A40 and other family cars - Finally spring

[Matty]

Bit of background here. I'm only 41 and only just. Stuff like this shouldn't interest me. Blame my Dad and Uncle. Dad was a mechanical fitter like I am now (he was in light stuff I'm in heavy engineering) and Uncle still is a mechanic. First trucks then cars. They gave me an interest, some may say an obsession which is as bad now as ever.

I've had loads of interesting tackle over the years, only ever had one modern car and the cars we have currently are 15, 15 and 19 years old respectively. But for ever, I've dreamed about owning something genuinely old. Never looked possible, never going to happen. Till now

Bosh!

[Matty]

No collection as such, car was found through the owners club, long conversations were had with the previous owner, a lovely older lad called Brian who's health was forcing his hand unfortunately. I asked him to take it for an MOT and it turned in a clean pass. Right then, I'll have it. The brilliant @worldofceri obliged and brought it up to East Lancashire.

 

[Daviemck2006]

Rostyles improve any car from the 70's and 80's and obviously the 60's too. Lovely looking car.

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk

[Matty]

Much work has been done on this car, all killer no filler. Brian has had the wing bottoms, inner and outer sills and other usual grot spots rebuilt with nos parts through the owners club. All the drive train has been rebuilt and is currently running in. The 1098 a series has been fully rebuilt, with a accuspark ignition, an alternator conversion and a 295 spec head amongst millions of other bits. The front axle has had midget hubs and discs fitted as well.

[Matty]

Having done all this great work, Brian (for reasons best known to him) painted the car with cellulose and a brush. You can tell. No really. He also fitted a pair of seats from (I think) a micra. Dead comfy but don't look good. I like the paint though. Brilliantly shonky. I hope your not on here Brian. If not you should be. I love it really.

[tooSavvy]

Hey, m8.....

I'd have that car >>> coated in tar + feathers >>> over a Fred Flintstone/DailyFail 'wobbfest' on C&C 👍

[New POD]

The paint of paint is to protect the steel. If it does that and is one colour it gets my vote. 

[New POD]

Given the tuning, would I be right in thinking it probably produces about 60 bhp? 

I saw one in Shropshire which had midget wire wheels and front discs. 

I also assume that any Morris minor upgrades like a 5 speed Toyota gearbox would also apply ? 

[tooSavvy]

10 minutes ago, New POD said:

Given the tuning, would I be right in thinking it probably produces about 60 bhp? 

I saw one in Shropshire which had midget wire wheels and front discs. 

I also assume that any Morris minor upgrades like a 5 speed Toyota gearbox would also apply ? 

https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/220542/midget-suzuki-jimny-gearbox-conversion

Top Banana 😉

[Matty]

19 minutes ago, New POD said:

The paint of paint is to protect the steel. If it does that and is one colour it gets my vote. 

It's 100 per cent doing that. It's about 2 inch thick 😁. Of course your right, it's protecting the metal and plus I actually like it. Scruffy equals usable in my book. A 50 odd year old car should look it's age

[Matty]

7 minutes ago, tooSavvy said:

https://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/220542/midget-suzuki-jimny-gearbox-conversion

Top Banana 😉

I'll have a gander 👍

[Matty]

22 minutes ago, tooSavvy said:

Hey, m8.....

I'd have that car >>> coated in tar + feathers >>> over a Fred Flintstone/DailyFail 'wobbfest' on C&C 👍

It has got floor's luckily. Had it on the ramps yesterday to be sure 🤣

[garethj]

When I was in uni (or polytechnic as it was when I started), a mate had a Mk1 A40 with the clockwork indicator switch in the middle of the dashboard.  The car was utterly fucked even before it was run by a student but it had real charm.

 Seeing one even now makes me smile, enjoy yours!

[Mally]

I like the back seat. I could have used that when I was 17.

Minor Travellers have armrests and your dad complains when they get squashed.

 

[Matty]

24 minutes ago, garethj said:

When I was in uni (or polytechnic as it was when I started), a mate had a Mk1 A40 with the clockwork indicator switch in the middle of the dashboard.  The car was utterly fucked even before it was run by a student but it had real charm.

 Seeing one even now makes me smile, enjoy yours!

Being a mk2 this has a lovely thin indicator stalk as thin as a knats pube with a glowing bulb in the end. Like an 1100 I believe. It also doesn't self cancel. I keep forgetting...

[Matty]

I've only just noticed it has green door cards on one side, blue on the other and a half blue, half green back seat! And the previous owner has fitted sun visors from a modern which are the same colour as the headlining thankfully. Shame about the warning airbag notices on them. Airbags? Aye, right enough 😆

[Rusty_Rocket]

Lovely thing, nice one.

