Malcolm Stewart's MkII Coupe

After many phone calls, frustration (for Richard) hours of hard work, the job constantly getting bigger, the coupe was ready to come home.
While it was in Christchurch all the chrome work was sent to �Shiny Bits� out at Geraldine. These also were sent up to Richard for fitting.
The upholstery was completed in Christchurch by Andy Walker. I also spent this time sourcing all the original bits which the prototype had i.e. tripe carburettors, over drive, disk brakes, water bottle etc.

Back in the 1980�s, while down at Caroline Bay looking at a car display, a Mk 2 Zephyr 2 door car caught my eye. I remember saying to my son Gerald, that I would not mind doing that to a car but I would do it a bit differently.

Around the mid 1990�s, when Neil Brown went to live in Australia, I was asked to store his Mk 2 Zephyr.
Some time later John Hull mentioned that Neil wanted to sell the Mk 2, was I interested in buying it? .

Did I need another car? Well no, but it was English assembled, the paint and panel work was in pretty good condition and while all the original chrome work had gone and the seats well worn, it would be ideal to convert into a two-door pillar less coupe
The deal was done and the beginning of my dream to have a two-door pillar less coupe began ( I was later to discover that my dream was also a nightmare!) My first job was to take the centre door post out and make up �rough pattern� for the side panels, with the doors made longer. It took me approximately two years to get the panels to how I had visualised them to look like, from a photo of a Dagenham built prototype of a proposed two-door pillar less coupe Zodiac. The Z was then sent to a panel shop for �skins� to be made. Three panel shops later, and little, if any, real progress made, disillusioned I brought the Mk 2 home.

Parked in the corner of the shed, I gave up on the panel work and turned to working on the running gear.
Four years later Geoff Taylor mentioned that he was selling Mk 2 Zodiac parts and panels which would enable me to change the Zephyr into a Zodiac, was I interested?
The deal completed, I had been given the motivation I needed to continue the conversion to a pillar-less coupe.Several phone calls later the Z was on it�s way to Christchurch, for the fourth time, for Richard Findlay to complete the panel work

During the long restoration process Steve Rhodes guided me through the requirements to ensure a hassle free certification. What a day that was!

The first trip for the Mk 2 was up to Christchurch for the International Zephyr Convention at Easter 07.
The car drove well and while there were a few minor things to sort out when we got home, the car never let me down. To top a great week end off it won the �participants choice� trophy.

Thank you to all the club members who helped to source parts, work on the engine etc and gave up their time to assist me in completely my �dream� Along the way the coupe was affectionally called �the drag queen� (it was not as it appeared to be), by my wife, and the garage was known as the �flat� ( for the long periods of time I was alleged to have spent down there)

Malcom Stewart