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Who owns an "AUSTIN AMERICA" out there?
- Thread starter toysrrus
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tony barnhill
Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
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Re: Who owns an "AUSTIN AMERICA" out there?
Here's my story about how I got the car:
1963 MG1100 Hunting:
In 1983, while still in the Army, I was assigned to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Driving my MGB through the wheat fields one weekend during "top down" weather, I spotted a little 1963 MG1100 2-door sedan sitting on the edge of a sea of wheat. Stopping at the nearest house to inquire got me a curt <span style="font-style: italic">"not for sale"</span>. Within a year, I was transferred to Alaska and thoughts of the little 1100 vanished.
Three years later, I was back in Kansas. My first weekend outing was to check on the 1100...<span style="font-style: italic">"I told you several years ago it wasn't for sale and it still isn't"</span>. But, I decided to persevere. Whenever I took a drive in my "B," I made a point of stopping by to say <span style="font-style: italic">"hello"</span> and visit for a while, never asking about the 1100.
Then, one day in 1990, the old farmer told me that if I could get the car out of his field that day, it was mine!! Jumping for joy, I scurried off to get my truck and trailer. Returning, the old guy told me the car had been sitting in that spot since 1968 when he got disgusted with it. Seems he had bought it new in 1963, had a record of everything done to the car (to include every 25-cent gallon of gas ever put into it!!) and the dealer in Kansas City couldn't get it to run exactly right so he just parked it.
We hooked a chain to the little car and pulled the rubber tires off the rims and left them glued to the wheat field as we rolled the car to my trailer. Uh-oh, wouldn't go on trailer without tires...hydrolastic suspension was down. Have you ever tried to buy 12" tires in Kansas on a Saturday afternoon?
Sears finally saved me with 4 whitewall 12"-ers. Mounted on the wheels (that took hours to get off the car), we rolled it onto my trailer just as the sun went down over the waves of grain. Then the old guy surprised me with a stash of parts and stuff that made me want to cry!
The first thing that came out was a dealer's fiberglass and plexi-glass hood (<span style="font-style: italic">"thing was on the car in the showroom and I told Joe Engle I wouldn't buy the car without the damned thing!"</span>) in great shape painted to match the body!
Next came an original orange three-ring binder shop manual! The one the dealers used. Then came 4 original hubcaps (with MG octagon), a couple of extra engines, carburetors, intakes, and last...a complete body tub--rusty floor and all!! (<span style="font-style: italic">"Never got around to replacing the bent grille or straightening the bumper after my wife hit a tractor. Throw this thing away for me after you get the parts you need."</span>)
The first thing we did was purge and re-pressurize the suspension; and have never done anything to it since!
The next thing we did was pull the head, reset the timing (30-degrees off), build the carburetors (yep, twin babies!!), fire her up and run around the block without brakes...who cared, she ran just like she was new. And, the engine is still the strange light green color as shiny as when new!!
New brakes and exhaust ensured the neighbors wouldn't be too angry having it in my driveway. And, my daughter named it the "Beaver Cleaver car."
I did, however, get calls from the Military Police from time to time. My daughter and her high school friends liked to drive the little car around post trying to turn it over in curves. Remember, it has a hydrolastic suspension which means it goes into curves flat and the body never sways. Hey, that was probably the safest car a teenage girl could drive!
Unfortunately, all those years in the Kansas sun had cooked the interior. So, the little "Beaver Cleaver car" went into storage until 1995 when we stripped her and applied a new coat of British Leyland factory original lacquer paint. Then it sat in my garage until 1998 when we pulled her out, buffed her new paint to a high sheen and reassembled the body.
The speedometer was sent off for a rebuild with strict instructions not to turn the odometer back (car has less than 64,000 original miles!!), the dash sent to be re-laminated with burled walnut, and the interior completely replaced.
During the time the car sat in storage, I was able to come up with every piece of rubber I needed to replace everything except for the rear window and the two quarter window rubber.
Finally, (and for 4 months), the car was in the upholstery shop having everything rebuilt to original specifications. When it came out, I drove it around the block, took it to a car show in Florence, Alabama, and parked it in the garage under a cover....after all, it saw too many Kansas summers sitting in the wheat field watching cereal grow.
Now, THAT IS RARE!! Each US dealer was provided a fiberglass & plexiglass hood to put on the car they kept on the showroom floor...the hood kept the salesmen from having to open the hood to explain all the unique things underneath....as the car went out of production, the dealers normally tossed the hoods in the trash....the old guy who bought mine new made the dealer give him that hood as well as the steel hood...it is rumored that there are only about 5 of those hoods known to still exist....has hinge bolt platforms, has latches, everything underneath is just like a normal hood. And, no, we don't run it with that hood installed.toysrrus said:
Here's my story about how I got the car:
1963 MG1100 Hunting:
In 1983, while still in the Army, I was assigned to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Driving my MGB through the wheat fields one weekend during "top down" weather, I spotted a little 1963 MG1100 2-door sedan sitting on the edge of a sea of wheat. Stopping at the nearest house to inquire got me a curt <span style="font-style: italic">"not for sale"</span>. Within a year, I was transferred to Alaska and thoughts of the little 1100 vanished.
Three years later, I was back in Kansas. My first weekend outing was to check on the 1100...<span style="font-style: italic">"I told you several years ago it wasn't for sale and it still isn't"</span>. But, I decided to persevere. Whenever I took a drive in my "B," I made a point of stopping by to say <span style="font-style: italic">"hello"</span> and visit for a while, never asking about the 1100.
