In the last installment I purchased the starting point for the Austin ‘Special’ project. This time around we will take a deeper dive into what the starting point looks like. Maybe even fix a few bits and bobs as well.
I have a video of the first time walking around the Austin after getting it home. This video might be better on the mute setting. Please excuse my rambling on as well as some poor audio especially near the front of the car. It gets windy here. As you can see its in generally poor condition with doors that do not latch shut, an interior that was mostly home to mice and an engine devoid of any electrical wires.
The interior was effectively mouse-eaten with little remaining of the seats, door panels or carpet. Interestingly the seats were of wood construction with only the base having a thin steel frame. The dashboard its self is a smart and symmetrical design, suitable for both left and right hand-drive markets.
You can see a bit of the seat construction here.
The headliner had a fair amount of material remaining but was a little gross and would be coming out. A fair amount debris was hiding under the headliner so a mask had to used while in the interior. A thorough clearing is following. So much cleaning and vacuuming of crap out of the car.
Old field cars never seen to come with two things; keys or air filter housings. Oddly the Austin had both. On the key side, what the good luck fairy can give (it came with keys) the bad luck fairy can take away (the cylinder was irretrievably seized). The instruments were in tough nick and sun fading left them unreadable which meant unknown mileage. Given the condition of the body I suspect it was not on the road long however.
The pay off was this amazingly rust free floor. Consider this is seventy year old British car that sat in a field with the doors that did not close properly. Not only that but missing the glass in the front doors for at least some of that time. Additionally, on the plus side I managed to get the doors, handles and latches working on all four doors with repeated lubrication and use over a couple weeks of time. They now close with a satisfying thunk. One interesting thing to note on the doors is there is only a lock on the passenger side which is no doubt a hang over from being designed first for a right hand drive market.
Engine wise it was quite complete after a bit of cleaning. There was plenty more mouse debris in here as well. Almost every wire was missing in action. You can note the plug panels on the passenger side that would have been used in the right hand drive home market. On top of the shelf behind the engine sits the heater core which took me a rather large number of hours to remove. One thing that slowed down progress here was the car uses Witworth (BSW) bolts which is different than SAE sizes. I do not own a set of Witworth wrenches or plan to buy one but often metric sizes will kind of, sort of fit which makes dissemble a challenge. Their threads have a different pitch so I wanted to save as many as I could just in case.
If Witworth was not enough, then the other challenge was the seemly boundless enthusiasm Austin had for single slot headed screws and bolts which have great chance of stripping seventy years later no matter how much penetrating fluid ones uses. I did manage to get a surprising number of these free but many died from the angle grinder’s disc.
Another positive result of cleaning the interior was finding the crank start handle. If you recall the seller had promised me the engine was seized which turned out to be false. It cranked over by hand quite nicely. I suspect I could have revived this engine to at least running condition but all the parts required to do so would have added up to an non-trivial sum. I hope to donate as many bits as I can to other A40 owners.
Here is a video of the engine being cranked by hand much later in the demolition process ,which gives a good view of the valve train.
Let me state that I believe the ‘Flying A’ is one of the better hood mascots out there. It doubles as the hood/bonnet release.
A neat period piece is this Alberta Motor Association badge on the grill. It does not help us date when the car may have come off the road as the AMA was formed in 1926 when the Calgary and Edmonton clubs merged to advocate for all provincial motorists.
Firestone Safety Champion tires which have to be pretty old. The inner-tube is spilling out as well. The rim itself is 16″ and very skinny by modern standards. I bought these wheel casters to make moving the car around the garage a little easier in theory. In practise they do not roll that well but sure beat the alternative of being effectively static.
Not much remained of the Austin’s exhaust but it is might be best described as modest in size. The penny is included for reference (American pennies are the same size).
These A40s do not have lights for turn signals but instead use semaphores or trafficators that come out between the doors to indicate a turn. I would love to get them going again but that is an attempted mini-project for a later date as they are in poor shape.
