BLOG: Unsung Heroes - Ian Woodward

by Gar Cole

​In a new feature to the group we'll be bringing you a regular series entitled 'an unsung hero ' featuring those quiet enthusiasts who go the extra mile to save a car when others would have given up. Our first hero is group regular and all-round nice guy Ian Woodward.

Ian already owns a beautiful 1962 Zephyr that features regularly in our tours, however back in the day Ian owned a 2.0 SD1 in moonraker blue. The urge to own another one grew stronger and being handy with the spanners he purchased via EBay a 1982 2600SE full project in moonraker blue.

Ian, myself and Ian's lad Jonathan headed off to darkest Norfolk to collect it;the car in question had been off the road for 17 years and let's say it looked like a Halfords catalogue from 1985, extra badges, spot lights, reflectors, and a rear window louvre. Now children of the 80s like me and Jon love all that but Ian commented ' that lots going in the bin asap ' 😟.

The owner seemed an agreeable type and assured Ian even though the fuel pump had failed he had regularly started the engine with a fuel bottle over the last decade, said it ran lovely and he could make more breaking the car but was happy to let it go for restoration, we headed back to Leicestershire with 3 broad smiles, however...

After some superficial removing of the Halfords specials Ian decided to tackle the mechanicals first, the rotten radiator was removed and an attempt to turn the engine by hand revealed it would only do half a turn then lock up.

​It appears our seller had been less than honest and the engine was in fact badly damaged, all valves bent, damaged piston tops and oval bores, in fact it looked like it hadn't ran in the 17 years since it was last taxed ( see photos ) , I never got to see the email Ian sent to the seller but I'm assured it contained a world record for insults per line.

​At this point Ian was offered a V8 engine and gearbox by a trusted friend, and brilliant as V8s are he decided he wanted to preserve the increasingly rare six cylinder.  A replacement head was sourced and sent away for a full recondition, repaired radiator, hoses and a myriad of other small bits and bobs.

A used but good block was sourced from North Wales and the Woodward boys set about removing the old engine and rebuilding and refitting the new one. After a few weeks' work the engine fired into life, a little rough to start but once both carbs had been cleaned and fettled the big six sounded great. Pleased with himself Ian had the alloys refurbished with a new set of tyres and then set about attacking the bodywork which had quite a bit of corrosion, especially in the boot area where the Halfords spoilers had acted as water traps.

​Just this week Ian started the car and was horrified to see clouds of blue oil smoke coming out of the exhaust. ' Why oh why didn't I change the rings when I had the chance?' he wailed to me down the phone. 'That's it I've had enough I'm selling it - someone else can finish it'.

Now we had all collaborated in lying to Ian's wife Sarah that all these parts had only been £20 here and there. The truth is our hero was already past the £2000 point and at this point all seemed lost until several of our members pointed out if the original engine had failed in a spectacular way it may have filled the exhaust and baffles with engine oil and it could be that which was causing the smoke. Following advice Ian ran the engine up to temp for nearly and hour and lo and behold the smoke all but cleared.

​Sensible Sarah then convinced Impulsive Ian to hold his nerve and finish the project, after all he'd only spent £20 here and there she said. 🤔