What to do with an old Austin!

[TooMany2cvs]

Parrotface said:

That's one of the reasons that drew me to the car, a lot of wood incorporated into it- beautiful craftsmanship.

The wood's just veneered trim.

[Parrotface]

It sounds like the report agrees with the description in the ad, tbh.
Neighbour of mine's restoring a Sheerline at the moment. The chassis and mechanicals are the easy bit - just big meccano. The bodyshell... Well, let's just say that Austin didn't really seem to have much of a clue about avoiding water traps in spot-welded semi-stressed pressed-steel bodyshells back then. His only spent a handful of years on the road, then sat in a dry barn. It's bloody solid, really, but there's a myriad of fiddly "what-were-they-thinking" corners that need a hell of a lot of taking-apart to get a blindingly obvious rust trap sorted. Like you, his previous involves wood frames (pre-war stuff), and the body is coming as a bit of a learning curve, I think.
[/quote]

That's one of the reasons that drew me to the car, a lot of wood incorporated into it- beautiful craftsmanship.

I've contacted the guy who did the report to ask if there are ways and means around certain parts....temporarily, that could be revisited at a later stage. I'd hate to see this scrapped as there are only 16 of this type left. If it is beyond my means, then I'll 99p it on e bay.

[imagineifyeswill]

That report reads like its been written by someone well used to dotting the I,s and crossing the T,s and may be making the vehicle sound a lot worse than it actually is. It sounds as if the engine is seized but that could be the rings stuck to the bores with lying, there are various different concotion of fluids used by people to free such engines and that would be my first move to try and get engine turning. If successful with the engine, tidying up the plumbing and wiring on a vehicle of that age should be simple enough there shouldnt be anything complicated, again a radiator recore isnt too major. The jag independant rear axles have been used by hot rodders for the last forty years in all types off vehicles so to someone with some mechanical ability it shouldnt be to difficult to fit properly. The big unknown is the front suspension and what modification has been done there, it sounds like they have tried to fit the jag front suspension when I would have thought the original Sheerline suspension would have been adequate, I cant imagine the jag engine being much heavier than the original.

If the vehicle is so bad that it would be totally uneconomical to think about repairing going by the photos it still has a good value as parts, decent panels for a vehicle like that can fetch good money and if you have the chrome headlamps complete in good condition then they alone are probably worth 50% of what you paid for the car.

Edited by imagineifyeswill on Saturday 8th April 13:14

[spaximus]

This depends on so many things and without pictures it is hard to say.

Anything with a separate chassis is easier to sort than one where it is part of the body shell. There are plenty of places that will do the work but you will definitely put more money in than you will get out.

If the body and interior is okay then there are several options to look at. No doubt some will disagree but many of the smaller american trucks have a separate chassis and would probably go under there with less work than making the Austin chassis work and would be about the right length.

As you are not looking at originality, a V8 auto with power steering and a live axle would be a good starting point. Have a look on You tube for Icon cars and you will see what they do is use a different chassis under old bodies. Using an american truck chassis would be a cheap way to get the same