1968 Austin 1100 our next project!

Austin the Six Million Dollar car!
19 September 2010

My son and I found a listing on our Victoria Minis Car Club for sale page advertising the sale of a 1968 Austin 1100. I called the number and made an appointment to drop by and see the car. We went the next day and the car was outside in the driveway looking tired and in need of some TLC.

It used to be an automatic but the motor was replaced with a 1300cc standard motor, left hand drive. The big sigh was discovering the floor pans had rusted through and you could see daylight showing through but not a lot.

The boot has some rust issues as well and will need to be fixed. The left front wing (fender) is toast but does have a replacement that comes with the car. It also came with a front and rear sub-frame complete with all running gear, tools, manuals, replacement lights. steering rack, bumpers and riders as well as a hydrolastic pump.

We took him for a little spin around the block. Started right away without any balking and no smoke out the tailpipe. The brakes seemed good and the steering was great. He seemed a bit sluggish at first but got better as the motor warmed up. The only negative thing found was the shift lever had a lot of play in it.

So we made the deal and will bring him home this weekend. Then we can access how much will need to be done and how to go about doing it. Obvious starting point is the major body issues like the two front floor pans and then the trunk. The damaged fender and then the rest of the little nicks, dents and scratches that are on the body. The colour is a very faded Tartan Red according to the plate in the boot, quite common for the 1968 model year. Did I mention the interior is immaculate. The seats and head liner are top shelf. So I won't have to worry about those.

21 September 2010

We closed the deal tonight and will complete the transfer of ownership for the Austin tomorrow. While we were there, we started to load up all the smaller parts and took them home to begin sorting out, what was there. The problem with restoring a car, is you need more room to dismantle the car than the original car itself takes up. Hopefully we won't need some of these parts but it is better to have them on hand than having to  find them later. Tomorrow we drive him home. Can't wait to get started!