Matamata 'Panelworks Open Days' are a huge all day event ...

They happen every second year and the next one is coming up on Sunday March 25th 2012 ...

Basically, everything inside the compound is cars we have worked on. So it’s all to do with Matamata Panelworks and the work we’ve done over the past few years. Plus, the cars on the street from various car clubs we invite. They make it a club run and come over to Matamata for the day. Come over to check out our workshop to see what’s going on. Last year we had 500 hot-rods and muscle cars parked up down the street ... it’s unreal.

It is a very exciting day because car enthusiasts come from near and far to see all kinds of classic cars on display. The local media and radio station will be there too.

We literally throw our doors open wide so the general public can get to see what we do - and it only happens every two years!

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If you're Googling the Internet for the best quality suspension parts for your classic car restoration you're going to come up with a product called Total Control ....

You are going to hear people raving about how happy they are with Total Control suspension systems because they are definitely top of the line and hard to go past.

The other main rival to Total Control that your Google search is going to come up with Is RRS or Racing Revelation Suspension both suspension and brakes. You all again read more raving testimonials from happy customers who just love our RRS products.

So, what's the difference between Total Control and RRS or Racing Revelation Suspension?

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We have quite a few nice Car restorations going on simultaneously at the moment...

We have just come to the end of a little ‘65 Mustang Notchback, an ‘all black’ paint job, that is cool looking matte black. ( Speaking of 'All Blacks': Go the World Cup Champion AB's!! ) Sorry, guys, got a bit carried away with my excitement. Back to the car ... It's got Rear Bus suspension, Racing Revelation Suspension rack & pinion, struts and straight forward 289 hp engine in the car. It’s just a nice good car for driving around Auckland streets. Good restoration on a budget, low key, for the everyday driver.

I would say a lot New Zealanders would like to own and have; just a lower budget; nice to drive. That was done for Troy, the owner.

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Hi, I'm Greg Miller, foreman, of Panelworks Paint Shop ...

I have been asked, "What makes Panelworks Paint Shop a cut above the rest?"

Well, the easiest way to explain that is to give you an example of what we do. At the moment, we are working on a truly classic 1932 Chevy Coupe. It actually just came back from acid dippers last week. One of our top-notch guys, Shane, is the painter responsible for all the paint work on this little '32 Chev Coupe - which you can see in the accompanying pictures.

First up. we go through the vehicle trying to find any rusty bits, clean the steel rod up, all inside, underneath and everywhere like that. Then we spray a “rust kill” product on the inside surfaces and let that dry off overnight. Then we put a primer on the inside and from there we move onto the outside panels that you see when all the doors and closed. We sand in the Wire Wheels and scrub them clean. We scrub them down with a phosphoric acid and rinse it off with water. Then we dry it and bake it in the oven. Then we apply an epoxy urethane etch product onto it which seals it off from any moisture in the air. The Chevy is just at that stage now. From here it goes back to the Panel Shop so they can start cutting any rust repairs out and so forth.

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In the current economic climate there are a lot of panel beaters looking for extra work and many are looking to take on complex car restorations of the type that Panelworks specialises in.

Currently Panelworks is doing three "fix-up" car restorations at the moment. The reason that we are doing these car restorations is that the owners have previously taken them to other panel beaters who botched them.

Those panel beaters are looking for extra work because they’re a bit slow at the moment so they’re getting into a bit of car restoration work to fill in those gaps. These guys can often seem attractive to people looking to get work done at a lower cost: or what they perceive as a lower cost than what might Panelworks will do it for.

But here’s the problem; what’s resulted is that now they have brought their vehicles to Panelworks to get them fixed up after the guys who have done the original restoration haven’t got it right. So, at the end of the day, it’s costing them more money than it would have cost them had they just brought it to Panelworks at the beginning.

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This is a rare one guys! This is a non-restored 1968 GT-350 Shelby ...

On the clock it’s got 6000 miles. We couldn’t tell you if that is correct or it is really 106,000 miles; but looking at the car's amazing original condition it looks genuine - see it for yourself and make up your own mind.

The original Black interior looks superb. We have given the outside of the car a tidy up ( a nice paint blow over ) but other than that everything is original as it was in 1968. Full 'Marti Report'* available ...

* "What is the Marti report?" ...

All the Ford records pertaining to the specifications of every car they made are retained by a fellow named Kevin Marti ...

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Restoring the Classic 1970 
Ford Mustang ...

This car will be ongoing throughout the next couple of months of panel work, painting parts restoration work: but it is going to be a beauty when it is finished!

We’ve gone for top quality ‘Total Control Products’: it'll have a complete new front end with 13 inch rotor (front and rear), plus, Wilwood brakes, full adjustable coil-overs (front and rear as well). The will be getting a Fad 9 four-link rear suspension put in to it and its going to have a Roush 351 family Windsor engine, stroked out to 427 which is 536 horse power with 519 pounds of torque: and there will be a TK3 mach 600 behind it.

