Newsletter July/August 2014

Martin Keeping’s Ambulance

Neil’s bit

Chichester wreck finds a new home

Fixing that annoying start up rattle

BMC’s active suspension

The Downton 3-litre and other tuning methods

Peter White buys a 3-litre and discovers motoring’s best kept secret

Jim Robertson shares some wonderful motoring stories

From the archive

Odds and ends

Neil’s bit

Hi Folks

Summer seems to be finally here, or at least in the South East it is anyway. I have

been managing some lovely classic miles of late which has been great, I hope the

same has been happening for you. I have had pictures of 3-Litres sent to me from

various shows and events recently, nice to see so many cars out and about and

flying the 3-litre flag.

We have a few new members to welcome into the fold, Mark Cossey, Peter Gilbert,

Michael Mackin, Craig Milliken and Martin Buckley, Martin may be a name familiar

to you, he is a motoring journalist with a famous soft spot for the larger offerings

from BMC, and the proud new owner of the sad remains of the car from

Cirencester.

Many thanks for your contributions to this newsletter, This one is a little vast

again! I always use what I am sent and am eternally grateful for your continued

support. I have included as you will see some archived articles from the old club in

Chichester from the early 1980’s, amazing to see how times have changed! Many

thanks to Jim Robertson for sending me those newsletters.

Show season is well underway now, I am always grateful for any articles or photos

you have of any places you attend, or of course any outings or holidays you

undertake with your pride and joy.

By the time this lands in your inbox we will be on the verge of our higher profile

get together’s. The first weekend of August will be a bit busy, we have the first

ever “Austin’s at the Ace.” This should be worth a visit, things like this are always

a little unknown I guess being the first of its kind but the Ace Cafe certainly know

how to put on an event. For directions and to see what they do here is a link.

http://www.ace-cafe-london.com/default.aspx

The remanufactured radiator hoses are now as you know in stock, many of you

have received them already and have given me some very positive comments about

them. They are excellent quality and were very well worth the expense of getting

remade. I am very grateful to you all in your support with remanufacturing parts,

it does involve parting with quite big sums of money at times and it is a relief to

see it returning. Preston Power Steering are doing a good job of our steering racks,

they are now the only company that I know of who will do a 3-litre rack. They

cannot source the double lip seals though. This is another part I have had remade

so I supply PPS on an as required basis, if you send your rack to them please let me

know and I will send them a seal.

(Or if you prefer I can send it to you so they can go to P.P.S together.)

See you soon, kind regards Neil

Martin Buckley acquires a 3-Litre

This Brown automatic 3 litre 'G' reg has been sitting in the

front garden of a house in Cirencester for 27 years; for most

of that time it was obscured by brambles and only someone

delivering post or a probably rare visitor knew it was there.

The owner was a reclusive man and probably not massively

popular with his neighbours on the tidy estate. The 3 litre

was kept company by the rustiest Triumph Toledo I have ever

seen and a Reliant Kitten which had gone by the time I

appeared on the scene. A guy called Nick was dealing with the

matter on behalf of the owners relatives. Graham (the recluse)

had Parkinson's disease and was in a home so the cars and

presumably the house had to go. Nick's links with Graham were

through the Singer Club. Anyway, come the day of shifting the

3 litre it didn't want to budge. The tyres had sunk into the

ground and when the recovery man attached his winch it was his

truck that moved not the 3 litre. I began to question the

sanity of this activity at this point given that this is a

total spares car and I don't even have a 3 litre that's alive

that needs any spares.

However it lives five minutes from me and needed to be saved

from the banger boys, although I suspect even they would have

turned their noses up at this car. Most of the front end has

been sort of eaten away by the encroaching undergrowth, the

front wings are falling off and the bottom six inches of the

poor thing are mostly missing. The dashboard is just not there

any longer. Having said that the seats don't look too bad, the

front bumper is good, it has a rare heated rear screen and

Neil tells me things like front discs and so on are worth

keeping: in fact I have the space to just throw a sheet over

the car and forget it so I can keep the lot with no problems.

Over the weekend the car was removed finally by another

recovery man with a hi-ab, thus it could be lifted from above.

Ed’s note, club members from many years ago may remember this car; it was somewhat

rotten when it was parked at this very spot in 1987, at that time the right hand

headlamps had already fallen out due to rusted away mountings. It was almost certainly a

saveable car back then, sadly now it is only fit for spares, even some spares will have

succumbed to the effects of nature and the great outdoors, it is pictured here after many

layers of ivy had been hacked away. An early car with chassis number 2893.

Fixing that annoying start up rattle

One thing that has long since bugged on the 3-litre is the rattle from the engine

upon starting until oil pressure builds. Fair to say it is not madly obvious if the car

is used a lot but, on cars that sit for a while between use the oil filter housing

drains back and has to be refilled. The delay in oil pressure until the oil filter

housing is filled up is the reason for the engine components rattling, the big ends

being the most notable.

A chance conversation with a friend of mine about the possibility of converting to

a more modern spin on filter with an anti-drain valve fitted sparked a surprising

answer of “why not just fit an MGC filter housing?”

There was a good deal of looking into this but the shortened version is; a 3-litre

has a single non return valve in its lower housing, an MGC has two valves. The

thinking behind one valve is a little strange as the housing simply allows the oil to

drain away on the feed side. The valves are not visible until you take the lower

filter plate off. The hole at the bottom of the housing on the picture below is the

oil input feed from the pump, the valve at “10 o’clock” is the exit feed.

Now compare this to the set up on the MGC, the input feed has a non return valve

fitted, with two valves in the housing the oil cannot drain away and so of course as

the housing is full of oil upon start up there is no delay in building oil pressure.

