Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.
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William Goodall
Joined: 26 Feb 2015
Posts: 13
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 Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2015 10:29 pm Post subject: Re: Mostyn Special |
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| Derek Mack wrote: | To the new MOSTYN Special owner:
I was excited to hear news of the Mostyn Special, a machine that Monty Mostyn and I spent nearly two years of evenings and weekends to build at his parent’s garage, Whitton Service Station. Monty was the power and financier behind the project while I engineered and made the chassis detail for him aided by a very skilful acetylene welder.
I also created a quarter scale clay sculpture of the body shape on a wooden space model of the finished car. This owed much to the Aston Martins of the era and was well chewed by many. The perimeter and loft lines were re-created on the full-scale chassis with small diameter steel tubing, on which a small local body shop “tin bashed” the light alloy body shell. Livery finish was light battleship grey with red trimming.
The Austin Healey engine was one of three bought as scrap when the London taxis went over to diesel power. The Wilson gearbox was discovered on a test rig at the local scrap yard; we found it had only been used in reverse! The rear axle and supercharger were new items as were the original drum brakes before discs became affordable.
In my day, Monty drove the car at “around the pylon” driving tests, which proved popular at the time, and did the occasional hill climb and sprint trial. His full-bore gear changes on the hills and sprints got expensive in half shafts, which frequently twisted at the inner spline. Another early snag with pre-ignition; initially cured by water injection but the method proved impractical in the long term so a less aggressive ignition advance curve was devised.
If you have restored the beast to it’s former beauty I’d love a few photos for old times sake together with an idea of the cars mileage if the original speedometer has survived – does it boast electronic ignition these days?
Best regards, Derek Mack
derek@moosejam.co.uk
15thApril 2015 |
Hello Derek, Marvellous to hear from you! Monty was a little "foggy" when it came to my numerous questions when I took the car to him. It sounds like you could be the missing link! I intend to keep the car in unrestored condition. I will driving it soon now that I have a smaller steering wheel enabling my knees to fit in! Do you have any period photos? Perhaps I could speak to you on the phone sometime?
Kind regards, Bill Goodall |
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