Its going to be very nice when it's finished ...

The 1970 Ford Mustang is an undoubted classic and Panelworks is definitely the place for ...

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Thanks to all those who voted for us in this year's NZV8 Magazine awards...

Matamata Panelworks won the "NZV8 Street Car of the Year 2011" Award for our smokin' hot restoration of a Ford Falcon XB muscle car. See the accompanying picture from the cover of NZV8 magazine. For those of you with sharp eyes, yes, it is the same car we took to the Powercruise event in Taupo last December where it picked up several other awards including the big one, Top Judged to Show Class. Not bad, eh?

We always promise AND deliver world-class car restoration here at Panelworks but it's nice for the boys in the panel shop and the paint shop to get some well deserved recognition for the top work that they do day after day: Well done, boys! The beers are on me. But don't celebrate too hard because now you've go to keep the up the high standards you've set. Bugger!
 

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I hate the word "Budget" because it could give the wrong idea ...

Not every car we restore is a "million dollar restoration" but just because we're often happy to work within our clients budget restraints ... it doesn't mean that Panelworks would EVER turn out work that is less than world-class. In fact, I personally guarantee that all our work - whatever the agreed budget - will be done to the highest possible standard of car restoration.

That said, here is a beautiful example of a top-notch car restoration in the $50K to $70K range ...

That's New Zealand dollars, of course.You can follow the restoration process of this 1966 Ford Mustang Fastback: as well as the beautiful paint job done in our very own Paintworks by clicking on the pics on the side of this blog. The transformation from the original red to the finished silver paint job is stunning ...

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We're sad to see this one go but happy to see this classic car Ford Falcon XC Cobra 388 fully restored ...

This was a FUN classic car to restore! While we are all sad to see it disappear from the Panelworks workshop it is great to be returning this rare and classic car to New Zealand roads.

They were only ever 400 Ford Falcon XC Cobra's ever made ...

This Falcon COBRA XC 388 would have to be one of the rarest of the Falcon Coupes. The Falcon COBRA is now officially a 30 year old Musclecar classic and is eligible for VINTAGE CLUB PLATES/REGO. With only 400 units ever produced, combined with striking paintwork these Cobras were an instant classic! The 388 number signifies that this is the 388 Ford Falcon Cobra XC of the 400 made...

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Here at Panelworks we are getting into all the rare ones these days...

This "Pantera" is in getting a "full car restoration": starting off with going on to the jig for a "jack & square" and then new sills.

Here's some history on De Tomaso the Creator of the Classic and Rare "Pantera":

Alejandro De Tomaso was born in Argentina, to a wealthy Italian family who ran a cattle ranch on a great piece of land along the Rio De la Platte river, land originally granted by the King of Spain to one of De Tomaso’s Spanish forebears.

But rather than settle for the life of a cattle baron, De Tomaso yearned to be a race car driver, and in the early ‘50’s, he managed to achieve that aim, driving borrowed Italian cars in local races.

But his political commentaries in a student newspaper ran him afoul of dictator Juan Peron and he fled to Italy in ‘55, where, soon after, he met lsabelle Haskell, a tall blonde American woman race driver. After driving as a team in several International races against famous racers like Carroll Shelby, Masten Gregory, Juan Manuel Fangio, and Phil Hill, in ‘57 they were married in a society wedding in West Palm Beach, Florida.

In 1959, they founded their auto building firm, De Tomaso Automobili, in Modena, their first car a 1.5 liter Formula 2 car built along Cooper lines with a OSCA engine built by the Maserati brothers. DeTomaso brought this car to Sebring in 1959 for the 12 hour race and ...

 

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 Hey friends,Panelworks has been nominated for two awards in the up-and-coming NZV8 Awards to be presented in Auckland on Saturday, 30 April 2011. 50% of the tally comes from public voting ( and the rest from a panel of experts ) so if you want to see little old Panelworks from Matamata taking away the awards this year... Click o... read more

Our good mate, Simon Gallagher, sent us this note about his impressions when we showed him around the Matamata Panelworks workshop recently ...

Malcolm & Ian, 

Firstly i would like to thank you guys for taking the time out of your day to show us around your amazing workshops, absolutely amazing your work is a credit to you 100% so amazing to be able to have a walk around and look at how you guys do things very impressive!!

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This comment on a previous Blog was posted by Mike, whose '65 Mustang was restored here at Panelworks:

1/18/2011 6:27 PM, a comment was posted to your article,
"Another Panelworks restoration … Mike’s 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback."

Hi MIKE here, owner of the Roush Mustang mentioned! Just read Malcolms comments on me build. And got to say he under-sells himself and the work they do! The work these guys do have blown me away, from intial discussions and insights on the project to the 'final' reveal. It was without doubt above my expectations, and I'm one happy motorhead ...

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