Now things get a little absorbing, the 3-litre has an “oil change due” sensor in its

housing, the MGC does not, to keep the sensor I fitted the valve from the MGC

housing into the 3-litre housing and peened it into place as shown. With the

addition of the extra valve in the housing a restriction has been caused, the result

of this restriction was a drop in oil pressure of about 10 to 15 psi. This of course is

a little undesirable. Upon examination of the housing it can be seen that if the oil

pressure has a restriction into the housing it creates a pressure point at the point

of the oil cooler pick up centres. These are blanked off with plugs on the housing

on the 3-litre as we know. My reasoning was that if an oil cooler was fitted then

the oil pressure ensures oil is pushed through the oil cooler, and thus reappears at

the other side of the oil filter and oil pressure is restored. I am please to say my

reasoning was right. I bought a 13 row oil cooler which is the size fitted to the

MGC, two nice new pipes and I used the pipe fittings taken from the MGC filter

housing to complete the addition. The cooler and pipes were £80 including post

and VAT. I did have to make mounting brackets for the oil cooler; I chose to mount

this below the radiator so I did not restrict air flow to the radiator any further.

The top picture shows the oil cooler and hoses, the bottom picture shows the oil

cooler hoses connected to the filter and routed off to the oil cooler.

And there we have it, the oil cooler is fitted in front of the front cross-member,

there is just enough clearance behind it to allow air to flow through. The MGC

hoses do limit where you can fit the oil cooler but bespoke hoses could be made

for more remote locations if required. I now have normal oil pressure at low

speeds and it is actually slightly higher at higher speeds than it was before. One of

my reasons for mounting the oil cooler low down was because I have a secondary

electric cooling fan fitted and I didn’t want to risk restricting further air flow into

the radiator, I find this fan useful when stuck in traffic for long periods. Just a

little extra draught seems to help as I no longer have fuel vaporisation in very high

temperatures.

BMC Active Suspension

Citroen are very famous for their hydraulic suspension systems, ever since their introduction in the 1950’s they continued to develop their systems. The system allows for a very softly sprung that does not roll on corners, doesn't pitch or dive in braking and acceleration and always keeps its wheels at right angles to the road. Automotive Products (AP) and Rover produced a Rover P6 in 1968, the car was demonstrated at the Safety Congress at Crowthorne at the time but nobody seemed to take much notice of the car. A similar suspension was also fitted to an MGB which was shipped to the United States as part of the British Exhibit at the Washington Transport safety conference. The system comprises a very fast reacting hydraulic levelling system acting on a hydr-pneumatic suspension as per similar systems that Citroen used.

Automotive Products started work on the system in 1964 by putting a counter-banking roll system on the front axle of a small British car. The results were very pleasing which led the engineers to try a more elaborate system on both axles of a Lotus Cortina. Cornering performance was checked and measured; gains in cornering power of over 20 per cent were recorded. Rover were particularly interested in this work, and in 1966 suggested a joint experimentation with a Citroen DS, which already had the right sort of suspension fitted. This led them to design a complete installation of their own which was fitted to a Rover 3500. By this time (1969) Rover had largely taken over the whole project but, partly because of the British Leyland merger and various changes of staff, work stopped for a couple of years until AP stepped in again, they bought the 3500 development car from Rover and restarted development work.

There are various problems with self levelling suspension systems that need to be overcome, one of these is nicely demonstrated with the Austin 3-litre self levelling system, the system takes eight seconds to react to the body being lowered, i.e. loaded with weight causing it to drop. This delay stops the self levelling reacting to every pot hole, bump etc. All self levelling systems operate by measuring the distance

between the vehicle body and the wheels and correcting this to its designed height value. The correction may be done hydraulically, pneumatically or electro-mechanically. So it will tend to oppose all normal suspension movement and if it were quick enough to keep the wheel-to-body distance always constant, the car would have no suspension at all in reality. Modern cars with self levelling systems Such as Citroen, (only the top of the range C4 still uses hydraulic suspension) Rolls-Royce, Mercedes, Range Rover etc, avoid this problem in one of two ways. Most systems use a delay between the suspension signal and the system response, or they make the suspension react in such a slow and gradual process that there is no significant response at all to very short duration changes.

The concept of the AP system is that it was designed to respond so quickly that it would cancel roll, pitch and dive as they begin to happen. The previously mentioned problems are resolved with an ingenious valve. The diagram shows one front suspension unit diagrammatically; movements of the suspension arm operate a piston which compresses the gas of the gas spring through hydraulic fluid which is separated from the gas by a flexible diaphragm. The balanced three-line valve (extreme left on the diagram), normally in the central position, can move left or right to add to or subtract from the quantity of fluid between the piston and the gas spring which, in turn, raises or lowers the body.

The valve is mechanically operated by the link from the suspension arm - but not directly. Interposed is the horizontal pendulum supported by a coil spring and damped by its own small damper. When a wheel passes over a bump it produces, through the main spring and damper, an upward force which accelerates the body of the car upwards.

One big safety feature is being able to keep all the car’s tyres at an optimum angle to the ground. It should improve tyre wear, facilitate the trend towards wider low-profile tyres with flatter treads and, of course, improve braking, cornering power and control during avoidance manoeuvres. These things were cited as the systems qualifications for its appearance at various safety exhibitions. A lot of timed tests which were done on a standard chicane using the same driver showed an increase from 48.5 mph to 54.5 mph as a result of fitting the AP system - the latter was considered very fast indeed for a fairly large saloon. Now we come to the tricky bit, cost. The suspension parts themselves would cost no more than those of several cars in mass production at the time, but the variable delivery hydraulic pump itself would have been costly to produce. To act quickly enough it has to produce a very high flow rate at about 2000-2500 lb/sq.in pressure and absorbs some 15 hp at full output although naturally much less most of the time. Inevitably volume production would reduce the price which wouldn't look so high when split between the other features it could energise - fully-powered anti-lock brakes, power assisted steering and even a servo clutch were possible.

