Austin A30

[Smallfry]

The main thing you notice is how much the engine revs compared to moderns. Sounds like you are killing it, and always looking for an extra gear. Also brakes are way less good. By that, I mean pedal pressures can be heavy, and they can lock up and skid, but cheap tyres have a lot to do with this. Also no ABS to save you.

Less creature comforts, must of which you never use or do not use, no central locking, and the fag of having to lean over to open a passenger window if necessary. Condensation, as through flow ventilation is non existent.

Fuel consumption is poor too, compared to what you will be used to.

Overall though, using them is an event, and I call it character. You will either love it, or hate it. In which case you can sell it on.

The other thing with old cars, is that they are time consuming, you can't just ignore it and use it like you can a modern.

 

[colnerov]

The main thing you notice is how much the engine revs compared to moderns. Sounds like you are killing it, and always looking for an extra gear. Also brakes are way less good. By that, I mean pedal pressures can be heavy, and they can lock up and skid, but cheap tyres have a lot to do with this. Also no ABS to save you.

Less creature comforts, must of which you never use or do not use, no central locking, and the fag of having to lean over to open a passenger window if necessary. Condensation, as through flow ventilation is non existent.

Fuel consumption is poor too, compared to what you will be used to.

Overall though, using them is an event, and I call it character. You will either love it, or hate it. In which case you can sell it on.

The other thing with old cars, is that they are time consuming, you can't just ignore it and use it like you can a modern.

There won't be much leaning involved, if any.

 

[indy4x]

we have three of them (all a35), well, sort of, its actually more like 2 and a 2/3 i guess looking at how much of my van is missing, but that doesn't seem relevant right now.....

They are incredibly usable as a daily driver, can easily keep up with traffic up to 60ish without issue (they're happy at that speed, anything faster is a bit iffy for comfort (for the driver, the car doesn't care) with standard diff etc), sensible to swap out the front brakes, most go for sprite discs (both of our road ones have these fitted) mechanical rear set up is incredibly good if well maintained (afaik, they were NEVER hydraulic rear, suspect the poster above is confused, possibly with the A40?), and the handbrake is the best of any car ive ever driven. Other less common options for the front brakes are A40 fronts, which are a bit bigger and better, but obviously its just as much work to fit discs, and not exactly easy to find these days....

Theres a few sensible modifications on them that are well worthwhile, firstly indicators are a must if youre getting a traficator model, whilst they shouldnt be needed, the general public these days are morons. Second is to ditch the zennith carb and fit an su (easy enough, moggy thou's came with the su, so just swap the manifolds). Swap the half shafts for midget ones, easily done, and most will be done already, the standard ones break with enthusiastic driving, and suck to change, once theyre in bits.... about 1hrs work if you do it before the break though! seatbelts, but thats really just a personal thing. Diff ratio is another good thing to change, i run a 4.2 with my 948, which is fine to about 70ish, but a bit loud after that, dad runs a 3.9 with the 1275 (see below) which is still a little under diffed for me, id like to swap a 3.7 in, but theyre strong money and not all that common. His van will cruise at 70 without issues, with *some* left for overtaking where necessary, but 1st is pretty much useless unless its full of people. convert to electronic ignition, whislt points and condensor are good, they quality of the parts these days is 'questionable' at best, so decent conversion, fit and forget. Mine has had the dynamo swapped out for a dynomator (and alternator in a posh frock) which eliminates the other electrical gremlin (the control box) which can cause issues

A35 is defo more usable the the 30 really, the early gearboxes were a bit 'meh' (notable mention for Claire Atkinson here, as she makes what she calls 'franken boxes', A30 majic wand style boxes with the later internals to fix this issue), ideally a 35 with a ribbed box, either a 948 or a 1098 engine would be my go-to choice (mine is 948, dads was 1098, both are very, very reliable and rarely give serious issues) 1275 conversion is fun (dads is 1275 now, fairly mild spec, which made my teeth itch a little as i still have all my mini stuff kicking around, so we had the option to make it a real flyer, which he wasnt keen on - i bought my own 1275, and will at some point do something stupid with it.... big valve head, 8 port conversion, turbo, all are options, whether ill get to it before fossil fuel runs out, is another question.....)

