Generation ZED

Your projects: With his Dad, Jason addicted to Mk2 Zephyrs it wasn’t long before Jacob got the bug, too — now they’re building this period sleeper.

- Jon Hill

Corby-based Jason Blott is well known as a Mk2 devotee — his inventory of cars owned past and present is enviable. And naturally we’ve featured plenty, from his infamous 9-second ’56 Ute to the car he’s most passionate about: a black Zephyr that’s period correctly modified. But this one’s different — it’s a part-owner project with son, Jacob who can’t help but be almost as passionate about Z-Cars as his dad. And what an influence!

This car is the one we all dream of finding — the one-owner 20,000 miler that’s been wrapped up all cosy-like since 1974. A fantastic base to start with as the amount of repair it needed was absolutely minimal; bordering on zero. In fact the only bit of rot was in the exhaust and that was being replaced!

Naturally, with such an original car, the modifications to the shell need to be nonexistent, so it can be returned to original if it ever needs to be — which of course, it won’t — but it’s nice to have the option. There’s an envious tonne of period correct parts in there plus a little twist that brings the car bang up to date — we’ll let the two J’s explain what’s going on.

The shell was mint, but you’ve still restored it?

The whole car was very, very good — just as you’d want to find although the underside really needed a coat of love. Once stripped out completely to a shell, we attached it to a rollover jig, spun it over and shotblasted the underside a bit at a time. This we did at home using a portable blaster — a bit messy but if you work in sections, you can control it, which is how we talked it…