Certainly AP had built a fine system; it has very close links to the Citroen system but is really much more refined in terms of how it reacted to road and body movements. You would need to move forward some 30 years for the Citroen system to be able to react anywhere near as fast as the AP system. BMC were of course experimenting with suspension systems in the 60’s and the Hydrolastic system is our permanent reminder of this area of development. It is a shame the active suspension system was not developed further, the merger which formed BLMC no doubt affected funding and development, it was also a time when safety systems were only really just beginning to gather interest and funds. (I guess you could compare that to the emerging electric car funding we currently see.) A missed opportunity from BLMC? Well there were a few of those. Pictured below is the MGB with the Active suspension system fitted.

Downton 3-litre’s (and other tuning ideas)

Looking back now with the advantage of 47 years of thinking, the 3-litre/MGC engine was

surely a victim of financial and engineering short-sightedness. It is interesting to consider

the thinking behind a sports car engine that was also going to be used in a luxury car. It

was no doubt a cost cutting line of thought to use the same engine in two such very

different applications. Very few large saloon cars have the joy of a sports car engine!

Both cars drew critism on their release directed around the engine, in the case of the

MGC, due to the forward positioning and weight of the engine, it made the altered MGB

body very nose heavy with the associated detrimental effect on handling. In the case of

the 3-litre an inevitable comparison was made to the older Westminster engine, although

smaller, lighter, gaining 2 main bearings, and having the same cylinder displacement,

restrictions to its breathing meant no appreciable power gains were available in the new

engine. The same restrictions to its breathing also meant the new engine used more fuel

than its predecessor; this was another critism at the time of its launch.

Downton engineering were BMC’s factory appointed tuners of the day and of course had to

breathe their magic on the engine.

The good news about the engine is it is very tune-able, very strong and very reliable; one

MGC owner has now managed to extract 320bhp from his engine, almost 200bhp more than

when he first bought the car in 1968! More on that later.

Daniel Richmond, owner of Downton Engineering used a Downton 3-litre and was

reportedly very pleased with it. Of all the photographs of Downton 3-litre bear the same

registration number (OMW 777G) so it is probable this may have been the only

development car. There are no records of how many of either MGC’s or 3-litre’s were

converted, or the number of conversion kits sold through dealers.

Daniel Richmond had the idea that a tuned car should not just be faster but more also

useable and have better mid range torque. The 3-litre conversion saw an increase of some

50bhp from standard specification, a by-product of this work curiously saw a marked

decrease in fuel consumption due to more efficient engine breathing. The manual

overdrive car converted was said to be recording 28 mpg on a run which is well above

anything a standard car could achieve. A 15 mph increase in top speed was also achieved;

I suspect a 3-litre travelling at 115 mph would be getting through rather a lot of fuel

though! And as for the wind noise from the doors at those speeds.........well, quite.

In the case of a 3-litre the conversion cost £213.13 shillings in 1968, this included a fitting

cost of £40. For you money you got an exchange modified cylinder head, a new inlet

manifold for use with the extra carburettor, the 3rd carburettor and its associated

linkages, progressive throttle linkages, 3 air filters, the various gaskets required

associated with cylinder head removal/refitting, and cooler running spark plugs. The

cooler running spark plugs were deemed necessary to stop pre-ignition. (Pinking)

The modified cylinder head was a rather precise alteration; the ports were polished to

assist gas flow. The real art though was in the change to the combustion chamber, metal

was removed and the shape was changed to alter both fuel/air mixing which in turn made

for a more efficient burn. Each combustion chamber was also precisely matched to the

other chambers; this was achieved by using fluid as a measure of the capacity of each

chamber to ensure uniformity throughout. One such chamber is pictured below, the

bottom picture show a cylinder head on a bench at Downton works ready for reassembly.

Daniel Richmond stated that one of the biggest issues with the 3-litre was the

restrictive exhaust system; this job was as usual with such things at Downton

entrusted to David Dorrington. David went off to form Maniflow after his days at

Downton finished, he is still working and still at the helm of Maniflow. He did state

he still has the jigs to build the “Downton” exhaust systems for the 3-litre but

went very quiet and elusive when asked for a price and timescale to build some.

The factory cast iron exhaust manifold was used, but a twin pipe exhaust system

was built in place of the original factory system. From the pictures of the time it is

apparent that the two tailpipes followed the same path as the factory single one

did, it then followed the rear bumper line and had a single silencer under the rear

bumper for each tailpipe, the tailpipes exiting on the outer edges of the rear

bumper, as can just about be seen on the picture below.

Autosport magazine carried out a road-test on the Downton car and described it as

“quite a high performance car.” It was taken to 111 mph and was said to be still

pulling, a 115 mph top speed was estimated. The 5 mpg gain in fuel consumption

was also mentioned, quite impressive considering the power gains from the engine.

The most dramatic example of the increase in power with the Downton car is the

0 to 80 mph time; a standard car takes 47.6 seconds, a Downton car takes 19.5

seconds! A slightly biased comparison as the modified car was a manual version

and would have been slightly quicker than the standard automatic car anyway,

however there is still a significant power and acceleration increase.

A few more tuning ideas;

One variation which Downton experimented with was to use an American

specification inlet manifold as pictured above. These are far more curvy than the

UK version, the more gentle curves of course helps with gas flowing. You can

simply fit one of these in place o the standard item for some improvement in terms

of engine performance. They do appear from time to time but attract prices in

excess of £100 for a used one.

