[bhasin54]

Nothing fuels a car lover’s heart more than a good, old-fashioned restoration story. There’s something magical and undeniably enchanting about finding an old car and devoting your time to it until it’s shinier than the day it rolled off the assembly line. The dedication, the frustration and the unadulterated passion for such projects is what makes them so interesting, but vintage cars create lasting relationships between the car and it’s owner as well as within the vintage motoring community. A process that makes restoring vintage cars all the more beautiful.

Today, I am going to share with you a brief of how I was able to acquire a 1929 tourer Austin Clifton 12/4 from Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh now known as Telangana.

It was in the middle of July 2020 when I received an early morning call from a friend Mr. Kapur while I was having breakfast, that a tourer Austin car is available for sale in Hyderabad and if I would be interested in it’s purchase. My preference and liking for a tourer car was already established after I bought and restored a 1933 Morris Major about 10 years back. I loved the photographs and my response was quick in settling the nitty gritty of the deal with the present owners. A few days later the car bearing Regn No. AP13Q 0574 was loaded on to a trailer from Hyderabad and brought to my Indian Oil Retail Outlet & Maruti Authorized Service Station, Bhasin Service Station located in Central New Delhi.

Past historical information about the car goes back to mid 1950’s when it bore a Regn No. AJM 3170 owned by Sh. Dungarmal who was resident of Beawar, Ajmer, Rajasthan. In 1960’s the ownership of the car was transferred to Sh. Laxmi Chand who was son of earlier owner Sh. Dungarmal and Regn No. also changed to RJZ 352. The car was then brought to Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh in 1992 by Sh. Kamal Sankhla S/o Laxmi Chand in whose name the Regn. Certificate was transferred. The car was assigned new Regn No. AP 13Q0574.

Sh. Kamal Sankhla was a very keen, hands-on restorer and had taken many pains to maintain the originality of the car. The car was brought out of a garage where it was stored and was being worked on for a couple of years. Unfortunately, Sh. Kamal Sankhla who was then 61 years old was keeping indifferent health and passed away in September 2018. The car restoration project remained at standstill for almost next 2 years as the family was unable to come to terms with the loss of the beloved Sh. Kamal Sankhla.
Finally Smt. Vasanta Sankhla, wife of Late Sh. Kamal Sankhla along with her son’s Yashraj, Siddharth & daughter Khushboo decided to part with their ancestral family car so that one day they will be able see car restored & running thus fulfilling their fathers unfulfilled dream.

Car restoration is a time consuming, stress inducing, labor intensive, and expensive endeavor. On the other hand, if you love the process of bringing a car back to it’s former glory, restoring a car might be the right decision. I would go for a restoration if the car is a historic vehicle with unique features. Regardless of the car being restored in fact I simply love the process of bringing it back to the way it was, when it came brand new.

I have worked on and restored three British cars namely a Austin 7 tourer 1934, A Morris Major tourer 1933 and a Hillman Minx 1939 and work has already started on the Austin 12/4 Clifton.I m attaching pics of the car as it was received along with a few of work in progress.I have become a member of The Vintage Austin register Ltd to seek help in case of any need.At 66 years of age, I fall in the category of retired, but my love for vintage cars doesn’t accept that game plan. The way I look at it, I would continue to do this till the very day that I couldn’t do it anymore

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by bhasin54

Nothing fuels a car lover’s heart more than a good, old-fashioned restoration story. There’s something magical and undeniably enchanting about finding an old car and devoting your time to it until it’s shinier than the day it rolled off the assembly line. The dedication, the frustration and the unadulterated passion for such projects is what makes them so interesting, but vintage cars create lasting relationships between the car and it’s owner as well as within the vintage motoring community. A process that makes restoring vintage cars all the more beautiful.

Today, I am going to share with you a brief of how I was able to acquire a 1929 tourer Austin Clifton 12/4 from Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh now known as Telangana.

...

Congratulations sir on a very fine project. The car looks handsome and stands so well and complete. The bonus is the full history being known, that is something money can't buy. I am so glad the car is in the right hands and getting the treatment it deserves. All the best.

Please do ask the family to dig out any older photos of the car when it was in use, I am sure they must have some from the Ajmer days.

