[pranava999]

Waiting for your next post on the restoration. Congrats and its one lovely looking car.

[IndrojitSircar]

Hi sameer

Congratulations on the restoration. Please post some pictures of the restoration and share with us the time and effort that went into it.

[spy_ab]

Hi! Sameer here again ,after a long time .Well in my last post I had told you about how I procured my car, today I shall tell about the actual restoration.
To begin with I practically dismantled the whole car in about a period of 4months I took this much period as I have my own press shop and had to handle that front too! I totally relied on my own hands for this job! All the parts were cleaned and stored away packed in plastic bags.
The body as can be seen from the photographs was damaged to a great extend due to rust. The body parts were also dismantled like the bonnet, dicky door, all four doors, all the mudguards, the running boards. I scraped them to bare metal and had them painted in red oxide to prevent further rusting, I avoided any professional denting or painting at that time as I wanted to make sure that the engine and drive train were mechanically fit before hand.
I started work on the engine initially I had planed to disassemble the engine but then decided against it, I flushed away the old oil residue and filled her up with fresh oil, cleaned the CB points the timing advance mechanism was jammed due to non use and required attention, the radiator hoses had to be changed as there was no wiring I connected up the ignition coil & starter motor (which I got overhauled from a very senior electrician)to a 6Volts battery got from my uncle who owns a Ford prefect, the plugs were sand blasted at mico service.
The carb a Zenith down draught one was in poor condition and required lot of attention, the dynamo and voltage regulator (cutout) were in good condition and didn’t require any attention except for lubrication. The exhaust pipes and silencer were practically non existant as they had rusted off, but they had to wait as I was impatient to crank the engine and here the beautiful purring note!
Finally after about year the great day arrived I connected the carb to a make shift petrol tank directly as the fuel pump diaphragm was cracked, the battery was connected, and with the choke pulled out I pressed the switch on the starter solenoid, after a few cranks and sputtering the engine roared to life, with all cylinders firing not missing a single beat the engine settled in a fine rhythm I felt on top of the world!
Of course there were few problems like leaking inlet manifold gasket and oil spraying out of the outlet for the oil pressure gauge which I had forgotten to plug!
The gear box was a heavy unit to handle and was dealt with in due course of time.
After this my main job was to get a pro in tin work needed for this kind of work, I found him a kerelite Anna with fantastic skills(He was honored with a memento by the members of The Fiat Cars Club Of Pune).The painting I got done by an enthusiast painter who did a good job of it! Lastly the upholstery was done by varpe bros.
The most difficult part I found was to locate the tires for this car they are 4.50X17 tires and could not be located any where in Pune, finally I got them in an area in Old-Delhi known as Bada Hindurao where there is an old tires market. Most of the body parts were intact except for few which I procured from Bhendi bazar Mumbai after extensive searching.
A witness and guide to my efforts was Mr,Goregaonkar WIAA President of Pune, and a veteran in vintage automobiles who lives near my residence, to whom I am very thankful.
How I got the RTO formalities done is another big story which tested my patience to its limits, only positive thing about which is that my car is transferred on my name (I am the third owner), with the one time tax paid, and having a valid PUC!
All my efforts were paid off when my car received "The Best Restored Car Prize" in the Vintage car rally held in Pune in the year 2000!

[deutscheafrikar]

Sameer, Congrats and I just loved that story of the restoration. Good job on that.
Nigel

[basilmabraham]

Congrats on the restoration. the car looks nice.

What is the light thing on the 7th pic, is it part of the car, or something else. Sorry for my ignorance.

[anjan_c2007]

sameer thanks for the beautiful restoration write up and the excellent pictures. It must have been a nightmare to go through the whole process but I am sure you tasted a sense of achievement when the engine purred back to life and later when the car got restored and lastly when you won the Best Restored Car Prize.
My granduncle owned a black one BYJ 173 and had to sell it off. It was fitted with India Super white wall tyres and was beautifully kept. I was in awe of this car and as a child had been driven around on it extensively.So the dash pictures of your car brought back childhood memories to me.There was little I could do as I was too small when he sold the car for a paltry Rs 5000 in the 1970's as he was ageing. The car was never seen after that.