Overall the car driver’s side was in a little better shape. Perhaps the passenger side faced the wind? Amazingly, I managed to get the brake drums off out back, which is somewhat annoying considering how long it took me to do on my old Pontiac. Unlike the earlier A40 Devon, the Somerset has hydraulic rather than mechanical rear brakes. Any replacement bearing or brake parts are quite expensive so these are likely destined for the bin as well if no other A40 owner wants them.
Like many older British cars, the A40 has lever shocks front and rear. The bushing is just … gone. Oddly the front suspension still had some bushings in reasonable condition, at least superficially.
The Mustang rims I had lying around fit the 4x108mm bolt pattern if not in character. They did however, make the car all little easier to move around without any old rubber flopping around.
Here is a video taking a look at the front independent suspension.
A previous owner performed some nice handy work here on the muffler hanger. Like everything else it took quite a while to remove.
Over the last several months I have dissembled a good portion of the car including the interior which included the gauges. The faded faces came off which revealed the mileage indicated as 35557 miles. I suspect this is the true mileage given the condition of the body.
As we end Part Two I realize we have not got to any custom bits of our custom car project but I promise that is coming up next along with more of the overall plan. I, however, like the light behind the grill idea raised by the lead photo so I might have to include that in the build.
Project Austin Special Series:
Project Austin ‘Special’: Acquisition of a 1952 Austin A40 Somerset
Project Austin ‘Special’: Assessment of the Car
Project Austin ‘Special’: Four Becomes Two
The grill light is awesome! The Mustang wheels look good to me. Put your Fox Mustang mechanicals in this?
I considered it as it would have been a excellent engine donor. The suspension would have been a little more tricky but the snag was I really liked the car. It deserved to live on if that makes sense. It is not a great winter car to be honest and I did not really need it so it became the kids car. In the end I sold it to a very enthusiastic young guy who was over joyed to have it.
The kids car is now a 2006 Hyundai Elantra with a 5spd I bought for half the selling price of the Mustang. It is the definition of an average car works well for us.
Don’t want to rain on your parade, but as a British baby-boomer I can’t imagine why anyone would want to ‘rescue’ an Austin Somerset. These were common when I was a kid, and I considered them only slightly less loathsome than the A40 Devon.
As for screw threads, American coarse (NC) threads copied the Whitworth coarse (BSW) diameter/pitch combinations usually, but the Americans didn’t care for the Whitworth fine (BSF) so they went their own way. Any very small threads on the car might be BA threads, which are a different ball game.
Good luck.
I`m still amazed that a car can sit in a field for years and still be that solid. Looks like a great starting point.
I don`t think it`s been mentioned yet, how about a Muppet Cab?
I am amazed how solid it is. Maybe sat inside a barn for a time? I don’t know. The seller did not have any history on it.
The cab is interesting. I’d never seen that. Looks like an A35 but probably close enough match for most people.
Yes, that’s an A30 or A35
In the few years when I worked on my own, my parents’ and a few neighbors’ Volvo 122’s, I found a few fasteners that didn’t fit either SAE or metric wrenches. I suspected they were Whitworth as there were a few British components, carbs and some brake parts among them. But I always made do with the wrenches I had.
If nothing else, SU carburetors on Volvos used Whitworth fasteners, being British and all.
This guy (whose website is very interesting overall) is selling BSW fasteners. I don’t know if he’s open to mailing them to Canada, but you could always ask.
http://ac2litre.com/boltsforsale.html
Witworth wrenches are worth having, and not terribly expensive or difficult to obtain. Just check out any motorcycle parts dealer that specializes in Triumph, BSA, Norton, Matchless, AJS, etc.
My set of Witworth were some of the few tools I saved after my workshop burned.
It will be interesting to watch this one progress. The door lock issue is interesting – it might be a holdover from the British right hand drive. Or, I recall that my 1929 Ford Model A used only a single door lock, and also on the passenger door. I think it was out of that old habit people used to have of getting out only on the curb side.
It is a shame that it will not be possible to bring this one back with all Austin mechanicals. But then they weren’t that great to begin with, and maybe that engine was what took the car off the road after only 35k miles.
