Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rick]

The Wolseley I quite like the look of, and the Standard too if the missing parts can definitely be found.

The Daimler, well if it's in reasonable condition then I'd consider that too, although I'd have to be sure that the body frame beneath the outer panels is in good order. It does look like being quite a long way from seeing the road again, which would make me hesitate somewhat, and there's something about a car without a fully-fitted engine that I don't like for some reason, regardless of whether it runs or not. I've a feeling that with a car like this, an up-and-running example could probably be found for not much more £.

Keep posting up the possible candidates Vulgalour!

RJ
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[Ray White]

The pre selector gearbox is a lovely thing when it is in good working condition.
It is a hugely expensive item to repair when worn-out. Take a look at the assembly sequence. More often than not it is just the bands and bushings that need attention but without the car running you can't tell what state it is in.

https://www.db18.org/single-post/2017/02/04/ASSEMBLY-OF-THE-DAIMLER-DB18-SALOON-GEARBOX-RUNNING-GEAR

[Rick]

[Vulgalour]

That gearbox doesn't seem too terrible, given the clarity of the instructions. As of yet I've not been made aware of anything that would scare me off the pre-selector gearbox, it's something of a novelty in operation but other than that they seem to be a fairly sensible unit providing you keep on top of maintenance with them.

Of the three recent offerings, I find the Daimler the most appealing as a project, the Standard the most appealing for the styling, and the Wolseley the most appealing for a quick way into experiencing driving a car of this vintage. If I had to have one of them, the Daimler is likely the one I'd go for since it's the joy and frustration of a project that we're looking for rather than getting out and about immediately.

The benefit of a car in pieces is that you get to understand it fully in the process of rebuilding it, providing all the pieces are there. You also get to go through everything and make sure it's all working as it should. A running, driving, car can hide all sorts of problems, as I found with my Princess. At least if you start with a car that isn't operational you don't get the frustration of having to pull an operational one apart to get to the bottom of a bad repair or peculiar issue. There's not less surprises, they're just of a different sort.

[Rootes75]

I like the look of the Wolseley, such nice bigger cars. That one is a nice project.
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Various Rootes Vehicles.

[Vulgalour]

The car search has rather given way to the house search until a few days ago when we finally managed to get an offer accepted on a property. It's a pleasant little bungalow but has a bit of a parking issue. Between us, my partner and I have 3 vehicles to house and the property currently only has a fully covered driveway for 2 vehicles.

Worst of all, there is no garage!

All is not lost. The property does come with land and permission to extend the driveway and construct a garage so it looks rather like the cost of doing that will leapfrog a potential project.

I am hoping to build a simple single garage/workshop with a single-pitch roof from salvaged materials. I'd rather like a solar panel on the roof of it too as that would help offset the costs of running a nice little hobby garage on a regular basis.

It's very likely now that I'll be putting the car hunt on hold until next year as I doubt I'll have the means or the weather to construct a garage until then. Did I mention I've never built a garage before? I've never even built a shed. How hard can it be really? It's just a fancy box and power tools and internet tutorials make everything easier today. It will be a fun adventure.

[Rick]

Don't forget to post build photos of the garage!!

RJ
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[Vulgalour]

I'm sure I will. I'd like the garage to match the house, nothing modern or new. I'll have to do some research on the house and find out just how old it is, much of the telltale architecture looks to have been modernised away and it appears to have been extended at least once in its lifetime. My suspicion is that it was originally a modest post-war prefab/kit house built around a concrete or wooden frame. The use of glass isn't generous enough to make it much past 1960 or much before 1940, and the general proportions of what looks to be the original part does look a lot like the housing-boom kit houses that were normally put up in large clusters.

This one is a little odd in that it's set on its own and the neighbouring properties are all much larger, and it looks a lot like the plot the neighbouring house is on was probably the whole plot the bungalow was on originally, with the neighbouring plot being sold for development.

There is another small house nearby that looks to be very late 1930s and internally looks to have last been decorated in the 1950s. I would very much have liked to have got that house since it has more land and a workshop, but it was more than twice our budget.

The South East is uncomfortably expensive for housing. While our house is to the more affordable end of the scale for the area, it's certainly not what I'd call cheap, or even good value for money. That might be my Derbyshire roots showing.

[Rootes75]

I like the thought of building my own garage to my own spec. That would be good.
_________________
Various Rootes Vehicles.

[Ray White]

I remember my Brother and I helping our Dad build a new garage. We had fun when laying the base. The concrete mixer emptied it's contents O.K.but had become stuck up to it's axles in the mud.! The driver made a phone call from our house (we had inherited a telephone with the house!) and another concrete mixer came to drag him out.

Unfortunately, he became stuck in the mud as well!!

Imagine the sight; two mixer lorries in your front garden stuck in the mud!

Eventually the local farmer came along with his tractor and succeeded in pulling both vehicles free.

Tempers were frayed that day!

[ukdave2002]

I built my own garage, did everything myself:

footings,
Brick laying
I made the roof trusses
Made the doors and window frames
It has an upstairs with an exterior staircase at the rear.






took over a year!

Dave

[Ray White]

Nice job, Dave. Very good work.

[ukdave2002]

Final job was a side extension, the "machine shop"
I didn't do the tarmacing!

[Vulgalour]

That's a very handsome garage, certainly something to aspire to.

Things have been busy and frustrating here. We're now up to three failed house purchases for various reasons and while we have put an offer in on another property we certainly shan't be in until next year even if they do accept. It's all rather annoying since it puts a lot of things on hold and I'm rather fed up of living out of boxes now.

The search for a new project, likewise, has been put almost completely on hold. We're keeping an eye on the market of course, and the longer we spend looking the more we're learning about what is and isn't suitable.

We have narrowed our list down somewhat in the interim. This is subject to change as time goes on:
1930s Vauxhalls
Armstrong Siddeley
Lanchester
Austin Somerset (admittedly a later car, but one we find we like more the more we see them)
Austin
Singer
Nash (like the Somerset, it's the later cars we like rather than pre-war)
Dodge

We've also learned a few we're not interested in:
Wolseley
Rover (with one or two exceptions, seems to depend on the individual car)
Humber
Morris
Jaguar
Renault

At least the Rover and Princess are behaving themselves so I haven't had to worry about that side of things.

[Rick]