Betsy (the T-5) is finally fifty! When I first bought her in April of 2003, she was only 38 and I 16, it’s amazing how the time flies. I found her when I bought a Want Ad Press magazine on a reluctant trip to tour a college. At the end of that day, I realized I needed to buy some SAT prep books, and that I needed to call the owner of a running Mustang project car. In the past 12 years, some pretty spectacular things have happened.

A little under a year ago, the official First Post of this website gave you a glimpse into why this site has come to be. In that post, I gave you a little history of myself, Betsy, and why I felt the need to create this website. This site is the manageably scaled back version of a dream website I have had for years. Someday, that website may come to be, but it all depends upon the state of our hobby when the opportunity surfaces.

Betsy Circa 2003

As Betsy was my first car, which I was able to buy with money scraped together from avoiding school lunch, this has been my first real successful go around on a website. In the beginning, Betsy wasn’t much to look at, and neither was this website. At that point in time, my skill level and experience were greatly overshadowed by my youthful exuberance and optimism. However, the ensuing years the former two have had opportunity to catch up to the latter two.

Betsy reunited with her original driveway.

A little over a year from the launch, and I am quite happy with the material I have put together at this point. As you have seen, I have been compiling ebay listings, interesting information, and technical specs for Austins, Bantams, and T-5’s. Sometimes the updates have been carried out without much fanfare, but I hope they are still noticed. Earlier this year, I also began advertising for this website in Hemmings Motor News.

Beginning this week, I am going to be chronicling my current project here. I had been documenting the build on the H.A.M.B. however, I am not sure if that is the best place for it any more. I will be moving the relevant posts here for your enjoyment and will update this blog first. Useful technical information derived from the build will be hosted on this site in a special area so it may be easily found.

Besides providing you with a general cognizance of what is available for your car, I want you to know that you have the ability to work on your car too. Armed with the parts, the tools, the skill, and the motivation; I want to see our cars get on the road and stay there. The purpose of this site is to empower the enthusiast and keep our great cars going while making sure they are visibly attainable for the next generation of car folks. Thank you for your support and I’d like to invite you to join me as we begin our second year together.