[Sudhir Joshi]

Hi Sameer,
Great job! Are the meters working? Ofcourse, the side Indicators are very much operational as you have shown in the pic. What happened to the Outer Door Handle on the front right Door?
Congratulations.

[ace_hillman]

Good job Sameer, I can imagine how demanding it can get in terms of sheer perseverance to follow up such a restoration from a grounded state so such a presentable beauty. Congratulations, and how about the interiors?

Cheers,
Avinash

[xenxer]

Congrats man. That was a hell pain of work, Great work. Will you be able to disclose the cost for the full restoration job.

Congrats man. That was a hell pain of work. Great work. Will you be able to disclose the cost inquired for the full restoration?

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[tall_guy]

Excellent story Sameer! Car looks wow, you must be very proud to own it.
I have an Austin currently which is in much better condition than what you got in the beginning and in the process of restoring it, hope I can make it look like yours ! well done again

Originally Posted by spy_ab

Hi! Sameer here again ,after a long time .Well in my last post I had told you about how I procured my car, today I shall tell about the actual restoration.
============================
All my efforts were paid off when my car received "The Best Restored Car Prize" in the Vintage car rally held in Pune in the year 2000!

[spy_ab]

Originally Posted by Sudhir Joshi

Hi Sameer,
Great job! Are the meters working? Ofcourse, the side Indicators are very much operational as you have shown in the pic. What happened to the Outer Door Handle on the front right Door?
Congratulations.

Hi!Sudhir Joshi ,all the meters of my car are working except for the fuel guage since the main fuel tank is yet to be installed on the car,initially I did not have the front right door handle but later I got it in mumbai chor bazar,Good observation Sudhir!

[karlosdeville]

Here is Sameer's pretty looking Austin at a 2008 event in Pune, giving company to the Skoda and Hindustan 10 of BHPian veldeep.

[spy_ab]

Thanks a lot Karl for those photographs of my car they are really nice, in turn I am uploading some photographs that might interest you, actually my father owned a standard Pennant similar to yours Regn.noBYH4945 I have travelled extensively in that car. In fact that was the car on which I learned to drive! He sold it off to Arab motors of nanapeth Pune at a meager sum of Rs5000/-somewhere in early 90’s!
After my successful restoration project I have now collected many spares for my Austin most important of them are a set of headlamp reflectors, a complete set of radiator grill, bonnet emblem, four old spare tires with rims, ignition switch, spare 6volt bulbs and many more.
Also I have been able to procure the original owner’s manual from my sister in U.K.
Another interesting person that I came across was Mr. Ian Pinninger of U.K, he has authored a book named Austin-8, which has all the details of this wonderful car including reprints of all the matter published regarding this car including advertising material, road test reports, also included is a list of About 300 odd Austin -8 cars around the globe it’s a must read book for everyone trying to restore a Austin-8 car. He has also reprinted the original workshop manual of this car.
Both these books are now in my possession and have cost me nearly 60GBP! Thanks to my sis!

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by spy_ab

Thanks a lot Karl for those photographs of my car they are really nice, in turn I am uploading some photographs that might interest you, actually my father owned a standard Pennant similar to yours Regn.noBYH4945 I have travelled extensively in that car. In fact that was the car on which I learned to drive! He sold it off to Arab motors of nanapeth Pune at a meager sum of Rs5000/-somewhere in early 90’s!

Arab had a Pennant blue and white BYJ 4114 junking for donkeys years, till it was blown up for a movie. If you have any pictures of your Pennant, do share.

And I would certainly like to make copies of these 2 manuals

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by spy_ab

Thanks a lot Karl for those photographs of my car they are really nice, in turn I am uploading some photographs that might interest you, actually my father owned a standard Pennant similar to yours Regn.noBYH4945 I have travelled extensively in that car. In fact that was the car on which I learned to drive! He sold it off to Arab motors of nanapeth Pune at a meager sum of Rs5000/-somewhere in early 90’s!

A friend shared this picture yesterday, seems to be MG road Pune.

I wonder....