Mystery axle competition

[Sam Glover]

...more of a question than a competition, actually.

 

I’m bothering a Volga M21K. It was one of the first Thomson and Taylor UK imports, registered new in the UK in 1962. It’s suffered a quantity of British reengineering. ‘You can’t get the parts, you know.’

 

The live rear axle, brakes and wheels are most definitely not Volga – or indeed Russian. The threads are UNF, so I’m guessing they're from a large British saloon. Does anyone recognise any of the following?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, the axle, brakes and wheels don’t necessarily come from the same car.

 

The standard of lashing together is low. The way the brake backplates have been mounted upside-down – thus presumably rendering the cylinders unbleedable – demonstrates high-quality thinking.

 

[eddyramrod]

Ford Consul/Zephyr

Austin Westminster

Vauxhall Velox/Cresta

Humber Hawk/Super Snipe

 

Those are my best guesses for you Sam, sorry I'm not familiar enough with each car's underpinnings to narrow it down any further..  The Ford or Vauxhall will probably be the top contenders as there would be many 50s versions breaking at the time.

 

Good luck!

[Asimo]

PCD of the wheel studs might help. The gubbins on the rear cover for handbrake bell rank must be a clue too.

What's the ratio? lt might be a van axle if it is really short.

[Sam Glover]

 

Humber Hawk/Super Snipe

 

 

Ahhh... good work. I neglected Humber in my Google image search frenzy. Some Hawk/Super Snipe wheels and brakes look about right. I'll see if I can find an axle picture in my museum of manuals...

[Dead_E23]

I can't identify it either, but my suggestion would be to measure the track as accurately as you can manage and use the info on a website like carfolio.com to work out what it might be from.

[martc]

I would wager the tyres aren't original either...

[michael1703]

Looks a bit rootes, hillman minx?

[michael1703]

Actually... now I think of it,I'm MOTing a minx on Tuesday,I'll have a look

[wuvvum]

Humber Hawk is the first thing that popped into my head too - maybe some dark recess of my brain remembers what the underside of my Hawk looked like (apart from rusty).

[STUNO]

try this...

 

 

 

These seem to be a match for the wheels !!

 

[eddyramrod]

A vague memory of those hubcap lugs being a Rootes "thing" is what prompted me to suggest Humber in the first place!

[Sam Glover]

Excellent! The brakes and wheels are most definitely Hawk. 

 

I can’t find a photo of a Hawk axle, but its stats line up. The track looks right – and Carfolio suggests that the Humber’s is only 12mm narrower than the Volga’s, so that figures. The ratios are 4.22 (Humber) vs 3.78 (Volga), which may explain why the Volga feels nippy despite being utterly borked.

 

I really like the unventilated Humber wheels. They’d cut a dash in shit red paint.

 

 

 

[lisbon_road]

I know photographs can be kind but it looks in amazing condition.  Is it as good as it looks?

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

It's a lovely looking old car - I have always thought these Volgas are very handsome things.

 

It doesn't surprise me that someone on here has recognised the axle, there is a great depth of knowledge here. I'm still impressed that people have though.

[Sam Glover]

The Humber-axled M21K is rough as arseholes, actually. It requires Stakhanovite mechanical fettling and the body’s pretty scabby beneath the knacker-lacquer.

 

I agree. The M21’s styling has grown on me. I think the Series 3’s Soviet kitsch jewellery is rather more elegant, though. This is my everyday M21S…

 

 

Forgive the fake whitewall trims – a scar of its Moscow origin. It’s now wearing correct non-whitewall crossplies.