Team-BHP - 1939 Austin 8 restoration
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Hi Old 8 here. After seeing Sameer's pictures of the Austin 8 which he restored beautifully and knowing full well the effort, work and pleasure that went into this project, I was inspired to tell my story of my own Austin 8 project. I own a pre-war 1939 , 2 door model upon which I did a ground restoration taking 9 years to complete. I would like to share my experiences and photos of this project with the members.

Hi Old8!

Welcome onboard!

Please put in more details and pics of your restoration project. Would be an intresting read!

Did you do this resto in Auckland or India??

Hi Old8 here again.Having another go at sending photographs. Hope it will
work this time.

WOW the car looks fabulous. Can you post some of your research and challenges that you may have encountered in its restoration. It would have been lovely to have seen larger pics of you restoration Album. Was this your first project?

Welcome aboard Old8. Thats a brilliant car you have. Great work mate.
Kindly post an introduction so that we may get to know you better....and you us.

Hi old8 !
Labour of Love, your Austin.. She's looking sooo beautiful.
And what a unique way to present photographs. Please post some more, we're hungry !!:)

Quote:

Originally Posted by old8 (Post 1747741)
Hi Old 8 here. After seeing Sameer's pictures of the Austin 8 which he restored beautifully and knowing full well the effort, work and pleasure that went into this project, I was inspired to tell my story of my own Austin 8 project. I own a pre-war 1939 , 2 door model upon which I did a ground restoration taking 9 years to complete. I would like to share my experiences and photos of this project with the members.

Hats off to your restoration project old8 ,this is sameer,I know the sheer patiance required to handle this kind of restoration having been through it !clap:

Old8 1939 Austin8 Restoration.

I would like to thank you for your nice comments regarding my restoration.
This was my first project and will probably be my last (wife not keen)!

Introduction and Background

I was born and raised in a small village in Switzerland where old cars were often being repaired and maintained and the auto skills and knowledge were shared amongst the young and old people. Thus I learned many of my auto skills. I trained in Electrical, electronics and electromechanical fields being employed by Burroughs, IBM and Phillips Medical Systems.

I migrated to Australia in 1966 for the decimal conversion and transferred to New Zealand where I started my own business in x-ray supply and service. Now retired and enjoy driving the Austin 8 whenever possible.

In the beginning...

The 40 year wait was well worth it to once again experience the pleasure in driving an Austin 8. I have never forgotten the thrill and excitement of driving a four door Austin 8, with the owners consent, on a private farm in Switzerland. I was 10 years old. With the drivers seat adjusted to the utmost forward position and sitting on the leading edge, even then on a fat cushion with my body curved like a banana, I just managed, with the tips of my toes, to partially depress the three pedals.
Despite all these"shortcomings" I managed to start and drive the car in first gear, narrowly missing fruit trees, cows and chickens and drive back to the shed unscathed. Since that unforgettable first solo drive, I have had a very soft spot for cars of this era.

Love at first sight...

30 years ago when Mrs Alford (the first owner) parked her Austin 8 opposite my office to do her weekly shopping, I fell in love with it.
Over the following 5 years I continuously reminded her of my interest in purchasing her car. She had many problems with the police as the car was not registered or had a warrant of fitness. The brakes were marginal, the gears slipped often into neutral and the steering was similar to a large boat!

Mrs Alfords story was interesting - In 1939 while out walking with her beau in town, she spotted an Austin 8 in a Car Sales window. It was one of the first imported in a light fawn colour instead of the normal black.
She fell in love with it too. She told her boyfriend she would marry him of he bought her this car. He did ... and she did. The price 150 pounds sterling.

In the 1940s they broke one rear axle whilst in the countryside and it was repaired by the local welder. This lasted many years, until new axles were imported to New Zealand. The total mileage of the car was 87,500 miles being only 2,100 miles per annum.

Nine year Restoration Begins....

No time was wasted in stripping the car down to its last bolt, nut and rivet. "Gallons" of blood, sweat, tears and thousands of working hours later, the car was fully restored for my daughters wedding. The first picture shows this daughter at the age of 12.

The restoration like all restorations was really hard work, most of which was accomplished by myself from stripping down of the engine to the edge-priming of exterior. My wife Ann helped me jobs such as paint removing, edge priming and painting internal parts. She also helped greatly with colour choice. The most productive time on this project was, for years, in the very early hours between 3am and 8am in the morning. (wife was asleep).