The USA spec manifold was used by Downton, and was also used by a man called

Bill Nicholson. Bill had a garage in Wellingborough Road Weston Favell Nr

Northampton and was a keen competition racer of his day, famously successful at

the helm of various MGB’s.

Bill and Downton followed the same route of machining out the manifold intake

holes out to 2” and use Princess 4-Litre “R” carburettors. The cylinder head was

also gas flowed and polished, compression was also raised to 10 to 1. (Up from 9 to

1 as per standard MGC). The “Nicholson MGC” was a reasonably cheap way of

making the car sportier on a limited budget. This is still a popular modification to

this day in MGC tuning circles. Bill never published any power output figures for his

modified cars, it may be they were simply never measured but testers of the time

said the car was appreciably more powerful than a standard car and pulled

smoothly and strongly throughout its range. It was noted by Bill at the time that

the standard valve springs limit engine rpm to 5500, competition springs would

need to be fitted to progress further down the tuning road.

I have seen two MGC’s which are running electronic fuel injection systems, this is a

rather expensive option, it also requires modern sensors to allow the system to

operate. As you can see from the picture below, it is rather a neat installation.

Previous mention was made of a 320 bhp MGC, this car has been developed since it

was almost new by the current owner, 45 years of development in the pursuit of

more power.

The owner stated getting up to 280 bhp was reasonably straightforward as

technology became more affordable, getting past that point gets increasingly

harder and of course more expensive the further you go. The car in question has a

lightened flywheel and pulleys, a steel crank, strengthened and lightened con-

rods, Cosworth high compression and shortened pistons, a very modified and gas-

flowed cylinder head, Maniflow exhaust manifolds feeding two custom built 2”

bore exhausts, roller rocker arms, the valves are now angled in the cylinder head

to allow larger valves and better gas flowing, rifled inlet manifolds to assist fuel

mixing and flow, a modified MGC camshaft which is built to the owners

specification, 3 Weber DCOE 45 carburettors, and mapped electronic ignition.

The car has been through a race track speed trap at over 165 mph.

Problems had occurred with the overdrive gearbox, it was discovered that with the

engine running at 8000 rpm, the gearbox oil was being pumped at such a rate by

the overdrive units oil pump it was running dry of oil, a large custom made sump

on the gearbox cured this. The gearbox case was also splitting down the centre,

this was caused by the force of the two internal shafts trying to force each other

apart, a strengthened casing cured this.

Currently the engine is having problems with its core plugs coming out, after lots

of head scratching the engine was removed and placed on a test rig, at peak power

it was discovered the cylinder block is flexing slightly, not much but sufficient to

allow the core plugs fall out! The cylinder block is now being threaded to accept

screw in core plugs. The pursuit of more power continues.

Testament to the over engineering of the engine when you can get 150% power

increase from a standard cylinder block.

Fair to say much has been written here about tuned MGC’s, the reason being these

are the cars that have had the majority of tuning done over the years and thus

there is more information and records of what’s been done. They are a popular

classic racer these days and can be made into a very competitive machine. Most

people prefer to use straight manual cars as opposed to overdrive ones, the reason

being the cars are slower in overdrive than in 4th gear due to the engine being

unable to get to maximum rpm due to the gearing. Well unless you have 320 bhp

available anyway, then you can just keep pulling!

My Love affair with Austin’s Last Luxury Car. By Peter White

My love of cars began at an early age. I went to school in Dorking in Surrey where

the daily schedule was often interrupted by the smoke and sound of passing steam

trains (that gives you an idea how old I am). And not far from the school, Rob

Walker had has workshop and the sound of a Cosworth DFV sometimes provided a

background to lessons. Latin didn’t stand a chance.

Most of my working life has been spent in the motor trade. Early days as a Fiat

mechanic: a succession of Minis served as daily transport. Then a Fiat 500 (with

Abarth power), and a very rotten TR4A. In due course, marriage and a family made

more sensible transport essential, too boring to list. Then a lucky break: a job in

Parts at a BMW dealer and the first of many Beemers. I won’t go through them all,

but the best of the bunch was an M3, the one car that I deeply regret selling.

In 2009 we abandoned our now mature family and moved to Wales for a quieter

life. Our new house had a large garage and I had nothing interesting to put in it.

My search for a project eventually turned up “Jeffrey”, an early Lotus 7 copy. It

had sat unloved in a barn for six years and I spent a few months sorting out brakes,

suspension and getting it to run right. An ongoing development programme over

three years has turned into a fun little hooligan car. But an hour of enthusiastic

driving brings on deafness, wind burn and loss of feeling in lower limbs. This brings

me to the present, well late 2013 anyway. I decided that something more civilised

would be an interesting contrast and I might actually be able to get my wife to

accompany me on trips.

I made out a short list of cars of the era which appealed: Rover P4/P5, various

Jaguars, and Triumph 2000/2500. I did actually look at a P5 but it didn’t excite

me. Then the Eureka moment. I don’t remember ever seeing a 3 Litre in period,

let alone more recently, but the more I read, the more it appealed. Neil Kidby put

me in contact with the owners of “my” car and after a trip to Yorkshire to have a

look; I decided to take a chance on it.

The car has been in one family’s ownership from new. It was extensively restored

about 15 years ago by father (an aircraft engineer) and son (enthusiastic amateur).

And I have to say that I am impressed by their handiwork. Extensive welding was

done to underside and bodywork, a pretty good re-spray and reassembly using

original and some parts sourced from a second donor car. When the car was

completed, unfortunately it had little use due to the failing health of the owner

and following his demise it was put into storage.

Recently because of the lack of use the decision was taken to sell. Following the

replacement of a couple of suspension pipes and a pump up, it passed an MOT and was

made available for viewing.