You had a Model A? That is new information to this reader. Awesome. Did you ever write it up?
I have mentioned it in comments over the years but have never done an actual writeup. I had it for a few years in the early 90s. If I ever free up some time I should do a COAL series.
MGB power train is a common upgrade and it bolts right in,
Right hand only door lock was common on cheap British cars my previous 59 Minx only had a drivers door lock if you upgraded to a Singer Gazelle you got em both sides likewise with more expensive Austins
A Canadian penny has been saved from the smelter! Ha, I have a few around here too. I think it’s been a good ten years, or the best part of that, since they were taken out of circulation.
I remember rolling them up and taking them to the bank to deposit into my account back in the day. 50 cents per roll.
I think these days a penny is worth 3 in scrap copper, given current scrap prices
In high school, in the mid 60s, my best friend’s mother had a Morris Minor and it also only had an external lock on the passenger’s (i.e. right) door. I did a bit of research and the British market cars also have one lock in the right door, which is the driver’s.
The lights behind the grill remind me of Peugeots from the 30s.
I have to say as a native of drive on the left I don’t recall only one door until remote locks came along and the only the driver’s door now gets a key barrel for flat battery days.
Perhaps this lasted only until the early 1960s and the configuration was controlled by the same chap who won’t swap wiper patterns over?
The grille light is a great photo. I guess gutting the interior is the safest move. What is the plan for the chassis and drivetrain since you pretty much have a shell at this point.
Flying hood ornaments are the best kind.
Big brother Bentley says hi to little brother Austin.
Looks like a very solid starting point, good job getting it cleaned up! As others have mentioned the first pic is excellent, that would be worth doing. The engine bay is simply amazing to me who’s never had a really old car. So. Much. Space. It’s almost a Frunk.
A solid body is a real plus on a project like this. It would be interesting to know the backstory on this Austin. What broke at 35 thousand miles that resulted in this little sedan ending up in a field?
David –
My wife’s parents used to talk fondly about a Brit car they’d owned in NZ or England, dubbed Billy Bradford. Billy had “knee action” suspension. Might that be similar to your “lever shocks”?
You mentioned “unperished rubber” in the video; this reminded me of a Roddy Doyle book I read some years ago, which started with the memorable line “My grandmother was the only woman I have ever met who could make eggs taste like perished rubber”.
That small-diameter exhaust pipe would make for good exhaust-gas velocity at low RPM. Surely it would offer a lot of restriction higher up though.
Thanks for this post, and good luck with the restoration – I hope you keep us updated.
Knee action suspension was used on Vauxhalls pre WW2 right up untill the 52 E series Velox Wyvern,
Austin used those awful lever action shock absorbers well into the 60s on its mid sized offerings they bounce appallingly once worn leading to the nickname Austin Somersault,
The solid body is a plus but those Austins simply dont rust much, I dont know why but they get found over here in remarkably good bodily condition too youre missing the little park lights that were in top of the front fenders but it seems fairly complete otherwise new trafficators arent hard to get either a complete engine wiring system and distributor cap is under the hood of any MGB or later Austin, modern 4×108 rims are on British Fords, Hillmans, Peugeots, Citroens, some Alfas and a couple of others in varying diameters, Almost anything 4 or V6/8 will go in the engine bay and helpfully Austin used a boxed chassis same as the Devon,
Definitely a fun project with almost endless possibilities, ENJOY.
They don’t seem to rust too badly here out on the dry prairies either. I could see why they would rust in other places though. This is about half the amount of dirt I got out of the rocker panel. Luckily it was dry dirt but some wet leaves or something would have had a different result.
Pretty cool .
I love old BMC products and will watch your build with keen interest .
This ‘B’ series engine has only three main bearings so they didn’t stand up well to American use, this doesn’t mean they can’t be made into reliable and fun daily drivers .
Lucky for you, BMC used the same basic axle banjo and front hubs so many better brakes can be easily and cheaply fitted .
I too love the initial backlit photograph .
-Nate
Will it necessarily have a BMC engine when the build is complete?