This is whats been filling my spare time for the last two and half years.
Didnt want to get involved but got dragged in by my mate who lives at the end of my road who is a retired joiner.
The car sat for twenty years in a car park and was eventually set fire by a gang of local skin heads. This was how i first saw it with the remnants of the body stripped off.
Take a deep breath and get to with making a new scuttle whilst there is still some superstructure remaining!!
Next was to remove the firewall and make a new one of those.
Then fit it to the existing.
The bonnett landing panels where shot so bashed out a couple of those too.
The bottom of the battery box was missing so made up a new one and rivetted the holding brackets back on.
The chassis and running gear where in a bad way. It was sent to the place where i used to work and they welded in a new chassis member on the RHS from the firewall to the front spring hanger.
Jet washed it and painted it and a few other bits too.
Dry fitted the bonnett landing panels and had some parts including the firewall and battery box powder coated since they are the bits which suffer the most based on what we took apart.
During the period when the rolling chassis was away Peter started forming and shaping the wood profiles, cutting in the floor members and trimming blanks to use to form the body.
The old firewall fitted the chassis and the woodwork and the new scuttle so the new wood must fit the new firewall and the scuttle etc.
I left the project for a few months to let Peter do his thing and when i came back this is what he had done
I have absolutely no idea how he did it or what was involved or how he made it square or vertical. I hate woodwork and will avoid it at all costs.
He says measure twice cut once. I said in reply measure three times, cut once, throw it away and get a new bit!
The standard and quality of his work is absolutely breath taking. It isnt obvious from the pictures which look good in themselves but under the microscope all the joints are tight and square and true. Awesome.
To try to establish if the car is still square to its mountings and if it measure up diagonally and also is not leaning foward or backward i balanced the front end on it. The largest discrepency we could find was an eigth of an inch out. Not bad in about 20 foot of scrap.
The owner is very 'Hands off' and just let it ride so pressing on.......
20 years ago when laid up it was under part restoration which explains the rusty metal work. Many many bits have been lost including much of the chrome which i suspect is still with the chromers!!!
The filler panel for the bonnettt side was one such bit.
..... Bashed out a new one.
The RHS bonnett top was scrap so yes you guessed it... bashed out a new one.
The roof rack was rusted through so.... yes thats right a new one.
The curved panels on the roof closing were rusted through so again made up some new ones.
Got them powder coated black on the outside believeing the roof canvass was to be painted black, and 'fudge' on the inside because they are visible above youre head in the driving compartment.
They are 'lined' in colour to match the Douglas Fir roofing slats and carry that pattern and colour throug to the front. What a faff.
The back step was missing and so it got a new one.
Lots of the metal fittings and trim were made of zintec or galvanised steel and had not lasted well.
You can see the remnants of the step metal enclosure which was originally made in three pieces. Why i dont know. What a mess.
The front seats had disintegrated and new ones are being made just now from paper patterns.
The horse hair is going back in as this has not degraded and they will be trimmed as original with a small leopard skin patterned leather. Not my choice but mimics the original.
The rear wings were basically scrap so routine is to fabricate and weld on a new front and back, then cut off the side and make a new one and weld that in. That way you keep the shape, size and profile.
No its not a hearse its a 'shooting brake' or what was known as an 'estate car'. Meaning bought for use on an estate. It was made in 1938 and comissioned by the owner of Blairdrummond estate in Scotland (now an adventure / safari park i believe)
They used to be registered as 'goods vehicles' and it was a dodge to get round petrol rationing at that time.
A couple of weeks back we covered the roof with two layers of very heavy canvass and stuck it down. Its the same method as and materials were supplied by; those who do train carriages. When i say stuck i mean not glued because it needs to flex and frett so the gloop is linseed oil with chalk mixed into it. I have no idea about this or the long term survival of it.
Made up some J section rain channels and screwed them to the roof to cover the edge of the folded canvass.
The roof fabric has since been painted. The owner has chosen 'off white'.
The spare wheel well was knackered and the tyre treads had rotted a serrated series of holes through it.
It had also had a couple of very nasty crumps to the un-sighed left wing so i straightened it out, removed the lower two inches, and 'let' in a new piece and then wire edged it.
Yep you guessed it.... it got a new spare wheel well courtesy of 'the English wheel'.
The previous owners were contacted and the only one to respond was a 90 year old Lady from Petworth Sussex who sent this picture of it from when they owned it in 1949.
It had already had a lot of work done to it and from reading i understand that the bodies used to rot and in some cases fall off in around two years. This was a big problem because in that period, woody bodies were Austins' biggest sellers and they were all coming back under warranty! Shit
When you ordered an Austin 20 from the factory catalogue, you got to choose what body style you had on it. There were a few options available and Austin would just send out the rolling chassis to one of a number of specialist body builders ( in this case William Park and Sons) who would make it into a finished vehicle.
Thankfully the new owners here requested an ambulance.
Thats it up to date. I've hit a brick wall with my bit for now and the weather is against us. He is rubbing down daily and varnishing it up to a mirror finish.
AL
