Part Three of “Project Panther”
Paul and Gaz had been telling me about a guy on the site called
@Lee, and spoke really highly of him quoting him to be “a proper good bloke and an expert on the Z3”. He has already pretty much rebuilt 3 Z3’s from the ground up. Lee added me on Facebook as Paul told him I was in need of a lot of help getting Panther happy again. Much to my amazement he told me about his workshop, and offered to help get Panther back up and running like she should be. According to Lee he enjoys a project, so we arranged a mini meet to discuss how to proceed. It would give him a chance to have a good look over the scale of what needed doing!
The following Sunday morning a group of 6 Z3’s (GazHyde, Paul, Lee & Sam, Trevor & Toni, Chris and Panther!) descended on McDonalds at Milton Park Interchange near Didcot - it almost didn’t go entirely to plan as Panther started making a knocking noise as I got south of Oxford. Phoned Gaz, and Lee and Gaz drove up to meet me after I pulled off the A34 to get to safety. Luckily it was just a bit of loose plastic trim hanging down and flapping under the car. Lee ripped it off, and then I got to have my Sausage and Egg Muffin!
The second surprise of the morning was that Lee had managed to get me a new gear knob from
@spurs fan in a coupe (woohoo). The plastic gear indicator had fallen out of mine, and it was uncomfortable to use it. It was a shame to have to replace it because I had the illuminated ///M version, but I’m actually really chuffed with the chrome replacement one I now have. Looks proper mint!
So, Lee and Gaz get to start looking around Panther, while I took the time to catch up on the gossip with the other owners.
I’m not really sure what they got up to, but they gave it a good look over. Checked the engine codes again, kicked the tyres and generally looked quite serious…
After they looked at it, it was proposed that Lee would take Panther back home with him there and then so the project could get started straight away. The rebuild project would start officially on Monday evening now!
How excited was I, proper excited!! Gaz offered to give me a lift back home, and we all parted and headed off in different directions.
GO GO GO Project Panther!
Now, I’ve always been really impatient, and I am amazed to have found someone who is even more impatient than I am. Lee messaged me later on Sunday afternoon to say that he already had the car in his garage up on axle stands with the wheels removed! The brakes were starting to be removed as well… Project Panther well and truly under way now thanks to @Lee…
The next couple of installments will be written by Gaz, because I haven’t had chance to get involved in the oil grubby hands on stuff yet. There is a small team of boys involved in the work – Lee, Gaz, Paul & Trev.
To be continued…
