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'53 A40 Somerset
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Bitumen Boy



Joined: 26 Jan 2012
Posts: 1733
Location: Above the snow line in old Monmouthshire

PostPosted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 12:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

gresham flyer wrote:

I did pick up on two items that were carried out on your trip home that is not really in the theme of owning old vehicles or having a passion for the past.

Eating in a Little Chef and having a satellite navigation system in your lovely old 1953 Austin.

Little chef`s ought to be banned.!!!
What happened to visiting a real lorry or transport café.?


Surely visits to Little Chef are the same as McDonald's, i.e. it doesn't count if you're only sneaking in to use the lavvy... Wink Laughing
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Brucekoukalaka



Joined: 27 Jun 2013
Posts: 39
Location: Camrose Alberta Canada

PostPosted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 8:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good to see you on this forum Richard. I must love these little cars, being as I own 3;



I have $500.00 Canadian invested in them TOTAL! Laughing
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Richard H



Joined: 03 Apr 2009
Posts: 2148
Location: Lincolnshire, UK

PostPosted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 10:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good to see more Somerset owners on here Bruce! You did well to get three for $500!!
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Richard Hughes
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Brucekoukalaka



Joined: 27 Jun 2013
Posts: 39
Location: Camrose Alberta Canada

PostPosted: Thu Feb 06, 2014 6:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yup I bought the first for $500.00 and traded a van that had been given to me for the other 2. The green one runs but the grey one has a nicer body, the black one needs a driver door and a trunk lid, the rest of the body looks in fair shape. All 3 need windshields which I found 1 at over $1000.00 in the states. Surprised I am also in need of at least 1 grill as mine are all damaged Sad
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Richard H



Joined: 03 Apr 2009
Posts: 2148
Location: Lincolnshire, UK

PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 11:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, it's been nearly three months since I bought the Somerset now. In that time I've been using it as my main car and have covered around 2,500 miles. Fortunately my classic insurance has no mileage restriction, as I love driving it! Despite it now being MoT exempt (last MoT ran out 2012), I decided to get it MoT'd for peace of mind. Three problems came to light, firstly the windscreen washer pump didn't work, so it now has electric washers (much better, I really don't rate the pump action ones). Secondly the drivers side front wheel bearing was completely worn out, slopping all over the place. That has now been replaced. It was a bit of a faff to get the old one drifted out and the new bearings fitted with just rudimentary tools but it's all good now and doesn't rumble at low speed like it did before. The final thing it needed was that one of the rear shock absorber drop links, was, erm, a little tired!



Once those jobs were done it flew through the MoT, and I'm pleased to say that the rear end is now free from clonks, a rare thing on a car of this age!

I also had a problem with the nasty cheap points it had fitted closing up, these have now been replaced with the proper article, along with the condensor and rotor arm.

Lastly it had an intermittent problem with the ignition cutting out when driving, no lights, no ignition, nothing. I suspected a bad connection at the fuses but nothing untoward was found. It got to the stage where the car couldn't even be started without bypassing the ignition first. I ran it around like this for a while, but in the end traced the fault to a burnt out ignition switch and got a NOS one from Ebay. This turned out to be a factory second and should have been returned to the seller as the light switch wouldn't rotate due to the manufacturing tolerances being too tight. I needed the car working, so myself and dad swapped over the ignition barrel and light switch from the old one and made one good one out of the two. A very fiddly job, but the problem appears to be solved now, touch wood!



Maintenance wise that's about it really. I took it to Brooklands in March, where it found a friend in the form of "Ollie" the Somerset Smile I also took it up the Test Hill at Brooklands, which was good fun, and even got my photo in the County Counsel (ACCC mag!). Although it is captioned incorrectly with the name of the previous owner.





[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/v/t34.0-12/10270145_648082278599883_1282862188_n.jpg?oh=b7c454aba3eee367877b3a03bfc603ef&oe=5361B2FA&__gda__=1398936063_e44925ebedae6dfe90f9c51e318b2b82[/img]

I've since been to the Transport Museum at Dover for Drive it Day, where I met a friendly Rover P4 Cool



And lastly came across this timewarp scene in a little Kentish village, just had to get some photos!






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Richard Hughes
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rjt10/4



Joined: 26 Nov 2012
Posts: 214
Location: Minions Cornwall

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 12:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Richard Great photo,s just need one in B/W then it would be straight out of 1953
still getting parts together for my a40 have shot blasted front inner wings so far that's as far as I,ve got
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kevin2306



Joined: 01 Jul 2013
Posts: 1359
Location: nr Llangollen, north wales

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 12:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That looks great!

Kev
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P3steve



Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Posts: 542
Location: Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 7:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lovely Photo’s the only thing missing is Miss Marple stepping out the door of the house
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Richard H



Joined: 03 Apr 2009
Posts: 2148
Location: Lincolnshire, UK

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2014 10:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How's this? Smile


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Richard Hughes
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rjt10/4



Joined: 26 Nov 2012
Posts: 214
Location: Minions Cornwall

PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2014 8:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

perfect just so period
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