As is so often the case, Dave Ramsay had known of his XC Fairmont V8 Hardtop for years before he was able to buy it, by which time the ravages of neglect had become clearly obvious.

It was owned by a lady I worked with and was used mostly for towing, by the time they decided to sell it, the car had sat in the open for a while and rust was attacking right through the rear section.

Add to that the scrapes down the sides where the previous owner had misjudged a few manouvres and it was a candidate for full restoration.

Mechanically they are a basic and easy car to maintain but the body panels and detail parts much harder to find. Getting a car with a sound body is very important,

Dave's car came with the 5.0-litre V8 engine, three-speed automatic transmission and a limited-slip differential. Among its options was a factory sunroof but the original vinyl roof was deleted when the car was resprayed.