Puma from Malta

Sweet looking car love the car and brought back fond memories of my holidays to Malta years ago :'(

thanks...you should come more often

Was a bit busy doing other things these last couple of months including tidying up my mk1 escort. As for the puma..

Sill has been replaced and painted:
















Cam belt, pulleys and water pump were replaced with original ford items. A second hand vct solenoid and a new battery were also fitted:




There was a blow from the exhaust, so I removed the middle box...Sounds much better without a cat and just a back box :grin:


I'm still not happy with the performance...a set of NGK Iridium plugs have just arrived...will start from there.

Haven't updated this for a while. Puma was off the road for a couple of years or so. A couple of months ago, my Megane was giving be some problems so decided to put her back on the road..had forgotten how good it drives :grin:

Here are some pics
















And a short vid

Well done with the Puma, whereabouts are you from in Malta?
Barry

Cheers, from B'Kara (Centre), not that Malta is that big anyway :lol:

I've been a few times as we have an apartment in Buggiba and friends in Hamrun and Mosta. A few years ago I asked my friend if there was a classic ford scene in Malta and he said no From what I've seen now you have a really big classic Ford following over there. I would like to see the cars and Hal Far? is it? the next time I come.
Barry

I see...I live in Bugibba in summer as well. I'd say there is a huge classic ford scene here be it street legal cars or motorsport (Hal Far drag strip and hillclimbs). Last weekend we had some mk1 escorts coming from the UK and racing at Hal Far including Andy Harris! Here are some pics of mine (hope I'm allowed :grin: ). I'm also restoring my first car (2 door escort mk2) which is currently in bits.

Hi
The Escort and Fiesta look lovely but I would imagine your Puma is a bit of a rarity in Malta. I used to have a MK1 Mexico and a MK2 RS2000, there's some pictures on my project thread and I would love another but they are too expensive over here now :-(
Our place in Malta is just at the side of the (recently demolished) Mediterranean Hotel (Western side).
Barry

Puma looks grand Fefu, thanks for sharing.

Gotta say I love that colour! (sorry Barry :wink: )

Rob.

That's ok Rob, it's almost FRP blue and I like it as well. :grin:

Cheers for the comments, colour is Melina Blue

Had a look at your thread Barry. Lovely Puma as well...I've never seen one in red here in Malta (as you said, there aren't many over here, especially 1.7s). Proper job on the underside too...still not happy with mine, will probably end up in the hands of my mk2's restorer after that's done.

Love the bubble arched mk1 and x-pack mk2. Everyone I know regrets selling them...Dad had bought the mk1 new in 1969 and the mk2 in 1980 and held on to both...must be a visionary :lol:

Hi
It's just the way you guys do it on Malta, you buy a car and hang onto it forever I know things have changed now but on my first visit to Malta one of the first cars I saw was a VW beetle... with no wings on it, on the road!!!! Oh and I think there was only one set of traffic lights on the Island.
Barry

Yeah you're right I buy cars and never sell any cause I think I would regret it ...in Gozo you can still probably count the number of traffic lights on your hand

Bought some decals from DMB Graphics for that factory look...





Had a puncture the other day which made me think what it would look like on steels. Anyone else tried that before?

Terrible I think. The biggest steels from Ford would be 15" with loads of inset unless you're talking about Lotus steels with loads of offset but they're only 13" and would look like supermarket trolley wheels.
Barry

Barry, the puma original steels have 34 mm OT ;-)

RIP Puma :-( The car I loved and cherished for all these years turned to scrap metal over the weekend after dumb policemen decided to do a roadblock right after a blind spot in the middle of a main road without any advanced warning or lights in the middle of the night. To top it all off the two cars that were stopped didn't have any side lights/hazards on.

Puma proved to be a strong little car...everyone got out without a scratch. I even managed to drive her home. Chassis is a bit bent, inner wing and front panel are severely damaged. As much as my heart wants to repair her, my mind tells me this would not make any logical sense. It's going to be tough without a Puma though and I will for sure struggle to find a competent replacement.

So sorry to hear that after all the work you put into it but glad it protected you.
Barry

OMG! What a disaster! I feel for you. Glad you walked away from it, but so sorry you are walking away.....

Oh that's awful, sorry to hear about it also. Accidents are horrible :-(