Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rick]

Ok, next for the random recollections, owner's stories etc - the baby post-war Austins - A30 & A35. Did you own one back in the day? or maybe do now? or would you never touch one again for a particular reason?????

A few years back erindoors ran a black A30 2dr. Eventually we sold it, and it headed off for a new life in the States of all places. The current owner does call by the forum from time to time, and the last pic I saw of it in Atlanta showed the car on it's side, having had a low speed tumble following brake failure This, after having had the brakes overhauled by a specialist over there....

It proved to be quite reliable while we had it, although on wet days it wasn't unknown for the fan to blow back water over the distributor, with predictable results. It had been upgraded to 948cc, although still with the wand gearlever of the '30.

A few pics, back at our previous place

The A30, with XJ6 S1 for company


A spot of TLC going on, probably brake-related


Out in the road, waiting for the transporter to haul it away to the docks


Off it goes


I'd quite happily have another one, although in some ways I preferred the Standard 10 as under-bonnet accessibility was a lot better.

RJ
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[Richard H]

I've got two A35's.

The first one was bought by my parents in 1986. It had been used as student transport and had been resprayed purple with a white roof (aerosol cans). After having it resprayed, the car was pressed into service by my mother who used it everyday, until about 1991 when it was retired from front line service. In 1989 it was involved in a collision with a learner driver. My dad simply beat out the damage with a hammer and fitted new bumper irons from an A30 in the scrapyard. It was "restored" in 1997 when it was given yet another respray, and the well worn 948cc engine replaced with a 1098 Morris Minor unit out of the local paper. I was very fond of this car, growing up with it around me, and sadly it was sold in 2002 to fund an Austin Somerset. The buyer was a local farmer, he said he'd always wanted one as him and his wife hired one for their honeymoon in the Isle of Wight in 1957. Unfortunately the old 'Peanut' was never seen again. Around 2005 however, we found out that the farmer was moving to France and wanted the old A35 out of his barn where it had sat since the day he bought it from us. A service, a couple of new tyres and a rerubbered wheel cylinder sent it straight through the MoT. When I passed my test it was my first car, and it was a real shock to go straight from my Vauxhall Corsa driving school car into that! It was extremely reliable though, the only time it ever let me down was when the clutch rod snapped and I had to call the RAC out, who repaired it with jubilee clips. Unfortunately by early this year it became clear that it wasn't going to go on much longer without extensive surgery. It is now in pieces in the garage - hopefully not for too long!

Here are some pictures.

1997, post respray.

2008.
As it looked about a month ago (a little bit more done since)



A page from the original buff logbook - a years tax in 1959 cost £12 10s!

Then I bought this:




(taken today)

I was told about an almost identical A35 for sale in a post office window. When I went to see it I recognised the car as one that I had seen on Ebay the previous year, but hadn't followed up. When we arrived at his house the owner told us a little bit of its history. Apparantly he had bought it without an MoT with the intention of making it reliable enough to use everyday. Unfortunately he had no mechnical knowledge so had to pay a garage to do all the work. There are bills for around £4000 including a complete engine rebuild - old cars are not always cheap! Having said that, he did about 12000 miles in it, mostly commuting to and from Hackney where he was a policeman. Now the car has just over 39,000 miles on the clock (there is no evidence to back this up apart from MoT's from 1990) but the condition of the seats, and bodywork mean it must be true

Since owning the car I have used it everyday, it has been completely reliable (apart from one small episode!) and having now got used to it, it is a pleasure to drive
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Richard Hughes

[poodge]

My 1st car was an A30,and my 2nd an A35,so I'll always have a soft spot for them.I snapped the crankshaft in half on the A30,and had the brakes done,but even then,it's stopping power was always moderate.Maybe because I was 20 and reckless
The A35 was much better in most respects,but I still had to get the brakes done.This was in the early 70's ,and by then the cars I could afford had space-ship mileages.Hence most weekends were spent fixing one thing or another,or just tinkering.On one particularly boring saturday,my brother and I decided the interior needed a bit of pizzaz,so we removed the dashboard and covered it in black vinyl!It didn't look half bad at that,so we carried on and did his 55 Velox as well.
I removed the piping from the front wings,and filled the gap with bog.I also fitted Morris 1100 indicator/sidelight units at the front,since "customizing"even the most basic of cars was a bit of a craze then.
I also spent one memorable saturday replacing a broken half shaft in the pouring rain.I also remember the strange place for the master cylinder,under the drivers feet.The cover didn't fit too well,so if it was wet,so was the floor,and the old door mat passing for floor covering.
My brother also had an A35,a four door that had spent most of it's life on the damp west coast.It's rearguards had been filled with concrete to avoid the cost of new metal!
Maybe I'm looking back with rose-tinted spectacles,but I would love to have an A35 now.Sadly,they are rather thin on the ground.

[lowdrag]

Ah, 29 FFK, are you slumbering in Paradise? A green A35 van a la James Hunt which served us well for so many purposes including camping. Sturdy, reliable, fun and practicable, sadly betrayed for an MGA in the day.

I was looking through various adverts and it seems that a good one now, like the Minis and others, seems to be much dearer than the saloon counterpart.

[PACresta]

Happy memories of my father's A35 van, it was a bit of a come down from the new 1962 Vauxhall victor estate but we loved the little blue van. It got the name of leaping leaner, as i remember.
The only photo i have was of a day out in the woods, the van had seats in the back, + room behind the seats for a couple of us kids, Ahhhh luxury

[Rick]

Many vans had windows cut into the back, and a rear seat fitted, to dodge purchase tax. Did BMC offer a factory conversion kit to make a van into an estate? I know they sold the Countryman version, I just wondered if there ever was a kit available through Austin/BMC dealers to enable a van to be converted??

ta, R
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[Keith D]

Back in the early sixties in the UK, you had to apply to the Customs for permission to put windows in the side of a panel van as purchase tax (before VAT) had not been paid on a commercial vehicle. Customs valued your van and then presented you with a bill before they would give permission.

I used to live in Essex and owned a 1959 Commer (the van version of a Hillman Minx) in 1963, and was told after application that the book value of the van was low enough to exempt me from paying anything. I promptly shot around the local auto wrecker and bought windows from a Minx station wagon for thirty bob, cut the side panels out and fitted them! Great days!

Keith

[RotaryBri]

[Rick]

While we had the A30 on the road, someone donated this fine pink creation to the cause...



Beyond salvation, it did offer up some spares, and the numberplate resides on the garage wall today

RJ
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Rick - Admin
Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
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[peter scott]

[Brian M]

My first car, bought in 1968 for £42.50, and sold a year later for £62.



Three spotlights for faster driving at night! The small stickers on the back and front wings say "Cooper"

The middle light is now on the back of my Volvo.
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Brian
1970 Volvo Amazon and 1978 Safari 15-4 Caravan
Classic Safari Forum: www.classicsafaris.co.uk