Re the seats, yes they do look out of place but I'm sure they're supremely comfortable compared to what was in there originally.  I'd keep them and maybe down the line, trim the whole interior in the same colour.

Enjoy it  

[vulgalour]

Noice.  These have been on my radar forever.  If you ever want to deshonk the paint, you should be able to wet sand and machine polish the whole thing fairly easily, especially if there's a good thickness to work with.  There is something just right about the sorts of mods, the colour, and the paint choice this car has.  All geared toward being able to enjoy it rather than worrying about what anyone else thinks.

[Angrydicky]

That looks alright, well purchased.

Did it used to be green? I’m sure I remember a Mk2 A40 with a very similar (Southend) reg doing the rounds on eBay a few years ago.

[Mally]

They were all* green in my days.

[dozeydustman]

Oof! What a charming looking little car. Well bought sir.

[junkyarddog]

That's a charming little thing.

Well bought Sir!

[Asimo]

Good choice.  10 / 10 Anything more is excess etc etc.
I’ve got a soft spot for these ‘cause there was a hot “rally” A40 parked near my school, roll cage, minilites, olive green / black roof. Then one day it was looking very battered, obviously rolled, scars on the roof and on every other panel too. Continued to be seen around like that for years!

[worldofceri]

This car has the most effective reversing lamp of any vehicle I’ve ever attempted to reverse in the pitch dark. BAR NONE.

[Matty]

1 hour ago, Angrydicky said:

That looks alright, well purchased.

Did it used to be green? I’m sure I remember a Mk2 A40 with a very similar (Southend) reg doing the rounds on eBay a few years ago.

It was green indeed. The previous owner had it ten years, according to the log book it came down from Middlesborough to him. It has had 15 previous owners though so who knows 😁.

@worldofceri commented it was a bit too primary colour for him. As I drove back to work I thought I've seen that colour somewhere else. In our works canteen there was the answer. A flip lid bin!

As I'm a bit sad, I've already googled the reg, it was originally a Luton car. 1967 is the last year of production and the car was registered in November 67 which was the last month of production so possibly one of the last A40s?

Can I have another gratuitous pic? I'm a bit in love

[somewhatfoolish]

4 hours ago, Matty said:

Having done all this great work, Brian (for reasons best known to him) painted the car with cellulose and a brush. You can tell. No really. He also fitted a pair of seats from (I think) a micra. Dead comfy but don't look good. I like the paint though. Brilliantly shonky. I hope your not on here Brian. If not you should be. I love it really.

AS  has plenty of experience of cars called Bob daubed with paint using a yardbrush.

  

On 8/6/2020 at 3:32 PM, quicksilver said:

So the Buckingham chapter of Bob's life came to an end today. Windmill Dave came bright and early, loaded him up and set course for Bristol and @djoptix

Out of the garage and meeting the Mondeo for the first and last time

Easy to push onto the road

Up he goes

That's quite steep but Dave's winch made light work of such a light car

Loaded up...

...strapped down...

...and away into the distance. Bye bye Bob, it's been a fun and frustrating three years.

djoptix has already started his own thread so look there for Bob's continuing adventures. This chapter of his life is now closed but a new chapter is just beginning. Farewell old friend and I hope we meet again someday.

 

[Matty]

5 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

AS  has plenty of experience of cars called Bob dawbed with paint using a yardbrush.

  

 

God yeah, I'd forgotten about that

[Angrydicky]

8 minutes ago, Matty said:

 

As I'm a bit sad, I've already googled the reg, it was originally a Luton car. 1967 is the last year of production and the car was registered in November 67 which was the last month of production so possibly one of the last A40s?

Same car then. It used to have nice original numberplates when it was green, which have disappeared in favour of those el cheapo ones. I never forget a reg and was sure it was that one.

Incidentally, the registration number is from Southend not Luton.

Im guessing you took the MJ at the start and thought that was the area code, well it’s the second and third of the group of three which are the area code, JN in this case.

[wuvvum]

I'm only a year older than you and I bloody love those A40s.  I've had two - a maroon 1966 Countryman (LGC85D) which I bought for £150 out of the Freeads in 2002 (those were the days...) and a turquoise 1963 saloon which had had a 1275cc Midget engine fitted and went like the absolute clappers.

 

Edit: found a photo of the first one.

[Inspector Morose]

A40s hold a special place in my heart as they were one of the first cars I owned. Of course, being a compulsive purchaser of elderly tin, I had to have a mk1 and a mk2.

Loved them both but sadly the mk1 was terminally rotten in all the wrong places and on expiry of its MoT, it was cut up and consigned to the works skip.