The car was not running well when I first saw it, as we later confirmed, mainly due

to stale petrol. But a brief road test and examination led me to believe that it was

sound and I decided to buy. Although in apparent good condition, I was not happy

about a two hundred mile drive in a car that had not seen use for seven years.

So a couple of weeks later we collected using a friends Transit and the local

garage’s trailer. The drive back was un-eventful, if a little slow. The back of the

van was full of the remains of the donor car which were included in the sale

(engine, auto box, diff etc.) and I reckon the total weight was something over 4

tons.

On arriving home and following a short break in Devon during which I meditated on

the wisdom of my purchase, the priority was to get the car running properly. Fresh

fuel, cleaned plugs and points dealt with that. The first proper drive revealed

pinking under load; I suspect that the timing had been played with in an attempt

to get it to run properly. Backed off a few degrees and we now have a nice quiet

engine. Shortly after, a visit to the local garage saw the car on a ramp and being

scrutinised by a “professional”. After some prodding and scraping and a thorough

going over, the opinion was expressed that the car had been rebuilt with a lot of

care and attention to detail. A small blow was detected from one of the

downpipes, which will be dealt with in due course. Also there was evidence of a

brake fluid leak from the master cylinder, which has now been replaced by one

sourced from Powertrack (they don’t have many left, if you think you may need

one, act fast). The bottom line is that they gave it the seal of approval.

So the tank has been brimmed, some short-ish runs undertaken, a wish list is being

compiled. Some rear seat belts would be nice, but they will have to match the

grey Britax front ones. I am struggling with only the interior mirror, how much we

take for granted modern door mirrors. I want some nice discreet door mirrors, but

don’t really want to drill holes in the bodywork. How difficult it is to get it all

right! So, after about two months of ownership; first impressions? I love this car!

Yes, I know, it’s not very quick and it doesn’t do many miles to the gallon. But it

puts a smile on my face when I drive it. She drives much better than I expected a

big 45 year old saloon to and comfortable and very roomy. And whenever you stop

for more than a few minutes, someone will smile or wave or come over and have a

chat. That doesn’t happen when I drive the wife’s Galaxy!

A life of cars or, you need to get out more by Jim Robertson

Where do we start?? Believe me friends, you may soon be asking “when does he

stop?”…

Like all small boys I was a bit obsessed by cars. You know the idea – the dummy

steering wheel and gear change which you stuck to the dashboard and made then

you made “car noises”. Oh dear, but it fitted the bill at the time! And then there

were the Dinkys… still got some which survived, but where did all the good ones

go??

First real experience was when I was probably about 7 or 8 years old, when my

indulgent and much loved Father would sit me on his knee and let me steer

(probably with a little bit of surreptitious help, no doubt) our ’51 Austin A40 Devon

in Sherwood green (JGG 292) – which replaced a pre-War Austin Litchfield with a

leaky sunroof. The Devon was a nice car and the best of “Austin of England” at

the time, which was a bit strange given that we were in Scotland at the time – and

don’t get me started about the pending Independence vote….

I did the same many years later with my 3 daughters (this time in a Golf Mk 1) and

they mostly passed their test first time (well, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad, is it

Madelaine?). Trouble is they all drive like me – a bit too fast and change down at

every corner (to save the brakes). Much frowned upon nowadays though second

nature to us old hands as is blipping the throttle on a fast down change. This

reminds me of a wonderful day I had at Knockhill Circuit (Dunfermline) driving a

race-prepared E-Type. Seems I managed the fastest start of the day, having

revved to 4,000 and then dropped the clutch to take off with much wheel-spin in

the (very) wet conditions, somewhat to the concern of the retired racing driver in

the passenger’s seat until I told him “Don’t worry, I’m only showing off to the

girls”. Come the first corner and I automatically blipped throttle on down change.

He said “No need to double clutch”, which I of course ignored. Conditions were

awful and on the straight you floored the pedal with blind faith since visibility was

not good to say the least. However, that baby could really shift and pretty stable

on the corners too, though I was always conscious that she was a very valuable E-

Type and hence tended to pull my punches a little. It was a delight! At day’s end

I turned out to be 2nd (only!!) fastest lap of the day. However, “winner” was a

young guy in his thirties, while I was well into my sixties by then, so I didn’t think

that too bad and reckon (perhaps wistfully) that on a dry day I could have tanked

him! At end of my drive, I handed over to the old racing driver (probably only

about my age in reality…) and said “Well, we’ve seen the horses, now let’s see the

Jockey” and he took me for a demo lap. I must concede he took her round faster

than I had. But at the end, he had the good grace to lean across and say “You’re

right, it does help to blip throttle on down changes”…. Hey, Ho.

Back to the Austin. I would steer by lining up the Flying A on the bonnet and

generally got on alright on (then) quiet roads. I hate to think what the reaction

would be nowadays. Hmmm. At the time, it’s interesting to note that my

Father’s car was the ONLY one in the street. How times have changed. Now, you

can hardly find a parking space!

By 13 years of age I got my first shot at fully controlling a car (Father in passenger

seat by now). Now it was a 1957 Austin A55 Cambridge in Pine and Fir green

(where are you now TGG 609??). Progress was interrupted by a few “kangaroo

starts” but I soon got the hang of the clutch and steering column gear change. A

very nice machine and I still remember the view down the bonnet with nostalgia,

with the Flying A prominent. Those were the days when even fairly modest cars

had nice leather seating (green to match car), though other comforts were a bit

lacking in truth and plenty of cream painted metal on view. But, she could do 60+

mph comfortably and 70 odd at a pinch, though Father rarely “put the foot down”

and only with me on board and minus Mother and Sister! I still pine for this car

and if a good one came up I might be tempted but you VERY rarely see one now.

