A40 and other family cars - Little bits of winter work

[Mrs6C]

4 hours ago, Matty said:

Brian (for reasons best known to him) painted the car with cellulose and a brush. You can tell

It's all ready for you to wet-flat and polish then, which will give a mirror finish if you take your time over it.

Cellulose paint, laid on thickly with a brush, allowed to cure, then flattened with ever-finer grades of abrasive paper (these days, 'wet & dry' used wet) and finally polished, was a coachpainting technique to get a good finish. It can look fantastic.

[Matty]

4 minutes ago, Inspector Morose said:

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.

Lovely them. Which did you prefer?

[Matty]

7 minutes ago, Angrydicky said:

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.

That's interesting, so it's an Essex car. I've got an auntie lives in Essex and my 330ci is an Essex car too. Proper coincidence. As it goes I've got them plates, they came in a box of bits with the car. I'll put a picture of them up when I get chance. Be interesting to see if they're the ones you remember

[Matty]

10 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

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.

A 1275 was one of the plans, but being as so much work has gone into the 1098 in it it'd be daft not to run it in, get it set up and tuned right and see how it goes. I knew I'd have to recalibrate my expectations after driving newer stuff but I've got to say after getting used to the steering box and un servoed  brakes it's a joy to drive. Once it's run in and properly set up I reckon it'll go well enough as is

[Angrydicky]

11 minutes ago, Matty said:

That's interesting, so it's an Essex car. I've got an auntie lives in Essex and my 330ci is an Essex car too. Proper coincidence. As it goes I've got them plates, they came in a box of bits with the car. I'll put a picture of them up when I get chance. Be interesting to see if they're the ones you remember

Would be nice to see them reinstated.

I can’t remember where it was when it was on eBay, but it wasn’t local, you mentioned Middlesbrough and it could well have been that area.

It stood out to me due to the Southend reg as it’s my hometown and I’m a sucker for a JN or HJ reg!

[LightBulbFun]

Oooh what Lovely car! well purchased as they say  I do like old English tin like this! 

especially when its nicely careworn and can tell its lived a good life and will hopefully continue to do so 

very much looking forward to seeing more on it! 

PS plus 1 on wanting pics with the proper number plates stuck back on! very glad to hear those where saved! 

[Rusty Pelican]

60s tin always wins , great car , got two 60s cars here , no ECU rubbish to deal with 

 

[Inspector Morose]

1 hour ago, Matty said:

Lovely them. Which did you prefer?

They were a bit ‘horses for courses’. The mk1 with its shorter wheelbase felt much more fun to drive but the mk2 felt a lot more refined.  I took the mk2 down to Devon from my home near Dudley just so I could fill up at the old fuel pumps at Colyford. I think that was the start of my whimsical journey fetish that I continue to this day.

[Matty]

@Angrydicky and @LightBulbFun. As promised

[LightBulbFun]

23 minutes ago, Matty said:

@Angrydicky and @LightBulbFun. As promised

Oooh a lovely set of Tippers plates  

I still wonder what happened to the Tippers Number plate company exactly, there are 2 companies these days called Tippers that make number plates but I dont know if they are related to the Tippers number plates of old...

[Matty]

If they don't go back on the car they're going somewhere safe. Like right up the garage wall where I can see them but the kids can't touch them 😁

[Dick Cheeseburger]

It certainly looks a solid little A40. My bosses old A40 (mk1 I think) was left for dead around the back of the garage I worked at in the early 90s. I guess it would have been around thirty years old at time and it was completely beyond redemption, poor old thing. That's great that the original plates on yours were saved during the exterior makeover too; definitely an important part of it's story. 

I've only just realised that the front indicators look very similar to those on my old 69 Moggie. I wonder if they're the same unit from the Austin parts bin, or whether they were modified for each? 

[eddyramrod]

Lovely!  As detailed in my Life Of Shite thread, I've had two A40s; one of my first cars, in 1978, and a project car in Cyprus 2009-12.  I have a big soft spot for these, and I especially like the look of yours!  Don't worry about the seats, they really did need improving and that was on my agenda too.  I had a pair of Escort Ghia front seats to go in mine in Cyprus.  I'm so looking forward to seeing how this develops.

[SiC]

On 1/30/2022 at 2:36 PM, Matty said:

Bit of background here. I'm only 41 and only just. Stuff like this shouldn't interest me.

Nothing wrong with that! Its part of a being a petrol head imo. I'm (nearly) 36 and have 4 pre-80s cars.

I really like that colour, even if not original. It looks a bit similar to my old/now @Gerrymcd 1100.

@KitKat said I should have got one of these instead of my Moggie. I think he was right to be honest! Rarer and more interesting. 

[GMcD]

3 minutes ago, SiC said:

Nothing wrong with that! Its part of a being a petrol head imo. I'm (nearly) 36 and have 4 pre-80s cars.

