Mumbo Member: Jim, Perth, Western Australia

When this Ford Mainline Ute rolled off the production line in 1956 it is unlikely that anyone involved in its construction would have imagined that it would still be cruising the streets in 2004, much less looking as hot as it does today. This is quite understandable when you consider that back in 1956 the ute sported slightly more modest specifications that included battleship grey paint, a 272 OHV V8 engine and three speed manual transmission.

When Jim came into possession of the ute four years ago he already had a very good knowledge of the ute's history as it had belonged to his brother for the previous 20 odd years. Petrol must run deep in the veins of Jim's family as his brother had repainted the dull battleship grey paint fire engine red, had slotted in a 302 Windsor V8 and ditched the manual tranny in favour of a C4 auto. However this was 1979 when The Knack were top of the pops with My Sharona so, according to Jim, by 1999 the Mainline was looking pretty knackered too.

Jim knew that the project would demand serious committment and not wishing to take years to complete, he took 9 months off work so that he could devote all his efforts to the restoration. In all, the ute as you see it here took 18 months complete.

The extent of work required only became fully apparent after the car had been striped and sand blasted and Jim tells us "I nearly cried. The floor, rocker panels and doors were all completely rusted out." Such was the work required that Jim built a rotisserie upon which to mount the ute so that the mammouth task could be more easily completed.

The most striking thing about the ute is the colour. Jim wanted something that would really stand out and was initially considering a fluorescent colour. That was until he spotted the stunning "Traffic Orange" that you see here in a paint catalogue and knew that he had found the colour that would create the impact he was looking for. Once Jim had replaced the rusty panels with new sheet metal and had prepared the body for painting it was shipped off to Carlisle Technical College as a project car for the student spray painters. The fantastic end result is testament to Jim's prep work and the skill of the students who painted the car.

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