CompoSimmonite
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- Thread starter Beeezer
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octo0072000
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depends on the year
oldbikedavey
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Seriously mental, if that's a 302 ci motor in there, which it looks as though it might be....
rtcosic
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The turbo version of course.
Went well in Marko's Land Rover!
As a commuter tool think of it as a rain resistant motor cycle.
RobCox
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My first car was a 1957 A35, bought for £50 off my maths teacher at school. No synchro left on 3rd and 4th, had to learn to double declutch to change gear smoothly.
In later years, driving much newer cars, I realised that I'd lost the feeling when I set out on a journey of "will I get there without breaking down"!
In later years, driving much newer cars, I realised that I'd lost the feeling when I set out on a journey of "will I get there without breaking down"!
droopsnoot
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Gareth J
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Sorry to be a Debby Downer but, unless you're ~25yo or less, or well off enough to pay someone else to maintain it, sounds like much more hassle than it's worth.
As a ~25yo, ~10-15 yrs ago, In London, I commutted on a 125 D1 bantam daily and drove to Cornwall regularly in a classic VW beetle. Both were brilliant and I loved it. I did all the servicing and rebuilt both from the ground up. The bantam was often in bits before the next morning's commute and I'd get there more or less, with a bit of rum to smooth proceedings along. Both were cheap motoring and didn't depreciate.
But I was mid 20's. Now, for a load of reasons, life's too busy to put that much time to vehicles.
It took a long time to beat that bantam in particular into reliability after the pic'n mix of bodges and just generally tired and worn out components from the zillion previous owners and "restoration" attempts. Commuting on it really did highlight how old and generally knackared it was.
But hey, it won't cost a lot to try, maybe you'll love it and get lucky with reliability or it'll all be worth it anyway!
As a ~25yo, ~10-15 yrs ago, In London, I commutted on a 125 D1 bantam daily and drove to Cornwall regularly in a classic VW beetle. Both were brilliant and I loved it. I did all the servicing and rebuilt both from the ground up. The bantam was often in bits before the next morning's commute and I'd get there more or less, with a bit of rum to smooth proceedings along. Both were cheap motoring and didn't depreciate.
But I was mid 20's. Now, for a load of reasons, life's too busy to put that much time to vehicles.
It took a long time to beat that bantam in particular into reliability after the pic'n mix of bodges and just generally tired and worn out components from the zillion previous owners and "restoration" attempts. Commuting on it really did highlight how old and generally knackared it was.
But hey, it won't cost a lot to try, maybe you'll love it and get lucky with reliability or it'll all be worth it anyway!
indy4x
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Actually not that hard, yes some stuff is a PITA but it's the same/similar running gear as lots of other Austins of that era
My dad has one, it's solid but tatty, anything we have needed we have sourced from the A30 owners club shop or eBay
CompoSimmonite
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Were the ones you worked on 1960's firms A35 vans ? AFIAK the saloons never had hydraulic rear brakes as standard for the production run that ended in 1959.
redlig
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They used to be raced in the 50's and sight of them cornering on the door handles will stay with me forever.
octo0072000
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a lot of vans didn't A35 go onto the 60s wicki says 1968
Still are...
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Four wheel drive option? 
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!
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!
CompoSimmonite
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1968 was end of van production. Saloon, both two and four door, finished in 1959. Vans are now fetching the highest premium !
CompoSimmonite
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Marina 1300's engines are getting scarce. I've been after one for ages to replace the previous 1800TC in my Marlin Roadster.
Saw a bunch on ar**book the other day, cheap as chips - they are not scarce.