Rust has taken pretty well all of them, whereas the earlier A40 and A50 (Cowhorn

rear) for some reason seem to have lasted better.

Next on the scene was a 1960 Austin Westminster A99 in steel grey and blue

leather seats (£1,149 pounds new). It was finely priced. A Jag at that time was

about £1,350+, the Rover P4 a little less, then the Princess and Wolseley 6/99

followed by the A99, each BMC offering separated by about 100 quid at each level.

Then there was quite a drop to the Vauxhall Cresta and Ford Zodiac which from

memory came in around the 850 to 900 pound level. I have to say, however, the

Zodiac (albeit with smaller engine (2600cc) was a good and nicely styled car and

their survival rate seems high nowadays with typical 60’s rust seemingly not too

much of a problem.

The A99 to me was up-market stuff and at the time a fast and elegant Farina-

styled car. Straight 6 (2912cc); 3 litres and 0-60mph in 14 seconds. Top speed

100mph. In fact, better than the 3 litre of 10 years on – such was BMC’s idea of

progress in those troubled times…. Trouble was petrol consumption was similarly

“up-market”, with 20 mpg rarely seen (even with overdrive) and 16 mpg more

usual. But, petrol only cost 5 bob a gallon (25p!!!). It was a flyer for its time and I

hope my Father enjoyed it as much as I did. But that was as good as it got… Rust

made its presence felt within 5 years - front wings, sills, bottom of doors, front

valance etc (good old BMC). This was at a time when rust prevention was not a

high priority and cars were “old” within 6 or 7 years. And it was very far from

reliable, breaking rear shocker links frequently; front shockers that lasted no time

at all (but whose life could be extended by my filling them with heavy duty oil);

going through more than one petrol pump; petrol leaks at joint between carbs; a

prodigious appetite for cross-ply tyres (6-8k miles if you were lucky!); and piston

slap necessitating an early engine re-build under Warranty.

Oh, I could go on but why blacken further BMC’s miserable reputation? Anyway, it

lasted 7 years only to be written off in a rear shunt from which my Father

thankfully emerged, the generously padded driver’s seat having taken his (not

inconsiderable) weight and collapsed under him. No seat belts in those days, of

course, but good padding served him well.

Where I came in was that I was allowed to start her up and drive her round to the

front of the property (for Father) - on private land I hasten to add. I did this from

about 13 on, so was fairly adept at driving and augmented by some “illicit” driving

on public roads. Hence by the time I was 17 years of age, I was all set and passed

my test (in a Triumph Herald) within 3 days of my birthday – could you do that

now??. Oh happy days, I was off… and the Westminster was mine (sometimes).

And she could shift when pushed, believe me. Another nice touch was that in

Overdrive you could change gear without use of clutch when on the move. A boon

given that gear cables were absolutely useless causing 1st gear to crunch all the

time – yet another BMC fault!!

Interesting that the A99 had a 3-speed gear box, whereas the earlier A95 and 105

has a 4-speeder. But it seemed to have enough torque to cope with a 3-speed box

and this possibly helped the fairly rapid acceleration off the line. I well recall my

Father “racing” a neighbour’s Humber Super Snipe and also Merc 220SE and seeing

both off, though the Merc was a close run thing. He also gave a Jaguar Mk VII a

fright, though the Jag would by then have been quite old.

I too well remember me having a tussle with a Humber Hawk (fifties shape) on the

M8. The Austin had her every time on acceleration but I was impressed by how

fast the Hawk was overall, despite having a mere 4-pot, 2.2 litre engine – though

she never passed me! A goodly whiff of blue smoke on the overrun was a precursor

of a “steady” appetite for SAE 30 oil by the Austin. Still, enough of slagging off

BMC. Oh I don’t know though. What about the grille chrome which polished off in

a couple of years; the pathetic, easily broken front door stays (which allowed

heavy door to impact with chrome trim on front wing); the…. Oh, enough already!

However, I did love that car, faults and all, and successfully dissuaded my Father

from trading her in against an A55 Cambridge Farina estate. A barge of a car

which looked like it was dragging its tail along the ground (a bit like a dog having a

crap…).

I look back and wonder. Sure, the roads were a lot less busy and attitudes were

more relaxed. It would never be tolerated now, but I learnt the “craft” with no

mishaps and it’s stood me in good stead over nigh on 55 years of no major incident

motoring – touch wood, cause I’m not finished yet and still drive a bit too fast!

Now to my cars. First was a black 1947 Morris 10hp series M purchased for me by

my Father for the princely sum of £16 when I was all of 16 years old. So again I

was able to get a bit of practice in on private land. This was 1963, so she was an

old car even in those days (and looked antique compared to the modern cars with

their fins and two-tone paint).

Rust was getting into the inner rear spring area and had to be plated (twice!),

remember that this was Morris’ first shot at a semi-monocoque construction. But

she was roomy and had brown leather sets and the delightful touch of a coach key

to unlock the folding bonnet. Clutch was a bit “kangaroo” and she would jump out

of 3rd gear but you compensated. She had the XPAG engine shared with MG of the

time and while anything but fast she could just about hit 70mph and with the

opening windscreen fully up and sliding roof open you felt you were doing more

like 170mph! She did me well for a year and a bit, running to school and then

University. Since my sister was a teacher at the same school I had the joy (and

pride) of being able to park in the teachers’ car park – much to envy of school

friends. Tyres were a bit of a mixture and had seen better days but MOTs weren’t

so strict in those days. Just as well since steering draglink would go very stiff if

not greased very regularly. But she didn’t cost me much in my time of ownership

and indeed I made a profit on selling her!

