Despite signing a $2.2 million NFL contract, Alfred Morris has chosen not only to keep his 1991 Mazda 626 5-speed, but to restore it. Until recently, Morris daily drove the car, which he’s named “Bentley,” to his job as running back for the Washington Redskins. Now Mazda’s DC-area dealerships are helping him restore it so that his kids can drive it one day. The restoration is taking 6-8 weeks, and in the meantime Morris is driving a 2014 Mazda 6 loaner. Perhaps we’ll see it at JCCS one day.
sick! a car I want to own one day but they are pretty hard to find for some reason.
Kudos, they’re not a car that seems to get a lot of love.
Now that´s good to hear! Hats off to him!
Sounds neat, hope it turns out well for him.
Seeing how things are working out for the Washington NFL franchise, I’d say keeping the car was a smart decision.
Does anyone know what kind of lift that car is on? It looks like something I need in my garage. Looks like it uses floor mounted pneumatic jack stands, which would be ideal for a home setup. If anyone knows, email me, info at isuzu geek dot org. Thanks.
That’s not a lift, it’s part of a surface mount chassis alignment system. The pinch weld clamps hold the unibody in place and the outer slats allow for positioning of pulling posts. The only pneumatic items would be the rams on the pulling post.
How do they get it on there? The car needs to be lifted on the those?
10 year bodyshop exp. speaking. The front or rear is lifted and the pinch clamp assemblies slide on the center floor tracks and positioned. Once the full weight of the car is sitting between the “jaws” of the clamps an impact is used to bite down on the rocker panel pinch welds. Then the clamps themselves tighten via impact to the floor rails which are anchored in the concrete. Very secure. My favorite frame system.
Makes you wonder as I mentioned before why they went to the trouble unless it had frame damage.
I wouldn’t let a dealership mechanic anywhere near my car. Much less the bodyshop. DGAF is rampant nationwide. Should have taken it to a “restoration” shop. Anyways don’t know why its attached to a grabber unless it had frame damage. There are easier ways to simply lift it up for disassembly.
I would agree if it were a minor fender bender that was being repaired “as cheap as possible”, this guy is probably paying them enough for them to care about the job they do on it.
We also don’t know whether the guys at the shop are friends of his and/or enthusiastic about saving this car. I could imagine an instance in which this project was almost a gentlemen’s agreement between Morris and the dealer.
“Them” of course meaning the dealership. Think they’re passing that along to the guy doing the work? Maybe in your fantasy world. You would be suprised what a man would care about if he couldn’t put enough food on the table for his family.