Coco Pop

When we last visited Mel Garrard, it was to take a look at the Plum Crazy Fordson van he had recently finished restoring at the time. That feature was penned by Jon Hill and appeared in the October ’17 issue. Jon kicked off by commenting that Mel grew up loving Pops and Fordsons, the de rigueur hot rods of that era.

It will come as no surprise, then, that prior to Plum Crazy, Mel had built a string of cars and vans based on British tin. Or that at the time of that feature, his son Elliott had a 100E of his very own (which he still does). Similarly, it will come as no surprise when it came to deciding on the base vehicle for Mel’s next project.

‘I’ve fancied a chopped Pop on steels since I attended the Hot Rod Drags back in ,’ el confided. onathan ebeler as there in his purple sit up and beg rolling on yellow steels and that was all it took to get me hooked.

‘Fast forward several years and a fair number of projects and cars and I was put on to an unfinished op pro ect in omford. Bizarrely, the tip-off came from Shawn Shirley in Arizona. (The power of social media, eh? DB.) Adrian Fish was the then owner and he had invested a good number of years into the car.

‘The body was excellent, all steel with a Mini roof panel nicely grafted in. A Cosworth turbo engine was installed, as was a 5-speed T5 manual gearbox. The rolling stock featured an IRS, based around a Cosworth diff, with fabricated upper and lower arms in a custom cradle and quad shocks and outboard vented discs. The front suspension was centred around Mk3-5 Cortina spindles, with custom upper and lower A arms, adjustable coilovers and an Escort Mk2 steering rack.’

Despite the time already spent on the build, Adrian was no longer feeling it for the Pop and had lost interest. His focus was

Words: Dave Biggadyke Pics: Harry Hamm

A shake of hands seals the deal between Mel and Adrian and the Pop heads off to a new home

by then directed towards a Mk1 Consul project, and the Cossie engine and box were destined to feature in that.

It was June 2017 and, having recently finished the Plum Crazy rebuild, Mel struck a deal for the Pop rolling shell and took it home with him to deepest Lincolnshire.

‘I had ideas to ship the van Stateside for a future road trip, but that subsequently ran into clerical issues. Consequently the plan was to keep the Pop build simple and produce a reliable car that would hopefully make that journey itself in years to come.

‘I decided upon a 2.0-litre Pinto engine and Type 9 5-speed box. They came my way through a wanted ad, with me collecting them at Dragstalgia a short time later. The engine seemed fine so ust tidied it up and fitted a ne inta e manifold and ebber carb, along with a tubular exhaust manifold.’

It was then though that things got more intense. ith the front end sheet metal removed, it was evident the shock towers needed some heavy-duty strengthening as they flexed far too easily hen eight as applied. In order to attain the necessary steering geometry, it was found that the top arms also needed modifications to enable the fitment of the correct ball oints. ith the IRS also in need of work, the decision was taken to remove the body to facilitate easier access to all areas. ith the chassis devoid of body or , it was tidied up and the boxing plates rewelded. The engine and box were mounted, the front shock towers beefed up and the sorted ell sort of. e’ll come back to that later.

Mel confessed to momentarily having deviated from his build plan as the project progressed, but only for amusement. hile the Pinto lump was out of the car and on a stand for painting and detailing, I dropped in the big-block Chevy I happened to have lying around to see ho ell it fitted, ust for a laugh. I was, however, amazed to see how much it looked at home. That was

never going to feature in the plan though as my quest was for reliability and economy.’ In case you’re wondering, the 454ci V8 mated to a 5-speed box now resides in Mel’s previously small block-powered C2 Corvette. Not so much economy with that one, then.

Enough side tracking; back to the job in hand. ‘The possibility of a roof chop raised its head,’ Mel recalled with a smile. Inevitable really, as a chopped Pop had been on his bucket list for nigh on 40 years. It was also pretty much inevitable who Mel would ask to lower the roof as the guy had done an amazing job of painting Plum Crazy a few years earlier. ‘I put the idea to Kevin House of KZ Kustomz. He came and took a look to assess how much to remove from the pillars and also discuss possible paint colour options with me. After deliberation we agreed on a 4-inch chop and the Pop as boo ed in at the or shop. e also decided on the final paint mix after put to Kevin that I wanted it the colour the milk becomes when you’re eating Coco Pops!’

Although Kevin was impressed with how well Adrian had grafted in the Mini roof panel,

he decided that finishing off the roof chop would be easier if it weren’t in situ. The panel was carefully removed, to be replaced later with one from an alternative donor car.

Just as the roof pillars were about to be dissected, a member of the Ford Sidevalve Owners’ Club happened by the KZ Kustomz or shop. orrified at hearing of the impending work, he proceeded to call Mel all the names under the sun for allowing such butchery. But then later, with the chop complete, Kevin invited the guy back to take a look. Maybe somewhat reluctantly, he had to admit the car looked great.

Kevin House painted the car in the special mix colour to match Mel’s breakfast – apart from the bulkhead, which was

The Pinto engine slotted into the con nes of the Pop’s engine bay

Past the point of no return he roof chop begins at ustom

hat S OC member was right the Pop looks much better chopped With of metal removed from each of the pillars some realignment was called for A panel cut from a P Cruiser now lls the void in the Pop s roof

he S features custom A arms and ali hubs Mel only put his big-block Chevy here for a laugh t does look right at home though

Headlights have been converted to LED for improved night-time drivability, with indicators mounted further down the wings. The front bumper was painted silver by KZ Kustomz Being clearly seen during the future road trip he’s planning in the States is paramount in Mel’s mind, hence the neat repeater indicators incorporated in the peep mirrors Pic: Mel Garrard

finished in a contrasting shade of cream. t as then bac to el for him to finish off the build. re ired the car using a it from o n to arth ustom and lassic uto lectrics, and fitted ynamat soundproofing throughout. he pedal box came from an scort and utilises il ood master cylinders, ith a eugeot slave cylinder adapted for the clutch. left the seats ust as bought them, but trimmed the rest of the interior myself. retty much the last ob did as to fit a removable to bar so e can haul a trailer full of camping gear on those ee ends a ay.’ hat asn’t actually the last ob, though, as despite the op being painted and pretty much finished el too the plunge and changed the rear axle and suspension. he os orth as too much axle for the car no running a mild into engine, and routing cables and pipe or proved to be a pain. ruth as needed a much simpler approach. cut out the and sold it on, added a couple of extra crossmembers and installed an nglia axle ith an e ay sourced hinese bar location it, coilovers and a anhard rod.’ ot exactly an ideal scenario ith a car built but a man’s gotta do hat a man’s gotta do, and it does the ob perfectly ith no unnecessary fuss.

Adopting the if it ain t broke don t x it philosophy Mel has left the internals of the 2 0-litre Pinto engine well alone save for tting a new oil pump e has given it an external makeover though along with tting a fresh intake manifold and Weber 2 3 carb A fresh -branch exhaust manifold sorts the waste gases, while a custom ali rad fabricated by Collin Rey at Custom Aluminium Fabrications keeps things at the right temperature