After Lord only knows how long off the road, I finally got to take my car on her maiden drive today. We did about 120km without any major incident. At first every press on the throttle had me expecting to see a piston depart via the side of the block, but nothing like that eventuated. No overheating, good oil pressure and absolutely nothing caught fire or even released a bit of smoke. And the brakes work, even if the pedal gives the impression that they don't.

I've had her since July last year, and she came to Australia from California in 2009. Before that the only thing I know for certain is that she was sold on 31st October 1967 to her original owner, Mr Arthur McGill, 965 Mangrove Avenue, Sunnyvale, California. I was a 2yo at the time.

There are lots of rattles and squeaks, half the interior trim is missing, the paint is 5 different colours and the seat frames are knackered. But the engine runs sweetly and the car feels solid and purposeful on the road.

Next job is fitting Wilwood calipers, a proper set of SU's and then it's off to throw money at the motor trimmer.

The last 6 months has cost 100's of hours of hard work and a lot of money. Today confirmed that it has been worth every cent.