72 Mercury Comet GT in Germany

Nice shot, especially one taken at night.

The car has a really nice stance and wheel/tire fitment too.

 

thanks jeff, i really enjoy this car.

the stance does look badass, although i still have some very slight tire rub on the driver's side when doing a full right turn. but as the steering coupler is now firm, the steering wheel is not centered anymore. i'll try to adjust the wheels a little so hopefully the rubbing will stop.

had to glue the rearview mirror back on. the weekend was pretty hot with temperatures up to 38/100 degrees. letting the car sit in the sun softened the glue, and the mirror dropped. didn't break, fortunately.

did some highspeed driving on the way back i was chased by some late model mustangs and a challenger - boy, did they look surprised!

 

Great looking car Tody. It looks good in the picture. As Captain Comet said, great stance, tire and wheel combo. Didn't you purchase a set of the rear window louvers from the guy in Florida awhile back? Do you plan to install them on this car?

Allen Small

 

Allen, if you look closely you can just about make out the contour of the louvers... I believe I posted some pictures of the install a few pages back.

But there's some more quality pictures to come! I was approached by the photographer of the biggest German us car magazine this weekend, he wants to do a full story of the car. I'm very excited about this... Magazine coverage is always a nice thing, but even more so on this side of the pond!

 

You will have to share that article with us when it happens. That is very cool stuff.

It may happen really fast, but don't be totally surprised if it drags on for months, either. Mags are usually deadlined for about three months before their shelf date, so you have that to begin with. Sometimes fitting an article in gets it shuffled a couple of issues to better fit with a theme that month. A buddy's car was in Muscle Car Review and it took about 9 months. I think the three Sprints at the Ford show at Silver Springs took a long time too.

What I am saying is don't get discouraged .... patience. Don't be like my friend ... freaking out about it for far too long .... lol.

 

Every here in the US has enjoyed your posts and pictures. Wasn't there also a guy in France on this site doing some nice work too.

 

yes, i believe you're referring to this guy:
http://mmb.maverick.to/threads/a-new-small-french.43291/page-10

i will consider holding a european meeting, maybe next year. would be nice to see some familiar cars all together!

 

im in!!! would be great to see the european mavs/comets together
just hope i will be at the end of the summer as i will have to finish my car first...
will arrive in december to switzerland and still loooooots of work to get it on the road.

 

had a guy from the car magazine shoot my car yesterday. we took the pictures on an abandoned airfield in cologne. i bet they'll turn out awesome.
here's a quick shot from my cellphone.

 

this one:
http://chromundflammen-magazin.de/home/

 

Wunderbar... nice looking ride

 

just received a preview picture from the photographer...

 

damn.
i messed up my stance seriously. in the picture above, you can see the car with the shelby drop already done, and the springs that came with the laurel mountain kit - 620lbs 1" drop, if i remember correctly.
before the shelby drop, the car was just a hair too high. the drop lowered it more than expected, and i had some slight fender rubbing on tight corners. not very bad, but annoying.
the springs have been on the car for a couple of years now and have seen roughly 10.000 km.

so i ordered a set of 67-70 mustang progressive rate springs, small block, advertised as stock height. i was expecting not more than the 1" rise and figured i could live with it.
wrong!
before the swap, the wheel trim was about the same line as the bottom of the tire threads.
now, the wheel trim is sitting 3" above the tire!

drove the car around, took it for some serious cornering. handles very well in corners. but as it was too harsh on the highway before, the front now moves up and down considerably on de- and accelerating. doesn't feel very tight. the springs settled some, but i do not believe them to come down that much any more.

before installing, i noticed that the new springs were roughly an inch higher, but also had a bigger wire diameter than the supposedly firmer 620lbs springs.
i figured i wouldn't have any issues using the mustang springs, as the stock spring specifications are very close.
what i did notice is that my rocker panel now is sitting horizontally - totally leveled. maybe this is how it's supposed to sit?

but now something has to be to get my nice stance back...
how long should i wait for the springs to settle, if they settle any?
how much should i consider cutting each turn? 1/2 coil or 1/4 coil at a time?
and how will the cutting affect the spring rate, as this is a progressive spring?
i'm a little stumped right now...

 

Springs (especially coil springs) dont really settle. They will take a set as yourse have but, they wont drop now till they start to wear out. That should take about 40 yrs. Cutting progressive rate springs is not a good idea as it upsets the original progression as they compress.