In the beginning....there was dodolly blue 1

Behind every show car there is a story and this car is starting to tell its own tale.

Ok, ok....so its a Ford Mondeo ST220 and not a Porsche or a Japanese import wearing a massive kit and making sonic waves up and down the high street, but it has a certain panache of its own i believe and its yet another working mans fastford's.

But we're jumping the gun slightly as there is a significant chapter that ,...it began with Dodolly blue 1 which was also a Mondeo but the previous mark the ST200 V6.

I had basically run through all my ideas modifying this car and then got into detailing in a big way and caught the attention of Dodo juice which was flattering, and from then on we had some chats which developed into the concept of an official show car of sorts.

The ST200 (Dodolly blue V1) also bagged a full fastford magazine feature which topped the cake with a very satisfying cherry adornment for all my hard work and the patience of all those around me!!

To this day, dodolly blue V1 is in very safe hands after selling it to a friend on the fordstownersclub and he has scooped back to back show wins this year all thanks to a mutual dedication from my ownership days, to his constant improvements and tweaks.

Suffice to say the original standard is being maintained and the 'look' and ideas moved forward for another direction.

It wasnt all tea and skittles for this first dodolly blue creation, oh christ no!! lol
Along with the joys of car ownership, we had to replace the lower wishbones and then i decided to freshen up the drop links and top mounts for good measure.

The infamous 'tick of death' that can plague these engines loomed over mine like a scene from Dracula where Bela Lugosi enshrouds his victim with an open cape.
It was a serious bite and left me a grand lighter to get the front bank fixed.
In retrospect i think i would have rather bled to the tune of a grand than actually hand it over lol.

Luckily, the remaining jobs were all modifications and its a journey of self inflicted costs and blood sweat and tears,but hey...its pain with permission lol.
I think overall running costs hurt that bit more because you never actually asked for the problems to arise in the first place but shelling out several hundred on wheels is actually ok!?!

This brings us neatly to the overall costs and lets just say it was a lot cheaper than my 2 previous project cars.I had gotten massively into the RS2000 i owned.
Also fastford featured, it was ticking all the boxes for me when abruptly we discovered we were to become parents the following 9 months later....

So a 5 door car with a sporty promise is exactly where dodolly blue 1 came in and the rest is now history.

Im closing this chapter with some pics of this car in its final day in my ownership.
Just after the feature i had to have a last drive before handing over the keys.
And yes,i will always miss this car along with the escort purely because you put so much of your self into them each time.