SHE DECIDED TO DITCH THE PROBLEM CHILDREN AND COMMIT TO A WINDSOR CRATE MOTOR, FRESHLY BUILT BY ANGUS FOGG

turning the beautiful bare-steel artwork into something more resembling a finished car. Deirdre says that the Millers were great to deal with, and, while she couldn’t visit the shop daily to check on progress, Greig and Emma were good enough to send through constant video updates as the Mustang began to be transformed. Some 300 hours later, it was coated in an absolutely perfect Baslac Pepper Grey and Black Met paint job.

“The paint was matched to the original Eleanor DuPont paint samples,” Deirdre explains, “but with a slightly finer metallic for a cleaner look. The stripes are all sprayed on with the correct Shelby taper and cleared in. They were fully flattened to remove any sign of an edge on the stripes, and the side stripes are shortened to highlight the flares and side skirts.”

In total, the car received five coats of the Pepper Grey, after which two coats of clear were laid down, then the stripes dropped on top, before a final five more coats of clear finished it all off and gave it a genuinely wow-inducing result that makes you stop, stoop low, and examine the work up close.

Deirdre made her way through two Ford 351ci small blocks during the build but, as they both needed extensive work, she decided to ditch the problem children and commit to a Windsor crate motor, freshly built by Angus Fogg. The 306ci motor is full of some very nice gear but isn’t designed for massive power — the brief was a drivable street motor. The small block makes a healthy 330hp at the wheels on the rollers at DynoPower in Tauranga, and sounds absolutely brutal dumping its exhaust gases out the custom sideexit exhaust. Deirdre says that plenty of sound deadening has been installed, and we’ll just have to take her word for that — it’s not exactly what you’d call a subtle car for tootling around town. Backed up by a TKO 600 five-speed and Centerforce clutch pushing power out to a Ford nine-inch LSD in the rear, the donk looks right at home sitting in the ultra-clean engine bay, and provides plenty of poke when Deirdre needs it. A complete rewire from Eze Auto Electrics saw the wiring in of the push-button start and Vintage USA electrical gauges.

The Mustang was now ready for its new interior, handled by Nick from Action Canvas & Upholstery at The Mount.

“I chose to keep the interior mostly original, as that was the look I loved from the beginning, so I purchased all new interior mouldings, nuts, and bolts, and a full trim kit from CJ Pony Parts — pretty