Running In

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dennis McGuckin

Mine was an Austin A40.
Didn't know there was a 30?

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there was an A30 and an A35, usually referred to as a baby Austin, I think the main difference was in the number of doors.
I used to accompany my cousin in his A30 when he was a learner as I had a full license, one day, on entering the largest car park in Newcastle, he says where will I park? the place was empty except for one car which he decided to park beside. He only managed to bump the damn thing, so he pulls back and we got out to inspect the damage. None apparent on the other car, but a pile of rust on the ground from the AUSTIN, so we left. The other owner must have wondered why there was a pile of rust lying near the back of his car when he returned.
After that and a few other hairy moments I told him to try BSM which was the only driving school in those days.

First car was an Austin A40, brilliant little car, never failed to start even after leaving it standing for months whilst away at sea. Rust over the rear wheel arches ensured it never got too hot inside in summer months but in winter rear seat passengers complained of getting soaked due to water entering through the wheel arches.
My uncle, a garage mechanic, loved Austin cars and his A35 was pristine and ran like a sewing machine despite him having to use the starter handle to start it, claiming it saved using the battery to start it.
My next car was a big old rover p60, lovely leather seats and front doors hinged at the front, only problem was air in the braking system so if you wanted to brake you had to pump the brakes pedal like crazy to get them to work, would have bleed the system but the bleed nozzles were all rusted up. It drank petrol like a thirsty seaman on his first night ashore after a 6 months voyage. After that came a 50'svolkswagon beetle with a canvas sun roof but even the door seals were so tight you had to open a quarter light before closing the door or other wise the door would just bounce back open due to internal air pressure. Eventually sold it for £30 more than I paid for it to a beetle enthusiastic and used to see it for a number of years still running around smoothly.
After that did a 9 month trip, came home and brought my first brand new car for cash, a lovely Alfa Romeo that started my love affair with them, owned 3 in succession until family came along that require a more practical nissan primera.
Talking of those Let Man's Bentley, a pal of mine had one he was restoring and one day he asked me if I fancied a trip to Glasgow to pick up some Bentley spares he had heard about. We ended up in the Gorbals of all places in an old garage that had once been a stables block. It was stuffed full of Bentley and rolls Royce spares and talking to the owner he told us when his family opened the garage they were one of the biggest sellers of Bentley's and rolls Royce in the country as the Gorbals at that time was full of Glasgow's richest people. Took us two trips up there to get all that our mate needed plus other items that he was able to sell on. Everything was in perfect working order, coated in protective grease and wrapped in heavy duty paper.
Once he had got that Le Mans Bentley restored he took me for a run in it, fabulous looking a noise but bloody terrifying to ride in at speed, reminded me of the film where a young Scottish doctor brought one in order to impress the daughter of the head surgeon, played by James Robertson Justice,
Rgds
J.A.

After the A30 bought an A60, Austin Cambridge, prone to rust.
A30 was two door A35vwas for doors.
Few years ago owned a Vauuxhall Vectra estate, had the bonnet up, oldest lad asked, what all these pipes do, me know idea.
Wife owned a metro, showed him both engines for comparison.
No electronics on a metro.
Vic
Vic

In the early days most of us did our own servicing, we learnt from our experiences and saved £s on garage bills, the A35 van I bought from
almost new in 1965 had 14 grease nipples, steering, suspension, bearings and shocks, fitting new brake shoes and bleeding the brake system
of air, renewing the carbon brushes in the dynamo was also important as the old batteries needed looking after, plugs and oil changes,those
old motors needed a fair bit of maintenance to keep them sweet, the A35 had an S U carburetor very simple and and just a drop of oil needed
to keep it sweet, the winters were harsher in those days, I always used the starter handle to save the battery when it was really cold, my
thoughts were that if you look after the car, the car will will look after you, with all the advances made, today's cars are virtually maintenance
free compared to those oldies that we knew all those years ago, cheers.

I haven't read anything in the topic about removing engines from the engine compartment, dismantling same and then reassembling them to their original pristine condition.
Have any members of the site ever done this?.

Fouro.

Well for me Fouro, my skills never reached that level, only renewing external engine auxiliary pumps etc, even so I couldn't afford to have the
car off road for so long, only had one car that needed that sort of work done, it was a Hillman Minx, I bought an off the shelf reconditioned engine
and had it fitted in one day, which was perfect for me, cheers.

My best car was a VOLVO 757 ESTATE. it did, 287,000, before dying

then, I got my last car 15 years ago, 2005 August, a KIA CARENS, , it has been fantastic, no problems at all, never let me down. still looks and drives like new.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by John Arton

First car was an Austin A40, brilliant little car, never failed to start even after leaving it standing for months whilst away at sea.


Once he had got that Le Mans Bentley restored he took me for a run in it, fabulous looking a noise but bloody terrifying to ride in at speed, reminded me of the film where a young Scottish doctor brought one in order to impress the daughter of the head surgeon, played by James Robertson Justice,
Rgds
J.A.

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I remember that film JA, it was called "The Fast Lady" also starred Leslie Phillips Julie Christie and Stanley Baxter, it was a very funny film, cheers.

Just a thought, but in the 60s most models seemed to have rust problems and especially in the winter when the roads were gritted with rocksalt,
I was always very aware of the damage caused, I was glad to see the DIY underseal products on sale at Halfords, I think it was called waxoyl or
similar, I remember putting the car up on the ramps and getting getting under armed with a paint brush and Tub of gunge, horrible job but worth
doing as it also cut out some road noise, which was an added bonus, anyone else remember doing that job?, cheers

hi fouro, often used to spend a saturday morning at a mates place doing a head decoke on an anglia or cortina, start after breakfast, be back on the road by lunchtime, normally straight down the pub.