator, new alternator & water pump...). Just today, I was repainting the battery tray and the inner fender underneath it, as I found it was a tad rusty when I took the battery out! Last weekend I took the car to a Mustang all-day event at the Ace Cafe in London, and was certainly inspired by some of the other cars there. I'll hopefully be posting some new photos soon, so keep an eye out.

Merry thing and Happy New blah blah blah. Since the last update, I've been to the States again (making it the 5th time in 2002), to do some crewing for Team Cooperized. I also moved offices back to the BA headquarters where I used to work. This has a car park designed exclusively for Euro-biscuit tin type cars, so I've been having some difficulty with the Cougar (scraped bumper - luckily fixable, windscreen sticker when I parked across two spaces), but I think I've got it sussed now. I still hate the place, though. Otherwise, pretty quiet really.

No updates for ages, I'm afraid, but I've been busy! Just got back from a three-week trip to the States, where we drove around the South-West seeing the sights. In brief, we started off in L.A., spent some time in Santa Monica, then drove up to Vegas, where we spent a few days before heading across Utah, seeing some National Parks along the way, up through Colorado, down to Albuquerque in New Mexico, then back West through Arizona (Grand Canyon and Route 66) to California again. More info appears on the travelogue page.

That same 1969 Mustang fastback has now appeared in my driveway. Whatever can this mean?

For more info, see my Mustang page

Below is a photo of a 1969 Mustang fastback, being finished off at Pomona Imports. I shall say no more at this stage.

I spent over 3 hours on Sunday changing the oil on the Cougar. Thanks, Ford, for putting the oil filter in such a dumb place! Still, the Purolator oil filter I bought in Sears on my last trip to the States fitted fine (just as well, as I had to punch several holes through the old one with a screwdriver to get it off!). Now, let's see how good this Castrol Magnatech really is...

Got back from Albuquerque last Monday, where we spent the week with a madman from Sheffield and his family. I hired a 2002 Mustang (right), and we did some driving around. I also got some stuff for my car, including some touch-up paint which took some finding! I had to get it specially mixed at NAPA, as none of the parts shops carried that colour, and Ford had discontinued it. Also managed to catch the new Spiderman movie, just before it came out in England! Had some trouble getting back via Phoenix, as America West airlines cancelled one of the Albuquerque - Phoenix flights, and the Phoenix - London BA flight was full, but we made it back in the end, albeit on different days.

Went drag racing at the weekend - here's a couple of pics of me on the Team Cooperized Hirebusa at Santa Pod.

 

I got my New York photos developed - interesting to compare one I took from the Statue of Liberty ferry (below) to the photo I took in 1991 (see 17th September 2001 entry further down this page)...

I finally did it - I took my parents on the BA001 to New York over the weekend. We went on G-BOAF, which is pictured above, and did the classic thing of arriving in New York an hour before we took off in London!

Just got back from Japan, where we went to Tokyo Disneyland (pretty much the same as the one in California).

Been working outside today - weatherproofing my new back gates, tidying up the patio / lawn, washing my car. Let's hope the weather stays this good for a while.

Was absolutely delighted yesterday to discover a bag of washing in a suitcase I haven't used since 1999. Now I've got more socks and t-shirts than I thought I had!

The photo is me in Japan, wearing my new jacket (see below).

Still enjoying the car. I've fitted new spark plug wires and a K&N air filter now.

Just got a new jacket, which was shipped over from the States. To cut a long story short, I've wanted a particular style of jacket for ages, to replace an old one. I couldn't find the right one in the UK or on the web, but then I went to the States and found they were called "Letterman jackets" - so I searched again on the web and found a site, JacketShop.com, that makes them to order (you can design them yourself). So that's what I did.

Other news: Just got the American Graffiti CD from Amazon.co.uk.; Went to Valencia in Spain for a week; Been doing some decorating.

New page - lots of dull info about my car can be found here.

And I've sold my flat.

Not much to say at the moment, it's that dead time after Christmas. I've been contacted by lots of old schoolfriends via the friendsreunited site, which was nice. If you're reading this and you remember me, get in touch!

What's 5 metres long, has an enormous trunk, is highly impractical, and only just fits in my driveway? A 4.6 litre V8 '95 Mercury Cougar, that's what. Nurse, I feel faint again...

Been busy... mainly decorating (my old flat, to sell it), and on holiday (Vancouver). I've just updated the site with some more drag racing pics, and, of course, have been keeping the Cooperized website up to date. And of course, there was that thing in America that we all watched live on TV, that seemed totally unreal. Here's a photo of New York I took in 1991, in happier times.

Wow, it's been a while.. since the last update, I've been to Bologna, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Zurich and, just now, Blackpool. Blackpool wins the 'tackiest souvenirs' award, as I couldn't find a single thing to bring back home.

The Cooperized site is pretty much launched, albeit still missing a few bits and pieces, but we'll get there eventually.

My bike recently went to the Isle of Man, for the 'rather quiet' TT non-Races. It was being ridden by Helen of the Cooperized Team, who is temporarily sans roadbike. I must lend her my bike more often, as it came back as clean as when it was new, and running better than it has for a long time!

Still haven't been updating my webpages much recently, as I've been concentrating on creating a site for the Team Cooperized site.

I have updated some of my links though (not least because of Douglas Adam's untimely death), though I didn't include a link to a page which was created as a touching tribute to myself. It's here.

Haven't been updating my webpages much recently, as I've been concentrating on creating a site for the Cooperized Dragbike team. My efforts so far are here.

Talking of bikes, what is it that makes them so much better than cars? If I lived in a climate where the weather wasn't so bad, I'd be using it all the time.

Today, as I was walking home with Yukari, some roofing contractors shouted out something along the lines of "Oi, John Lennon", and proceeded to give a rendition of "Imagine". How ridiculous. John Lennon was a long-haired guitar-playing Northerner who had a Japanese partner, whereas I... well, I'm not dead.

Andy Holten	John Lennon

And today's ridiculous achievement? I made a deep hole in my garage floor, so I can fix a ground anchor, and lock the bikes to it. Tomorrow, we cement!

I was going to do some vacuum cleaning, but I thought I'd update this page instead.

Well, we're finally in a new millennium, and I've made it into the 21st century. Can't say that I feel any different, though. Continue to be most excited by what, to others, probably seem ridiculous. Great excitement yesterday when I installed an outside light on the garage. I'm inordinately proud of this achievement. Also very happy that I now own a pair of overalls, so I can roll around in the dirt under our various vehicles without worrying about my clothes.

Just finally got round to reading my Greenpeace newletter, which prompted me to re-visit their website. At the moment, you can automatically send a letter of protest to your country's head of state, with your Japanese embassy copied in, protesting about Japan's actions to stop a ban on whaling. I recommend it.

Oh, Happy New Year.

I'm back from a 10-day holiday in Cancun, Mexico. I just scanned some of the photos for the travelogue, including this one, me bravely standing next to man-eating crocodiles. Well, actually a sign warning about crocodiles, but it's the same general idea.

Merry Christmas.