Then, one day in 1990, the old farmer told me that if I could get the car out of his field that day, it was mine!! Jumping for joy, I scurried off to get my truck and trailer. Returning, the old guy told me the car had been sitting in that spot since 1968 when he got disgusted with it. Seems he had bought it new in 1963, had a record of everything done to the car (to include every 25-cent gallon of gas ever put into it!!) and the dealer in Kansas City couldn't get it to run exactly right so he just parked it.
We hooked a chain to the little car and pulled the rubber tires off the rims and left them glued to the wheat field as we rolled the car to my trailer. Uh-oh, wouldn't go on trailer without tires...hydrolastic suspension was down. Have you ever tried to buy 12" tires in Kansas on a Saturday afternoon?
Sears finally saved me with 4 whitewall 12"-ers. Mounted on the wheels (that took hours to get off the car), we rolled it onto my trailer just as the sun went down over the waves of grain. Then the old guy surprised me with a stash of parts and stuff that made me want to cry!
The first thing that came out was a dealer's fiberglass and plexi-glass hood (<span style="font-style: italic">"thing was on the car in the showroom and I told Joe Engle I wouldn't buy the car without the damned thing!"</span>) in great shape painted to match the body!
Next came an original orange three-ring binder shop manual! The one the dealers used. Then came 4 original hubcaps (with MG octagon), a couple of extra engines, carburetors, intakes, and last...a complete body tub--rusty floor and all!! (<span style="font-style: italic">"Never got around to replacing the bent grille or straightening the bumper after my wife hit a tractor. Throw this thing away for me after you get the parts you need."</span>)
The first thing we did was purge and re-pressurize the suspension; and have never done anything to it since!
The next thing we did was pull the head, reset the timing (30-degrees off), build the carburetors (yep, twin babies!!), fire her up and run around the block without brakes...who cared, she ran just like she was new. And, the engine is still the strange light green color as shiny as when new!!
New brakes and exhaust ensured the neighbors wouldn't be too angry having it in my driveway. And, my daughter named it the "Beaver Cleaver car."
I did, however, get calls from the Military Police from time to time. My daughter and her high school friends liked to drive the little car around post trying to turn it over in curves. Remember, it has a hydrolastic suspension which means it goes into curves flat and the body never sways. Hey, that was probably the safest car a teenage girl could drive!
Unfortunately, all those years in the Kansas sun had cooked the interior. So, the little "Beaver Cleaver car" went into storage until 1995 when we stripped her and applied a new coat of British Leyland factory original lacquer paint. Then it sat in my garage until 1998 when we pulled her out, buffed her new paint to a high sheen and reassembled the body.
The speedometer was sent off for a rebuild with strict instructions not to turn the odometer back (car has less than 64,000 original miles!!), the dash sent to be re-laminated with burled walnut, and the interior completely replaced.
During the time the car sat in storage, I was able to come up with every piece of rubber I needed to replace everything except for the rear window and the two quarter window rubber.
Finally, (and for 4 months), the car was in the upholstery shop having everything rebuilt to original specifications. When it came out, I drove it around the block, took it to a car show in Florence, Alabama, and parked it in the garage under a cover....after all, it saw too many Kansas summers sitting in the wheat field watching cereal grow.
theleisure
Jedi Trainee
Offline
Re: Who owns an "AUSTIN AMERICA" out there?
My father used to tell me a story about when he got pulled over while driving his Austin America in Ada, Ohio back in college. He said he was going so fast he was sure he'd lose his license but it ended up that the cop let him go and told him that he just wanted to see the engine! I have copies of letters that he wrote to BMC and some that he received about factory sponsorship opportunities for his car. I wish I had it now, an Austin America is definitely on my "want one someday" list.
FYI, He'd tell you to run away from one with an automatic transmission.
My father used to tell me a story about when he got pulled over while driving his Austin America in Ada, Ohio back in college. He said he was going so fast he was sure he'd lose his license but it ended up that the cop let him go and told him that he just wanted to see the engine! I have copies of letters that he wrote to BMC and some that he received about factory sponsorship opportunities for his car. I wish I had it now, an Austin America is definitely on my "want one someday" list.
FYI, He'd tell you to run away from one with an automatic transmission.
Offline
Re: Who owns an "AUSTIN AMERICA" out there?
or
https://hamilton.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-classic-cars-1969-Austin-1800-W0QQAdIdZ93088366
or
https://hamilton.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-classic-cars-1969-Austin-1800-W0QQAdIdZ93088366
racingenglishcars
Darth Vader
Offline
Re: Who owns an "AUSTIN AMERICA" out there?
I always thought the Maxi to be too big. It was a poor compromise.
I always thought the Maxi to be too big. It was a poor compromise.
OP
toysrrus
Yoda
Offline
Re: Who owns an "AUSTIN AMERICA" out there?
Hi Folks,
Well; Here`s an up-date on my "Barn / Garage" find of an Austin America.
1st. The current (Son of the Orig Owner) can`t find the key.
2nd. I still have not seen the car! The owner says its at his Moms house surrounded with all sorts of stuff & he has to clear everything out to even get close to her.
So; We shall see; What we shall see?????????
Regards,
Russ
Hi Folks,
Well; Here`s an up-date on my "Barn / Garage" find of an Austin America.
1st. The current (Son of the Orig Owner) can`t find the key.
2nd. I still have not seen the car! The owner says its at his Moms house surrounded with all sorts of stuff & he has to clear everything out to even get close to her.
So; We shall see; What we shall see?????????
Regards,
Russ
