|
|
|
|
|
|
Donington & Malvern Autojumbles[Back to Monthly Updates page]Also: A40 Devon pickup, Farina wings, E83W project, Practical Classics magazine
The old-car season for me and thousands of other oily-nailed classic owners began on the 3rd January, with the autojumble at Donington Park. Unusually I'd managed to persuade 'er indoors to join me at this event, largely because I reminded her that most of it was indoors. She isn't mad about walking around outdoor shows and jumbles in the depths of winter for some reason. There was a healthy number of stallholders braving the winter chill, probably relishing a chance to sell some bits and avoid the Christmas/New Year festivities which by now was wearing thin for many I suspect. I'd hoped to find a drivers door for the Mini that I recently acquired, but there were no Mini panels in evidence. I did however spy a grille for an E83W, but a) I think it was going to be pricey, and b) I don't really need another spare, so I passed it by. Finding parts for the more obscure vehicles cluttering up my garage has always been difficult to say the least, although I see it more of a challenge than a hindrance. Outside were a few old cars looking for new owners, including the Austin A50 shown. Goodbye to the Volvo (again) Talking of clutter in the garage, I took a decision that I never thought I'd be making, and sold the Volvo - again. Since buying both it and the A40 Devon in 2005, I found myself using the latter more and more, with the Volvo sat in the garage doing very little. No car benefits from lack of use, especially when they have hydraulic brakes and so on. So the Volvo went to a new home, leaving a large empty gap in the garage. This unfortunate state of affairs lasted just over 24 hours, as the following day its replacement, an A40 Devon pickup truck, was collected from the frozen north. Austin Devon Pickup Curvy Austins of the late 40s and early 50s have always appealed to me, and prior to buying the Devon saloon in '05 I'd already owned examples of A30, A35, and A40 Somerset. The pickups, in my view, are one of the more stylish British built pickups, with the styling of the pickup bed very tidily integrated with the swoopy front end tinwork. For a little while I'd kept a weather eye open for a nice pickup. It rapidly became obvious that they were not exactly thick on the ground, and of those that survived, many were either rusty old ruins, or missing their attractive rear pickup body (many replaced with home-made jobs). Light commercial vehicles often got a hammering and rarely made it to their 10th birthday, so despite a reasonable number being made, few made it as far as the 21st century. The A40 I ended up buying came via a certain online auction website. It was not exactly a steal, but priced about right I think, based on others I've seen advertised. It was described as being mostly restored, having benefited from a full strip down and gradual rebuilding, using new or good secondhand parts, as required. I won the bidding anyway, and arranged to collect it a couple of weeks later. Accompanied by dad as #1 co-driver, we set off at an ungodly 6am for a long, steady, drive up to Scotland, where the pickup lived. A thick blanket of fog accompanied us for the first couple of hours travelling, which we could have done without, but at least the day stayed dry, and we got to our destination just before lunchtime, having only got almost-lost just once.
The next morning broke cold and jolly frosty, which was a bit of a surprise, but fortunately the anti-freeze was up to scratch in the radiator and all was well. First problem to overcome was getting the car off the trailer. One rear brake had stuck on and no amount of pushing or grunting would get the thing to roll off the trailer, even with it tilted up and the winch disconnected. One option was to fire up the engine but with the angle of the vehicle on the tilt trailer, it wasn't able to pull up the dregs of fuel from the tank. In the end, we tied a rope around the rear axle, and hooped the other end around the back of dad's 7 series, and dragged it off with one rear wheel locked.
Over the following week or so I attended to a few immediate problems. At some point, the column gearshift had been cobbled up with a domestic doorknob wedged onto the end of the gearlever. This had had the effect of compressing the outer surround of the lever against the pull out centre rod, which one pulls out when looking for reverse. The net effect was that reverse couldn't be selected via the column lever. In the end I removed the lever and, with a combination of jiggling, WD40, and heat from a blowlamp, managed to free it all off and restore the reverse gear selector rod. I'm still on the lookout for a correct lever knob if anyone has a spare? The sticking rear brake was swiftly overcome by simply backing off the adjustment a tad - they can be adjusted up correctly later on, for now the priority was to get the Devon in to a state where it could be moved easily.
Buried away in a building out the back of the garage is my old A40 Farina, a 1960 Mk1 example bought new by a Great Uncle and passed down the family, til it ended up with me in the late 80s. I took my test in this useful little car, and it served me well for years as my main car. Some years ago I took it off the road as rust had begun to take hold, especially in the front driver's wing area. For donkeys I've been looking into finding a replacement front wing, but unused steel wings are like hen's teeth, if not rarer. A pair of used steel wings turned up on ebay in January, and offered a possible solution to this problem. Bidding petered out early on, and I secured them for a modest sum. That same day we set off for Nottingham and collected said wings. The pictures made it clear that the passenger front wing was rotten, and it was. Fortunately the driver's side is repairable, and thats the one I needed. The passenger wing therefore made a one-way trip to the local tip, and the driver's side wing has been stored away. It is good enough to be refurbished, which is about the only option I have for curing my car's woes as the only other option is to fit fibreglass replacements. Repair panels are available although the supply is a bit patchy I think. Malvern Autojumble Mid-January dawned and it was time for the Malvern autojumble. I went down to this one accompanied by two local enthusiasts, and we spent the day wandering around a good variety of stalls. Among the usual stalls selling new tools were some interesting stalls containing 'proper' old car parts, and a merry few hours were spent rummaging around the oily bits. As with at Donington, I didn't find anything super exciting, but managed to buy up a few small items that will come in handy one day, maybe, in theory.. Inspecting an unrestored Fordson
We found the house and its mildy eccentric owner quite easily. Less easy was making our way through a garden of amassed ironwork and general 'stuff' to his commodious workshop, that contained, amongst other things, the remains of a '42 Fordson. This wartime Fordson had started out life as a van but someone had made a start on chopping it down to make a pickup. Then they left it. Which is how the current owner found it. The condition of the little Ford was pretty poor sadly, and the cab retained little of its strength, mainly because the van body had been chopped off and no cab back had been fitted. The net result was a very wobbly cab. The chassis wasn't too bad, but all bolt-on panels were in a poor state and most would have needed replacement. Interestingly, atop a pile of Fordson parts that came with the vehicle, was a very very early one-hole grille - the very first E83Ws had a single starting handle hole, and one such grille was visible under a pile of stuff, although again was in very poor order, with many of its grille bars missing or deformed. I don't think the couple I went over with were particularly taken with the extent of work required on this Ford, so I doubt they'll be buying it. If I had room I'd possibly have it but I really don't want any more project vehicles either. Interview from Practical Classics It was also during this month that a writer and a photographer for Practical Classics magazine called by, as I'd agreed to be a part of an article they're planning on people who collect/hoard old cars. From what I can tell, they'd decided on interviewing and photographing three separate enthusiasts for this feature. One guy who (I think) collected old Renaults of varying ages, and had a barn full. The other person collected Triumph Dolomites. Then there was me. I think they wanted to include my hoarding excesses as I don't stick to one make, model or type of vehicle, anything goes really. They spent much of one Thursday morning photographing me and the dog, staged with a few of my old wrecks, all the while cup of tea in hand, just for effect..which photos will make it beyond the cutting room floor I've no idea, but rumour is the article will be out in the next few months. |
|
|
Website design by ableweb Disclaimer & Privacy Policy |
