RE: My First Car: Austin A30
Discussion
Seven Smiles said:
marcosal said:
<snipping the rest of the wonderful story> When my old man and brother caught up My dad asked why I hadn't just put it in gear. I insisted that I had and a bit of a Father/son barney ensued. It ended with my brother admitting rather sheepishly that he was fairly sure that the propshaft had been disconnected.
An Irish friend got his first car from a "scrappy". It hadn't been there long and so was almost complete - except for the steering wheel. He drove it home using a pair of Molegrips clamped to the exposed end of the steering column!
grahamw48 said:
A guy I knew years ago had a TR6 with virtually no brakes.
He used to slow down for the pub car park by rubbing it along the perimeter wall til it came to a stop.
I had a Moggy thou' in which the only reason the driver's bum wasn't in contact with the road, was that the seat was tied to the seatbelt.
Didn't stop me driving her all the way from York to London in a blizzard, as I'd sold the registration plate to someone down there, and it was worth a fortune compared to the car.
Still love all those old BMC classics though.
Aye, my dad had a Morris Minor, you could watch the road go by through the holes in the floor and you'd end the journey a little bit lower than when you started...He used to slow down for the pub car park by rubbing it along the perimeter wall til it came to a stop.
I had a Moggy thou' in which the only reason the driver's bum wasn't in contact with the road, was that the seat was tied to the seatbelt.
Didn't stop me driving her all the way from York to London in a blizzard, as I'd sold the registration plate to someone down there, and it was worth a fortune compared to the car.
Still love all those old BMC classics though.
My first car was an A30, which my Father bought for me off the next door neighbor. The car would have been about 10 years old, and soon after I became the proud owner, fitted an after market remote gearchange, a pair of black rally style seat covers, and made my own bracket to mount a transistor radio, which would only work when the car was in certain positions!
The car was a rusty red/ orangey brown colour, which looked more like a primer than paint, and the one thing I remember more than any other problem I suffered with the car was around this time of the year, at the same place each morning on my way to work, it would begin to slow, and eventually grind to a halt, feeling almost as though the engine had seized. Within one minute I could restart the engine and continue the journey with no similar problem. This would happen regularly, but only when the ambient temperature was around 36deg F ( 2deg C ) and at exactlty the same point every morning!!! A friend of my Fathers was an engineer working in R & D for Renold ( Chains ) Ltd, where they used numerous models of car, converting them to chain transmission, including an Oldsmobile Toronado, an Austin 1100 & 1800. When I told him about my problem, he solved it immediately!!! The carburettor was a downdraft Solex (I think) and the fuel pipe ran vertically upwards from the fuel pump, and was postioned very close to the back of the radiator, suffering the full cold air draft from the fan!! The draft of cold air created exactly the temperature necessary to freeze the fuel pipe, and starve the engine of fuel. Because the car came to a halt, the heat from the now warm engine soon thawed the fuel pipe and "normal service was resumed"!!!
One of the popular car magazines of the day responded to a readers letter about the same problem showing a small sketch and written solution, using a "baked bean can" or similar cut in half down its length attached to a couple of small brackets, and mounted in front of the pipe creating a curved shield preventing the cold air from hitting the pipe!!!
Technology .......... Fantastic!!!!
The car was a rusty red/ orangey brown colour, which looked more like a primer than paint, and the one thing I remember more than any other problem I suffered with the car was around this time of the year, at the same place each morning on my way to work, it would begin to slow, and eventually grind to a halt, feeling almost as though the engine had seized. Within one minute I could restart the engine and continue the journey with no similar problem. This would happen regularly, but only when the ambient temperature was around 36deg F ( 2deg C ) and at exactlty the same point every morning!!! A friend of my Fathers was an engineer working in R & D for Renold ( Chains ) Ltd, where they used numerous models of car, converting them to chain transmission, including an Oldsmobile Toronado, an Austin 1100 & 1800. When I told him about my problem, he solved it immediately!!! The carburettor was a downdraft Solex (I think) and the fuel pipe ran vertically upwards from the fuel pump, and was postioned very close to the back of the radiator, suffering the full cold air draft from the fan!! The draft of cold air created exactly the temperature necessary to freeze the fuel pipe, and starve the engine of fuel. Because the car came to a halt, the heat from the now warm engine soon thawed the fuel pipe and "normal service was resumed"!!!
One of the popular car magazines of the day responded to a readers letter about the same problem showing a small sketch and written solution, using a "baked bean can" or similar cut in half down its length attached to a couple of small brackets, and mounted in front of the pipe creating a curved shield preventing the cold air from hitting the pipe!!!
Technology .......... Fantastic!!!!
In the pile of 1960s car magazines I keep at the side of the bed... one recently had a "service it yourself" article on the A35. This had a photo sequence showing the various jobs - the bloke dong the work was wearing a shirt and tie. The most 
moment relates to how to dispose of used engine oil. The advice is dig a hole and bury it in the garden "which is perfectly acceptable to do because oil comes out of the ground"
DH
moment relates to how to dispose of used engine oil. The advice is dig a hole and bury it in the garden "which is perfectly acceptable to do because oil comes out of the ground"DH
Yugguy said:
Great write-ups, make me pine for the days when 185 tyres on 13 rims were considered wide...
