A40 - Scottish Road trip. Utter hero of a car

[High Jetter]

Time to buy another then

[Matty]

Funny you should mention that. Good buy for someone this if it goes for the right brass

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Austin-A40-Farina-1959-MK1-Deluxe-Model-/385680529313?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p4429486.m46890.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

[MiniMinorMk3]

That looks ideal for using on classic rallies and a damn sight cheaper than trying to put a Mini together. All you need is a cage and a tripmeter and you're away.

[Scrubworks]

On 6/16/2023 at 7:41 PM, Matty said:

 

👌

[Matty]

3 minutes ago, Scrubworks said:

👌

Thanks pal. Still hanging on a knife edge here though 😄How is the mog? And the demio?

[Scrubworks]

50 minutes ago, Matty said:

Thanks pal. Still hanging on a knife edge here though 😄How is the mog? And the demio?

Just put up a post for the Demio thread, planning to get back to the Moggy fairly soon before I waste the whole summer doing something else.

[Matty]

Big day today. First time I've bothered being in a show. Burnley classic car show at Townely Hall and tbf it's always a good one.

[Matty]

Obligatory massive photo dump.

[Matty]

[Matty]

[Matty]

This was a bit special. Holbay  1725 with big twins. Lovely fella and he rallies it all year round. Lovely things arrows.

[Matty]

[Matty]

[Matty]

Very original, low mileage car

(The astra not the p4. But I can't get the bloody photo to delete)

 

 

 

[High Jetter]

Some lovely cars there, VDP 4-litre R and Jag Mk X especially!. What's the black thing beside the green minivan?

[Matty]

[Matty]

If your going to sell a lot of ice cream

[Matty]

Marauder. Find another

[Matty]

Just like mine, albeit mine was a 550. God I miss it

[Matty]

5 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Some lovely cars there, VDP 4-litre R and Jag Mk X especially!. What's the black thing beside the green minivan?

Scamps mate. Homemade things built out of old shelving units around mini engines and sub frames. Surprisingly common round here! Although we are an odd race in the valley 😄

[Scrubworks]

7 hours ago, Matty said:

This was a bit special. Holbay  1725 with big twins. Lovely fella and he rallies it all year round. Lovely things arrows.

About 9 years ago I had a barn find Humber Sceptre mk3, same car as this just a bit spruced up with quad headlights and a vinyl roof. It had a twin carb engine, but I don't think it was a Holbay. Had an alloy head though. Bought it for £400, sat it in my garage for two years, then moved it on for £500. Kinda wish I'd got it running before getting rid of it.

[High Jetter]

6 minutes ago, Scrubworks said:

About 9 years ago I had a barn find Humber Sceptre mk3, same car as this just a bit spruced up with quad headlights and a vinyl roof. It had a twin carb engine, but I don't think it was a Holbay. Had an alloy head though. Bought it for £400, sat it in my garage for two years, then moved it on for £500. Kinda wish I'd got it running before getting rid of it.

Wibble. I feel your regret.

[Matty]

6 hours ago, Scrubworks said:

About 9 years ago I had a barn find Humber Sceptre mk3, same car as this just a bit spruced up with quad headlights and a vinyl roof. It had a twin carb engine, but I don't think it was a Holbay. Had an alloy head though. Bought it for £400, sat it in my garage for two years, then moved it on for £500. Kinda wish I'd got it running before getting rid of it.

Shame, but the usual problem. Where can you keep all this stuff?

[Matty]

Bit of a disappointing day in some respects. Today was a show at Harewood Hill climb. A great venue and a lovely run from the wilds of Rossendale. With the added attractions of gravity racing down the circuit and me and my uncle finally getting my dad's (he's worked on it as well mind) AC3000ME back on the road for the first time since 2014.

It came of the road to have the heads on the Essex rebuilt and to have hardened valve seats fitted. Then a house sale and move from Haslingden to Burnley saw it very much on the back burner. One of these was his dream car but financially out of reach. In 2008 we lost my brother and my dad was made redundant. The obvious use for the money was to waste it on the AC. Our Luke would've approved.

This week saw me seeking around at work turning sleeves and bushes down to polybush the front end, and nights rebuilding the front suspension to make the MOT slot on Friday morning. A pass was had and everyone's happy.

In convoy we travelled from Burnley to Harewood. Uncle running the 300SL he's just rebuilt after dragging it out of storage after 11 years (purchase not a project, this ones an earner). Non of us can warm to it, admire maybe. Still it was always bought to turn a profit, not keep. He just wants to put a few hundred miles on it to prove, before sale.

Run there and back was great. Back maybe a cunt as the nsf on the AC decided it didn't like 2 of the 5 studs anymore. Regular stops to tighten nuts up got it home, a permanent repair as soon as I source the studs.

The event itself was a washout. Beautiful summer weather on arrival was quickly replaced by torrential rain. People stood under trees and sat in cars trying to wait it out. By 1 most of the cars in the show field had left. Gravity racing was cancelled. We left. My heart goes out to the people who put so much effort into the organisation only to have the British weather fuck it up. Still though, a good run out. Some shit photos below. Thanks for reading all.

[Matty]

Better photos of the AC. Me and uncle are trying to persuade him to chop it in, bank the money and buy something proper like a MK2 Vitesse. Negotiations are slow at present. (Not my thing at all but must admit they are a stunning little car).

[SiC]

Nice Invacar M8 😂

One of those cars that I didn't even know existed to be honest! Looks pretty darn smart and surprising it never became a big seller.

What dampened the enthusism for them on the market at the time?

[Matty]

4 minutes ago, SiC said:

Nice Invacar M8 😂

One of those cars that I didn't even know existed to be honest! Looks pretty darn smart and surprising it never became a big seller.

What dampened the enthusism for them on the market at the time?

From memory they only made 200 odd. Most a Thames Ditton then the rest in Scotland (Bathgate?) My dad's being a Scottish car. AC going bump half way through the production run probs didn't help. Typical small run bitsa (I've spent the last few weeks buying vauxhall victor ball joints on ebay), Essex v6 transverse, ACs own box built by Hewland. The box gives me  the fears.  Chain drive from engine to box 😬

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Think yourself lucky they didn’t persevere with the Maxi running gear. 
I used to walk past one of these every day on my way from Euston to Covent Garden, the same street had an X-Pack mk2 Capri Turbo and a ( the ?) SD1 estate, what a time to be alive!

Needs a turbo and SlotMags.

[Dobloseven]

19 minutes ago, Matty said:

From memory they only made 200 odd. Most a Thames Ditton then the rest in Scotland (Bathgate?) My dad's being a Scottish car. AC going bump half way through the production run probs didn't help. Typical small run bitsa (I've spent the last few weeks buying vauxhall victor ball joints on ebay), Essex v6 transverse, ACs own box built by Hewland. The box gives me  the fears.  Chain drive from engine to box 😬

Wasn't the original plan to use the 1750 Maxi engine and 5 speed box? Started life as the Diablo, designed by Robin Staples. Read somewhere that BL refused to supply them, imagining they'd need them all for themselves. Production was repeatedly put back for so long that by the time it entered production, price had risen massively and demand fallen. Remember seeing it at the 1973 Motor Show. 

[Matty]

33 minutes ago, NorfolkNWeigh said:

Think yourself lucky they didn’t persevere with the Maxi running gear.

Fuck, I'd forgotten about that. It's should have the wolfies, he's still got them. Perfect condition, just need tires. I'm working on it.