After completing the engine and chassis I drove the car, sitting on a beer crate for a few months testing the performance of the engine, until we could afford the next stage. Some chassis welding work was required to cut out rust and replace the outer door skins with new steel. To combat future errosion where possible, I used modern advanced anti corrosion materials, such as marine grade stainless steel screws, bolts, nuts and washers.

The body and all metal was stripped down to bare metal before being primed with PA10. There is not a speck of "gunk" bog anywhere in the car. There were very few areas where lead was needed. Just the thought of drilling a hole or mounting a parts on top of "gunk" makes me shiver.


To be continued....

I send just three photos this time up to the point in my story.

old8 gr8 work. It's an altogether different experience and much more satisfying, when the whole family is involved in the effort.

1939 Austin 8 restoration-yas.jpg

1939 Austin 8 restoration-image47.jpg

1939 Austin 8 restoration-picture-105.jpg

The legendary Packard quality being put to test.

1939 Austin 8 restoration-picture-076.jpg

1939 Austin 8 restoration-picture-075.jpg

Perak

Lovely kids. They show great concentration and use much elbow grease doing
this restoraton work. Nice dog - not sure how much help he is!

Yes you are right - team work IS the winning formula.


CAR RESTORERS ARE NOT BORN - THEY HAVE TO BE PLANTED AND GROWN.

Old8 1939 Restoration …. Continued

After edge priming the assembled body and the interior painting was
completed, the car was ready to be painted professionally. Colour choice was to include the original grey but with my favourite colour, Madeira Red.

Now came a bit of a break as we needed more finance to complete the interior with a stretched leather automotive hide. Approximately 1 year was taken to achieve this stage with cherry red carpet and black leather upholstery.

Then the car went for its cut and polish. It has a deep, rich mirror like
quality, mainly due to the fact that so much time had elapsed since its first paint job.
An accidental bonus for us!

Re-Registration..

Upon finding that the BC number plate did not reflect the year of registration,I decided to change over to personalised plates. My first name Ildo is rather unusual in New Zealand and probably anywhere in the world (thanks Mum) and was chosen for the plate.
Imagine our amusement when one fellow at the car show said he liked the name of the car. It was an understatement, he said. He thought the name of the car was I’ll Do, so now we always say its Ildo, if you know me, and I’ll do, if you don’t!
One highlight the following year, 1990, I won 1st prize in the Post Vintage Class of the annual Car Show.
A lunch date promised to Mrs Alford, the original owner, then in her late 70s entailed driving Gertie (her name for it) around to her old friends who remembered the car with affection.
She had tears in her eyes and asked if she won the lotto could she buy it back!
Another highlight was driving the car to Christchurch, some 1000kms, to be the wedding car for my daughter’s wedding.
On reading through this It seems that I am writing a script for a sentimental movie about old cars but as you can see I am rather emotional regarding my Austin 8.

On the Road….

So far we have clocked up 18,000 miles over the last 20 years, travelling the 2000km return to Christchurch some 4 times. NZ is a country with few people and big distances with trucks being the main transport.
When a multi wheeled monster truck overtakes,
the car shakes and is sucked into the slip stream giving you a near free ride for some distance before letting you go. An unpleasant experience - especially when the free shower of small stones hit your pristine mudguards!
 
Old drivers and old cars need frequent rest hence the rearrangement of seating in one of the photos. Wife doesn’t need rest. She is busy with picnic as can be seen on another photo using removed back seat.

I’m sure there are thousands of stories like mine, someone should make a reality TV series of these! This would help to convince the young generation to keep the motoring heritage alive, feel the fun of owning of piece of motoring history and maintain some of it for posterity.

That’s enough about my old Austin 8, lets talk about YOU - what do YOU think about my Austin 8?

Wife and I have had a lot of fun writing this post. Hope you find it amusing too!
 
Fin
 

Hi Old8,

Great pictures, thanks for sharing! They are drawing attention from the most unexpected quarters. Someone from the Singapore Govt. has written in, requesting permission to use your photos in a public gallery. Whatever your decision is, please write in to my email (address in my signature) and let me know. Thanks!

Quote:

Hi There,

I an officer from the land transport authority singapore. we have a public gallery setup for student's learning purpose. someone has kindly donated an Austin 8 imported into Singapore in 1947. we were looking at putting up some materials around the car for the young visitors when I bumped into OLD8's photos. i would like to seek permission to print some of the restoration photos so that the kids understand what pain one goes through in the attempt to conserve. i think this may add as a reflection to the young ones of today to value what's in their possession and safeguard what's necessary. Old is gold!


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