Talking about tyres reminds me that at about this time I had a summer job

pumping gas. A sideline was to do puncture “repairs”. At that time this involved

punching a hole through the tyre with a brawl and then filling with a rubber plug

(imagine that….). I well remember a Jaguar Mk2 pulling in with a flat. It took me

3 plugs to get it to seal – I do hope the chap didn’t test the Jag’s top speed with

that tyre! You wouldn’t get away with it now – and shouldn’t then either…

Next followed an even older car, a 1937 Ford 8hp Model Y rescued by my Father

from a back yard for £10 this time. This was “vintage” motoring, or so it seemed

to me since by this time (1965) most of the pre-War cars had been winnowed out

by the MOT. Brakes (rod) were unbelievably bad and you had to give plenty of

notice that you wanted to stop and then yank on the handbrake too (a foot out of

the suicide door would have been useful too!!) – would be lethal on today’s roads

but traffic was lighter then. She had a prodigious appetite for cheap oil and could

obliterate any following vehicle in a cloud of smoke if she had been idling at lights

and fumes in the cabin meant the windows were open most of the time, though

the opening windscreen came in handy too. Nonetheless she tootled into

University every day and I well remember the weekly petrol consumption was 3

gallons (30mpg) of cheap Jet petrol at a cost of – wait for it, 13 shillings and

sixpence (about 70p)! She would wander all over the road and, with about 3

inches of play at the wheel, called for constant correction and could surprise you

with an uncontrollable front wheel wobble due to worn king pins. Replacement

helped a bit but never really cured it completely – not properly honed in?

Anyway, you weren’t going that fast, though I once (v/bravely) saw an indicated

65mph, never to be repeated. She did an epic holiday in the Lake District and

succeeded in scaling every single pass, though sometimes only after a full throttle

run at it (or in reverse) and then she would literally stagger across the peak boiling

in relief (and exhaustion).

Her end came on a spirited drive up the twisty and bumpy Clyde Valley road.

Steering felt even funnier than usual but she made it home only for the front

wheels to go in different directions 20yds from home – a sheared stub axle. She

then sat in the street for long enough before I fixed this and deteriorated slightly.

One joy was even for a then 30 year old car you could often get parts direct from

your local Ford dealership, so common had the Model Y been in its day that there

were still tons lying about on shelves and scrap yards. I still have that car to this

day (50 years). She was restored in early 70’s when there was no Club support and

parts were becoming hard to find and parked up for 5 years while I was working in

Hong Kong. Over the years she deteriorated (mainly the canvas roof) so a further

resto was started in early 80’s – yet to be completed. Shame on me…. Today the

stove-enamelled chassis and primed body reside in my garage, with the rest in my

loft. Pretty well every part has been restored so (in theory) it should just be a

case of putting it all back together again. Hmmm.

But by the end of a year I had moved onto bigger and better things and a step

change in price - £110. My pride and joy a one (but not careful) lady owner, 7

year old 1960 Morris Minor convertible in white. After an upgrade of gearbox to

the 1098cc one (courtesy of local scrappie, Jack Kelly), wider tyres, a head skim,

crank grind, stronger valve springs and installation of a Sprite Mark 1 exhaust box

she was ready. Full acknowledgement must be given to the help provided by an

old school friend in all this work – just in case he reads this, thanks Roy!! Certainly

sounded the business (upon which certain young ladies commented) and removal of

the radiator fan “liberated” another couple of extra BPH. You could get away with

this in those days if you planned ahead since traffic was lighter and putting heater

on at full blast usually kept the temperature just about low enough. Anyway

power enough to get the speedo needle into the fuel gauge, so probably about

75mph+. I had great fun in this car (and not just in the back seat as you’re

thinking…) With the hood down, the gear lever cut down to about 3 inches long

and the Sprite exhaust blaring away behind you it was a “racer”, or so one thought

as one attempted overtaking manoeuvres from which one was lucky to get out

alive with the benefit of hindsight. Rust was the killer here and rear springs were

determined to come up through the back seat necessitating much plating. I think

that car was held together with pop rivets holding hands. Indeed so bad was the

door closing (chassis going banana shaped) that you had to push on the top of the

windscreen to get the doors closed! I well remember cruising the streets of Oslo

when on holiday with friends seeking out a plate glass window in which I might

check whether the car was actually flexing…. Oh, dear. Also front suspension arm

on chassis leg had to be plated to keep it in, though eventually this pulled out

years later allowing front wheel to disappear up into the wheel arch. This pretty

much ended her but I had 7 years wonderful fun with her , learned my skill in paint

spraying with her and I still recall the excellent handling (front torsion bars)

assuming you could live with the vicious rear axle tramp when pushed.

Also she had the excellent facility that the front passenger seat folded down as did

the rear seat allowing a more or less flat area on which to sleep with head at

dashboard and feet in boot and many a time I did, to the detriment of my back no

doubt. Easy to work on and you could do pretty much everything yourself and if

worse came to worst, you could fix it with the proverbial hammer! Happy days

BGB 545.

She saw me all the way through University and CA apprenticeship as did a

supplemental income from driving buses (Leylands, Bristol Lodekkas, you name it)

in the East end of Glasgow – but that’s a whole different story and for another

day….

Come 1974 and things were about to take a completely different turn. Yes, I

discovered the joys of the 3 Litre. To be continued......................

From the archive

Many thanks to Jim for sending me some very old newsletters from the Motorspeed days in

the early 1980’s. A scan through revealed some interesting findings.

There was a request for anyone who knows how to fix “that annoying squeak from the

rear.” (We can fix that now with ease.) Reconditioned oil pumps at £42. (I can supply

repair kits for those now, new pumps now being very hard to find.)