[KartikeyaL]

Originally Posted by bhasin54

Past historical information about the car goes back to mid 1950’s when it bore a Regn No. AJM 3170 owned by Sh. Dungarmal who was resident of Beawar, Ajmer, Rajasthan. In 1960’s the ownership of the car was transferred to Sh. Laxmi Chand who was son of earlier owner Sh. Dungarmal and Regn No. also changed to RJZ 352. The car was then brought to Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh in 1992 by Sh. Kamal Sankhla S/o Laxmi Chand in whose name the Regn. Certificate was transferred. The car was assigned new Regn No. AP 13Q0574.

Beautiful car with so much history, happy to see the Ajmer (AJM) connection as our first car was from Ajmer too.

Looking forward to restoration pictures and period pictures as well.

Congratulations once again.

[vgsr]

That is a labour of love. You are a true enthusiast. All the best for the restoration work. Please do update this thread as the work progresses. Thank you.

[KPS]

Great project and nice find. Nice the see a Clifton which is quite original and should be a good looker post restoration. History being mapped is an added bonus.

Look forward to seeing the restored car.

Way back in 2004, I had seen a Clifton at Dharmapuri in Tamilnadu. The car needed too much work for me to have any interest, but it is the chase for a original vintage and classic car that keeps me still enthusiastic.

Here are pictures of that car taken in 2004


























Not sure what subsequently happened to this car.

Cheers

KPS

[bhasin54]

Thanks for posting the pics of the Austin from Dharmapuri, Tamilnadu.Any latest news if it was restored or junked for parts?
You are absolutely right in not picking a project where lots of parts are missing.I committed that mistake with my Morris Major but was somehow was lucky to have managed a few of the original parts over a period of time to bring the car on par.The restoration work is moving slowly due to these Corona times. I will definitely keep you posted on work in progress:

[gautamkhadse]

I was just wondering , if this thought ever crossed your mind .

Since the engine is almost all gone and rebuilding it might be a very very big task . Considering the future of mobility and what we have in the market would you be open to swapping the drive train on thsi vehicle with a much modern electric drive train .

The vehicle would have a unique old + new build .

For reference read this thread .
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/elect...ctric-car.html (Swift Dzire EV - Systematic conversion to an electric car!)

[bhasin54]

Hi Gautam,Your suggestion is welcome but I believe in a restoration as close as possible to the time when the car came out of the factory in 1929.I know its not an easy task to
overhaul the engine/gear box but for me the real test of undertaking the restoration is to try my best to take it to the original level as much as possible.

[manishalive]

Hello Mr. Bhasin, welcome to the forum. You have got a good example and we are sure that the car will get enough love and care. And now I understand why we saw so many classic cars at your petrol pump, little did we knew you are a collector. All the best and awaiting for more updates.

[bhasin54]

Hi Manish,Thanks a lot for appreciating the cars at my petrol pump cum service station and I definitely plan to do justice to restoring this Austin 12 but only hinder is the current Corona scenario which may delay it.Anyway I will keep posting on BHP the progress as the times would allow.

[msabbasi]

@bhasin54, best of luck with this project. What is good is that the car looks quite complete. A bit rough but there is nice vehicle in there.

[bhasin54]

Cars are incredible! And one of the best things about them is that no one invented them—no single person, that is. There was no scribbling on the back of an envelope, no lightning flash of inspiration, and no one ran down the street crying "Eureka". All the different parts—the engine, the wheels, the gears, and all the fiddly bits like the windscreen wipers—somehow came together, very gradually, over a period of few hundred years.
Serving as the “bones” of the vehicle, the chassis and frame play a central role in dictating how that automobile will perform. The desire to maintain originality is alluring in these older cars from the early last century & they have seen a lot of weather and a lot of road miles. A lot of these vehicles originally just used a stamped-steel-chassis design that had rudimentary open channel cross members, either riveted or spot welded at the front or rear. The term “ladder frame” came about because the base structure resembles a ladder.
There was very little between the front and rear suspension to make the frame rigid. It sort of relied on body itself to provide any sort of rigidity, and chassis was really just there to mount the engine and suspension points.
Engine & gearbox have been removed after draining their fluids. Body too has been removed from the frame. Front & rear suspension along with rear axle has been removed.
Chassis was sandblasted, repaired at a few places, a base coat of primer applied, repainted, is ready to receive back the body and all the other
assembly’s as & when they are ready after rebuilding.