Dad mostly runs his as a daily (at least until his oxford is completed), its been to the south of france a couple of times, denmark, and other european trips on multiple occassions. I normally use mine pretty regulalry, although the last year, its been in the lock up waiting for me to put the carb back together which i really must do.

The national club for these is excellent, really cant say enough good things about them. Theyre getting unobtanium parts remade, and making sure theyre available to keep cars going, having things like master cylinders resleeved with stainless steel to make them all good again, available at cost to club members, plus the national rally is quite fun as well.....

Downsides, rust, obviously, its a 50's car which is worth very little, so a lot get bodged up pretty badly. panels are available, theyre mostly good, Ive restored 3 now, (and got another couple in the wings waiting to be done) and we've never really struggled to find good enough panels. the quality of electical replacement parts are mostly terrible, ignition and control box spares are basically rubbish, but theres easy opt outs for those..... other than that, the heater is a bit rubbish, and the defoggers basically non existant on short runs, but i just keep an old bar towel under the dash on the tray, and wipe the screen as i go along! small price to pay for the smiles!

That brings back some memories of raiding other BMC models

Back in the 80's I had a 1959 Morris Minor

Bored out 1275, lcb manifold, Cooper big valve head, big SU on an Oselli manifold, Piper Magnum 285/2 cam, Wolsey 1500 rear axle, home made anti tramp bars and telescopic shocks up front all stopped by standard Morris 1000 drum brakes

Oh, and chrome 8 spokes

Previous owner put the Midget engine in it, i did the performance upgrades. He also made a very nice job of converting the dash so it had the rev counter and speedo out of a Midget replacing the original single speedo in the centre, proper period jobbie

I added a set of 4 gauges in the drivers glove box, the earlier Minors had doors on both glove boxes so you could close the glove box door and hide them

At the time I was living in Portsmouth, Kens Customs had a large bore pipe bent up so I could replace the pea shooter exhaust

Still got the Tuning A Series book by David Vizzard, back in the day I must have read it a gazillion times

 

[tigdlo]

and they can lock up and skid, but cheap tyres have a lot to do with this

I'm not sure even the best 13" tyres are that by modern standards, going up to 14" if thats possible will sort that out as it opens up more choice, there are a few A rated wet grip tyres in 165/65R14 which is about the same size as 145R13.

 

[sasquar]

Fuel consumption is poor too, compared to what you will be used to.

not quite sure what gives you that idea, realistic fuel economy on a run, mid 40's mpg (I regulalry see 50+ with my 948, dad was always a little behind with his 1098, even the 1275 is still over 40!) round town its likely to drop to high 30's, maybe a smidge less if all you do is v short trips. Very small, very light little cars in modern terms, and the a series engine is pretty frugal.

About 15 yrs back, the local A35 group took about 18 cars over to the north of france for a week, and we bumbled around there, covered in one of the magazines. Cant quite remember the exact numbers, but it was something like 10k miles covered between us, no breakdowns (im ignoring the morning my old man forgot to switch his stupid fuel isolator on, and took a few mins to get going.....) and over 50mpg average across all of the cars, most of which were three/four up......

 

[sasquar]

I'm not sure even the best 13" tyres are that by modern standards, going up to 14" if thats possible will sort that out as it opens up more choice, there are a few A rated wet grip tyres in 165/65R14 which is about the same size as 145R13.

cant say ive ever noticed any issues with tyre standards, both me and the old man run falkens, which are not exactly pennies, but at about £55 a corner, equally not too bad (and more importantly, the local tyre man is a falken dealer. Seem pretty decent, mine tend to dry rot and crack (its one thing i dont like about falkens tbh, ive had it on a few of their tyres, but theyre always getting a bit past it on age by then anyway) as mine doesnt really do *that many* miles these days. Sort of change them at 6 yrs old whether they need it or not..... Im not aware of people switching over to 14"s as a common mod, dont get me wrong, im certain people have done it, its just not something that seems to be requried