I was going for a test drive recently and the reminiscing soon started.The owner of the car (a Porsche 944) told me about looking at a 2.8 Capri or something along those lines with his dad when they were new. The tyres were 205 profile and his dad sait they'll never make a wider tyre than that!
Hi Guys,
just felt like I had to come by and say what a great read this has been. No great stories really but one of my first experiences of getting it wrong was 2 weeks after passing my test. Me and a school mate took the mini down to Cornwall for a week, lots of hills and on one occasion I got a bit over enthusiastic with the handbrake. I'd torn a section out of the floor of the car and now had a good view of the road below.
Five more days with no handbrake, managed to find a brick for parking and the clutch had to cope with the rest.
Andy
just felt like I had to come by and say what a great read this has been. No great stories really but one of my first experiences of getting it wrong was 2 weeks after passing my test. Me and a school mate took the mini down to Cornwall for a week, lots of hills and on one occasion I got a bit over enthusiastic with the handbrake. I'd torn a section out of the floor of the car and now had a good view of the road below.
Five more days with no handbrake, managed to find a brick for parking and the clutch had to cope with the rest.Andy
Great read, the article and comments!
My Dad (a farmer) bought an A30 van when I was a nipper. When the dairy herd was in the field the other side of the field next to the dairy, he'd go get them in the van. Me in the back with the back doors open and our collie dog running behind. Me shouting 'how fast you going?'. About 30. The collie could easily keep up.
My Dad (a farmer) bought an A30 van when I was a nipper. When the dairy herd was in the field the other side of the field next to the dairy, he'd go get them in the van. Me in the back with the back doors open and our collie dog running behind. Me shouting 'how fast you going?'. About 30. The collie could easily keep up.
I did several jobs on a friends A30, mainly fixing the brakes so they at least showed some intention of slowing the car slightly, while having a 1962 A40 Mk1 as my first car. A bargain for £30.
My introduction to car DIY came very quickly as the gearbox had no working synchro on any gear so I learnt to double declutch and robbed a scrap A40 of all usable bits for a fiver.
It taught me something about oversteer although maybe not enough since I parked it on its side once.
Seating capacity may have been 4 but in a tight spot I found it could cope with 10, not necessarily all on the seats.
The car was black so in a very hot summer I decided that it would be good to try to fry an egg on the roof. Standing on the roof created a suitable dent in which to break the egg but it still ran everywhere and set into a horrible mess that needed Brillo pads to remove it.
On one occasion when it was not running I needed to get the front wheels up on the wheel ramps. With that lightbulb feeling I put it in 1st gear and put my back into winding the starter crank. Surprisingly I managed to get the car to the top of the ramps when the brilliant idea suddenly seemed a little less so; I had to yell for my Mum to come out and apply the brake - I could see no sensible way to let go of the starter crank and run round to stamp on the brake while retaining both arms!!
Like most it eventually succumbed to tin work so I cut it up, mostly with just a hammer and chisel, and took it to the scrappy.
Happy days.
My introduction to car DIY came very quickly as the gearbox had no working synchro on any gear so I learnt to double declutch and robbed a scrap A40 of all usable bits for a fiver.
It taught me something about oversteer although maybe not enough since I parked it on its side once.
Seating capacity may have been 4 but in a tight spot I found it could cope with 10, not necessarily all on the seats.
The car was black so in a very hot summer I decided that it would be good to try to fry an egg on the roof. Standing on the roof created a suitable dent in which to break the egg but it still ran everywhere and set into a horrible mess that needed Brillo pads to remove it.
On one occasion when it was not running I needed to get the front wheels up on the wheel ramps. With that lightbulb feeling I put it in 1st gear and put my back into winding the starter crank. Surprisingly I managed to get the car to the top of the ramps when the brilliant idea suddenly seemed a little less so; I had to yell for my Mum to come out and apply the brake - I could see no sensible way to let go of the starter crank and run round to stamp on the brake while retaining both arms!!
Like most it eventually succumbed to tin work so I cut it up, mostly with just a hammer and chisel, and took it to the scrappy.
Happy days.
My father had a green A30 in 1970 too. I remember him transporting my granny and her friend squeezed into the back seat, with 6 year old me on their knees and my mum in the front. On attempting to take away from a junction with a bit of an incline, the front end of the car rose up and the back grounded! It was like something from the Wacky Races. I think we all had to get out until my dad got the car on the level again further up the road!
What a great read. My first car was an A35 (3604E where are you now!). My dad taught me to drive and on my first lesson I was stopped by the plod. I hadn't got half a mile from home; apparently there was a bit of the E missing off the number plate! That wasn't then only thing missing by the way - I filled the sills with chicken wire and isopon and hand painted the whole car sky blue to match my local football team.
It's so different today. Back then you never knew if you were ever going to get to your destination and no mobiles of course. Loads more adventures mind you!
It's so different today. Back then you never knew if you were ever going to get to your destination and no mobiles of course. Loads more adventures mind you!
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