I really like that colour, even if not original. It looks a bit similar to my old/now @Gerrymcd 1100.

@KitKat said I should have got one of these instead of my Moggie. I think he was right to be honest! Rarer and more interesting. 

I was just about to post:

Old Brian didn't own an 1100 before did he? 

....Did he leave a paint code? 😆

[SiC]

On 1/30/2022 at 3:14 PM, Matty said:

I'll have a gander 👍

Micra engines and Suzuki 5 speed gearboxes can easily be retrofitted:

https://barrattengineering.co.uk/

Micra engine is a evolution of the A-series after Nissan bought rights to make their own based on the A-series. So a nice evolution and they look relatively easy to fit. The ratios of the Suzuki box apparently work well as they match closely a Spridget box from first to fourth and then the extra fifth acts as a even higher gear.

But, imo, I think changing gearboxes and engines start to loose the classic feel on a car. Part of owning something like this is learning the quirks of the drivetrain.

[Angrydicky]

10 hours ago, Matty said:

@Angrydicky and @LightBulbFun. As promised

Nice, and as I mentioned before I can’t understand why anyone would replace perfectly good original plates with nasty repros. At least they are still with the car, so you can refit them.

All the Southend dealers used Tippers number plates back in the day.

When Gilbert Tipper retired, probably around 2008, the numberplate part of the business was sold off and still trades under different ownership, making repro plates down in Cornwall somewhere. The signs business is or was still going on Purdeys Way, Rochford. They don’t do numberplates anymore though.

[martc]

April 2021

[Matty]

13 hours ago, SiC said:

Micra engines and Suzuki 5 speed gearboxes can easily be retrofitted:

https://barrattengineering.co.uk/

Micra engine is a evolution of the A-series after Nissan bought rights to make their own based on the A-series. So a nice evolution and they look relatively easy to fit. The ratios of the Suzuki box apparently work well as they match closely a Spridget box from first to fourth and then the extra fifth acts as a even higher gear.

But, imo, I think changing gearboxes and engines start to loose the classic feel on a car. Part of owning something like this is learning the quirks of the drivetrain.

Defiantly. I had plans for a 1275 and midget box but it rows along very nicely as is. Hopefully once it's run in and set up properly I'll see a bit more. Similarly I'd thought about a remote servo conversion but now I've acclimatised to having no braking assistance it actually pulls up well. I'd like to look into upgrading the damping on the front as it's comically soft, but there's no rush

[Mr Pastry]

3 minutes ago, Matty said:

I'd like to look into upgrading the damping on the front as it's comically soft, but there's no rush

Draining and flushing the dampers, and refilling with new fluid will often improve matters. 

[Matty]

Got to be worth a go. Thanks

[High Jetter]

Well bought! Always thought the front of these look like happy cars. Paint does look similar to that 1100...

[Matty]

21 hours ago, Gerrymcd said:

I was just about to post:

Old Brian didn't own an 1100 before did he? 

....Did he leave a paint code? 😆

Trafalgar blue seems to ring a bell?? A back to back comparison between an 1100 and an A40 would be interesting. I'd bet they're dynamically light years apart yet produced at the same time for a period. 

[artdjones]

Trafalgar is darker.

[vulgalour]

RAL5017 Traffic Blue is a strong contender for what the A40 is painted in.

@Gerrymcd RAL5015 Sky Blue seems plausible for the 1100.

At least from the photos.  Hand-painted cars tend to be done in standard RAL colours since it's easy and cheap to get hold of, often much more so than a batch of specific manufacturer's colour.

[High Jetter]

Was RAL widely known in the 70s?

[vulgalour]

Perhaps not in the 70s, but certainly on more recent repaints.  I'm assuming here that the A40 and the 1100 are more recent paint jobs, as in from this century, and from other giffer specials I've encountered in more recent years, RAL paint codes are the go to because they're easy to get hold of and close enough to what you actually want.  The one exception that sticks out is the chap with a Riley RM that he'd brush painted in a plum colour from Rustoleum that he was disappointed to learn they'd discontinued and he couldn't find a match for it which was going to make the refresh a bit trickier.

[SiC]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

Was RAL widely known in the 70s?

Both the A40 and 1100 have been repainted in the last decade or two at most. I strongly suspect the 1100 is a RAL colour. Either that or something like Ford blue. I also strongly suspect it's something like coach/tractor enamel paint. Wouldn't be surprised if the A40 is similar as Vulgalour mentioned.

My intention was to get a set of RAL cards and see if I could colour match. But my colour matching skills have never been the greatest!

[Peter C]

On 1/31/2022 at 11:21 PM, Gerrymcd said:

I was just about to post:

Old Brian didn't own an 1100 before did he? 

....Did he leave a paint code? 😆

Now available in 1:18 scale.

[GMcD]

4 hours ago, Peter C said:

Now available in 1:18 scale.

Yeah man I saw them a while ago and was tempted....

 

....then I saw the price of them!