 

[Smallfry]

cant say ive ever noticed any issues with tyre standards, both me and the old man run falkens, which are not exactly pennies, but at about £55 a corner, equally not too bad (and more importantly, the local tyre man is a falken dealer. Seem pretty decent, mine tend to dry rot and crack (its one thing i dont like about falkens tbh, ive had it on a few of their tyres, but theyre always getting a bit past it on age by then anyway) as mine doesnt really do *that many* miles these days. Sort of change them at 6 yrs old whether they need it or not..... Im not aware of people switching over to 14"s as a common mod, dont get me wrong, im certain people have done it, its just not something that seems to be requried

Falkens always seem to do this. They look to me made of plastic rather than rubber, rather like Nankang ditchfinders. Lots of cheaper brands seem to suffer cracking in the treads. Which is why I stick to Goodyears. Mind you, I have found Nexen and Kumho pretty good.

Regarding economy, I had a few Minis back in the day, all ******** up tuned to some degree, never seemed to get better than 35 mpg. Also had an 1100 that was modified for economy, which would do around 40.

Generally though, most 1600 to 2000cc cars would do around 24mpg, and less if driven hard.

I guess I am just used to diesels .......

 

[CompoSimmonite]

not quite sure what gives you that idea, realistic fuel economy on a run, mid 40's mpg (I regulalry see 50+ with my 948, dad was always a little behind with his 1098, even the 1275 is still over 40!) round town its likely to drop to high 30's, maybe a smidge less if all you do is v short trips. Very small, very light little cars in modern terms, and the a series engine is pretty frugal.

About 15 yrs back, the local A35 group took about 18 cars over to the north of france for a week, and we bumbled around there, covered in one of the magazines. Cant quite remember the exact numbers, but it was something like 10k miles covered between us, no breakdowns (im ignoring the morning my old man forgot to switch his stupid fuel isolator on, and took a few mins to get going.....) and over 50mpg average across all of the cars, most of which were three/four up......

I used to average 48MPG in my 948cc A35 - driven carefully. Also went over to Belgium and France several times going down to Pionsat in the Auvergne with no serious problems

 

[minimutly]

I used to average 48MPG in my 948cc A35 - driven carefully. Also went over to Belgium and France several times going down to Pionsat in the Auvergne with no serious problems

Jackie stewart used to go over to France clay pidgeon shooting in one if I recall...

 

[colnerov]

James Hunt used to daily one and when asked why by a journalist he said he could drive it on the limit and not get into too much trouble.

 

[tigdlo]

cant say ive ever noticed any issues with tyre standards, both me and the old man run falkens, which are not exactly pennies, but at about £55 a corner, equally not too bad (and more importantly, the local tyre man is a falken dealer. Seem pretty decent, mine tend to dry rot and crack (its one thing i dont like about falkens tbh, ive had it on a few of their tyres, but theyre always getting a bit past it on age by then anyway) as mine doesnt really do *that many* miles these days. Sort of change them at 6 yrs old whether they need it or not..... Im not aware of people switching over to 14"s as a common mod, dont get me wrong, im certain people have done it, its just not something that seems to be requried

Not required but then again people can buy £30 chinese branded tyres off ebay, nobody's stopping them... Driving normally you will never know, it's the random occurences like someone pulling out on you in the wet.

Not compared perfectly like for like and of course anecdotal but older cars in the late 90s switched from 13" to 14" on the same models, 14" always felt better and seamed to have better wet braking, I drove plenty of cars and fitted plenty of tyres as a mechanic back when 13" tyres were still reasonably common. My own cars I've only compared old 13" tyres with new 14" but there was almost no choice of 13" tyres in a price I was willing to pay, especially when premium brands could be quite poor.

 

[Olderisbetter]

I regulary drive an A30 in good weather that has done 14,000 miles from new so.it has to be looked after but I have an A35 that is going to have a few tweaks like brakes and engine so it can be a daily driver