Other examples of Invercargill restorer Lew Eustace's work

Nothing to do with Austins, but I thought I would send you some other examples of Lew's classic car restoration work.

The group photo shows Lew and his wife Ann's own collection of cars, which Lew has refurbished over the years.

The easily recognisable US Postal van is Ann's pride and joy. These vehicles came out as "right-hand drive", for ease of delivering mail from the right-hand side of the road. This set-up, of course, is
correct for driving on the left-hand side of the road, as we do in our part of the world. So, no annoyance of driving on the "wrong" side of the vehicle, or the engineering required to swap over.

Next, is a stunning example of an XD Falcon ute, which was in very good, original condition when Lew bought it, although it has had a considerable "brighten-up". This ute runs a factory Cleveland V8 engine option, with the added extra of a factory disc-brake rear end. It is believed to be the only XD ute that left Broadmeadows in this configuration.

Next in line is a beautiful black '58 Ford Edsel Citation. Unloved by the American public in their day, for many varied and sometimes, unsubstantial reasons, the Edsel brand became Ford's biggest flop
sales-wise, largely brought about by Ford's hype promising a completely different car to their predecessors, which, of course, they were not. The buyers felt cheated and voted with their feet, by not
going to the showrooms. Ironically nowadays, good Edsels, if you can get them, are highly prized by fans of '50s American Fords.

Last, but not least, is one of Ford's best-selling cars, the ever popular '57 Ford Custom 300. With their clean, uncluttered lines and no resemblance to their opposition, they sold very well and were
popular in NZ among the farming fraternity that could easily afford to buy them, although they are much rarer today, after the NZ baby-boomers got hold of them during the '60s and '70s. But of course,
these cars were not on the menu for Australians, with your own stylised '56 Star model continuing on to the inception of the '59 Fords, which in turn, ran for longer than they did in NZ. This
beautiful, bright yellow example of the '57 Ford was fully restored by Lew too.

The last pic shows an XY Falcon that Lew restored for a business woman in Invercargill about 3 years ago. This stand-out, bright pink, beauty has been very popular at shows in our area, especially among the
ladies. Built to the owner's own taste for being out-there and "loud", this XY has really hit the mark.

PS - In case your'e wondering about all the teddy bears on the cars in the "group" photo, this came about from Kiwis putting teddys in the windows of their houses during the Lockdown, to bring joy to children out on their daily walk around the block, with their parents.

PPS - We hope you and all yours are still safe and well, along with other members of the club.