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Hi guys, total newbie here both to this forum and to British cars in general. I was recently invited to a "barn find" here in the US that was full of Triumphs, Austin Healeys, MG's, a couple of E-types and a host of other cars and parts, all in fairly sad shape, unfortunately. One car that really intrigues me, however, is an aluminum-bodied convertible that I believe to be an early 50's Austin A40 Sport Convertible - I started with the horn emblem and worked backwards on Google to arrive at this conclusion, but a few things don't add up. The main oddball thing is the cowl - most of the pictures I see of these cars have a short cowl section with the hood attached via an external set of hinges; The A-pillar, cowl and fender all align fairly well. On this car, the cowl is much wider with the door crease, fender and cowl all pushed forward from the A-pillar. Also, the dash looks nothing like any pictures I've seen from A40's. There is no engine in the car, but the current owner was told by the previous owner that this car was a prototype that was stretched to allow installation of a 6-cylinder engine as opposed to the normal 4-banger. I've included a few pics for your perusal? Any ideas? Your help is greatly appreciated!
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Austin A40 Sport Convertible? Help!
- Thread starter cdschenk
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Wow, what an interesting find! I think you are right about the cowl and the dash. If you look at this one for sale, the differences are obvious
https://car-from-uk.com/sale.php?id=84112
The original would have had a 1200cc 46 hp engine - so, I wonder if the change came to deal with USA roads? It looks like the work has been done to a high standard - but I imagine more likely a home made one off. Certainly the 50's were an era of massive customization/ hot rodding of cars.
There have been a few for sale around me (Toronto) over the last years and, as with many cars of the era, it seems like the cost of restoration is greater than the value of the finished car making it a true labour of love.
Are you considering it? It would be an awesome project.
https://car-from-uk.com/sale.php?id=84112
The original would have had a 1200cc 46 hp engine - so, I wonder if the change came to deal with USA roads? It looks like the work has been done to a high standard - but I imagine more likely a home made one off. Certainly the 50's were an era of massive customization/ hot rodding of cars.
There have been a few for sale around me (Toronto) over the last years and, as with many cars of the era, it seems like the cost of restoration is greater than the value of the finished car making it a true labour of love.
Are you considering it? It would be an awesome project.
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It certainly looks like a lengthened A40 Sports Coupe, so good sleuthing on your part. Whether or not this was a factory stretch or done by a custom builder will be interesting to find out. Either way it is a cool car, I wonder what 6 cyl. it was fitted with.