It is apparent that in the 30+ years since those newsletters were printed, body panel

supply and many mechanical worries have changed very little. We are now in a much

better positiob to overcome a good many issues that were a problem many years ago.

The one thing that does stand out though is car prices! Here are a few advert details from

the winter of 1983.

Austin 3-Litre, 1972, 12 months mot, new radiator, new tyres, new exhaust front

section. £400

Austin 3-Litre automatic, “J” reg dark blue £475 o.n.o.

Austin 3-Litre Auto in maroon, resprayed, new wings and 3 new doors, new self

levelling pump and tyres, engine needs rebuild. £400 o.n.o.

Austin 3-Litre, 50000 miles, mot and tax £400 o.n.o.

Manual overdrive 3-Litre, with mot and 46000 miles on the clock, wings untidy.

Open to offers

Now those were the days! I hope that was of interest.

New arrivals and at the shows

Martin Keeping has just acquired this fine low mileage car, loving that 8 track stereo!

Craig Milliken recently bought the little beauty pictured above; she has been standing for a number of years and is in the process of being re-commissioned. Gaydon July 6th 2014 Malcolm and Annie Stephens car is joined by another one in the sun. Pic courtesy of Steve Haury. And a video clip found on You-Tube courtesy of Alan Kimber. http://youtu.be/m9mFNaSc7ro

Stockwood Park Show

By Jim Robertson Hi Neil. Now here's something you don't see every day... I went to Stockwood Park, Luton I - couldn't face the crush of Bromley! It was a really good show and a surprisingly wide variety of cars. What should I stumble across at the far end of the park but a white 3 litre in very good condition. There was no one around so I had a good old look around inside and under. Upholstery in blue. A lot of work had been done on it topside and underneath and she was very good. So, I had a seat in the shade and sat and admired it for a while....whereupon I spied yet another one!! This time a manual in blackberry and grey inside. In other words (apart from being manual) it is same as mine. Now, this one really was excellent, looking for all the world like a 2 to 3 year old car. Even the driver's seat wasn't split and you know how rare that is. I was convinced the paintwork was original, which really would have been remarkable, since it had a nice patina without the sometimes thick and over-glossy look of two-pack. Anyway, a guy came up and we chatted. Turns out he did a lot of the mechanical side and that owner was sitting just a short distance away - Barry Dancer. Nice guy and we had a good old chat. Barry is a member of the Club. He confirmed the car had in fact been taken back to bare metal. By this time owner of white car had turned up, so I talked to him too. His name was Vince. He knew you but was not currently a member. I encouraged him to become one. This car had started out as left hand drive (now converted) and was ex-MOD, so came with a load of spares especially for underneath. I'm guessing it might have been with forces in Germany. Vince is going to try to find out exact history. You can't beat that for a day out!!

Jim Come and see a 3-Litre at the following venues

Austins at the Ace August 2nd from 6.00pm to 11.00pm. The Ace Cafe at

Stonebridge London are having an Austin event. A chance to visit this iconic venue and

spend time with like-minded folk. The Ace was an Austin dealer before the war in the days

when it was a garage as well as an eating house for weary travellers. To learn more about

the legend that is the Ace Cafe please follow this link. Ace Cafe

Ferry Meadows BMC Day August 3rd. BMC day Peterborough it is at Ferry

Meadows, Nene Park, Oundle Road Peterborough, postcode is PE25UU.

Spares News

Spares sourcing has been as busy as ever and there is a bit to tell.

Radiator hoses

I am very pleased with our remade radiator hoses, I have welcomed the feedback by those

of you who have invested in these hoses, all feedback has been very positive about the fit

and quality. A nice addition to the heater hoses and by-pass hoses, all of which are in

stock now.

Alternator Voltage Regulators

The 4TR regulators fitted to our cars have long since been a cause of concern. They are

generally reasonably available but the price is ever creeping up for new old stock ones,

used ones and also heading in the same direction. The unit is not very reliable or indeed

very accurate, this is the reason for the ammeter varying wildly and the pulsing headlamps

which we can suffer from.

I have managed to find a company who will make a high quality direct modern

replacement for us. As with the warning lamp controls I recently sourced these are also

made in America. I have asked for a sample for evaluation which at the time of writing has

still not arrived. As soon as it has landed and has a decent test I will let you know the

outcome. The units should be about £20 I hope, that as ever is for a bulk order though of

10 units.

For the newer members I have sourced a modern alternator warning lamp control unit,

very small and compact, electronic control and sealed, I tucked mine up inside the inner

wing hole, nicely out of sight, I let the original unit in place so it still looks original.

Steering rack double lip seals

As you may know the double lip main internal steering rack seal is was unobtainable for

many years. London Power Steering used to machine out the inside of the housing and fit a

different type of seal. This company have now stopped reconditioning our steering racks

and have not really offered any reason why as yet. I did have the original seals re-made

about 20 years ago so I knew it was possible to do this. I contacted the company who

sourced them for me all those years ago and they managed to find a company who can,

and were willing to remake them in the quality and quantity we required. I had a small

batch made which sold out very quickly so I placed an order of another 10 seals. This took

a little longer to fulfil but after just over two weeks they duly arrived. All the seals except

the steering column seal are now available either as a kit or individually.

Preston Power Steering Services are now the only reconditioner who will recondition our

steering racks, if you are having one reconditioned I can either send you a seal or send it

straight to P.P.S, either way they will need the main seal to recondition your rack. The

seals are £35 for a full kit and the main seal on its own is £16.50. Both plus post of £1.50

recorded delivery within the UK. Details via their website,

http://www.prestonpowersteering.co.uk/

Dave is the contact, an ex BMC man and very helpful.

Well that was a bit of a book! I hope it’s of interest. Happy 3-litre-ing.