Well since Dad basically killed the Roadster see: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/crazy-lucky-hot-rod-gods-watching-over-us.989846/ We have dug out the 1948 Thames Panel that has been in storage for more than 40 years. We are thinking a Gasser Build. Straight axel, small block, simple. Probably a C or D Gas from back in the day. This is sort of the big brother to the Anglia 1/4 ton van. The Thames is a 1/2 ton and this version was what they called a snub nose. About 20 years ago Dad snagged an Anglia fiberglass nose that will help us get a small block in there. It would be kind of cool at car shows to have both the Austin and the Thames to display. What do you think?
The 1/4 ton panel trucks are Thames (also ?). I had an original, and I know/knew of two other restored 1/4 ton trucks (if you can call these little things trucks..!). All have the original Thames grill emblim. Only knew one guy who had the larger one like you have, and don't recall what he called it. At one time, he had 9 or 10 Anglias/Thames panel trucks. He knew a bit about them. He's gone now (RIP), so I can't ask him. Mike
Odd, and cool. Over here they was known as Fordson Van 5cwt and 10cwt. That is something English for size, displacement and tax. Som of the Brits on he know Exately. 5 is 1/4 tons and 10 is 1/2 ton. Nice little rides! I like the sound of Fordson, makes them sound more like a down to earth work horse. Keep at it.
Cool. It should look like this one I guess. These are called Fordson 10cwt (10 hundredweight - old UK weight measurement...don´t ask... something to do with the load rating) in the UK.
I have great memories of these. When I was 12, a local Rodder was building one. It had a complete tube chassis, and 402 BBC Chev. I was sitting in the back doorway when he nailed it, and pulled a wheel stand. Boy did I think I was cool. Unfortunately, the van never got finished. I'll be watching this one.
I've been a huge fan of the little Anglia/Thames/Austin cars, especially drag cars When I was 16 yrs old (I'm 61 NOW), I acquired a 1948 Austin A40 Sedan, It was in pieces because the seller had built a drag car after cherry picking the best parts (body) from two cars. This is the good part; I paid 40 dollars for it and it was really in pretty nice shape for being "picked over". I was just a 16 yr old dreamer; I not only did'nt have any tools yet, but I had no place to work on it, so I had to sell it, and get this; I told a friend of a friend that he could buy it for what I paid for it. This is the bad part; I never even got my 40 bucks from the loser. I've been following along with your Austin project, and because I read about your dads(close call) wreck and then saw the title of this thread, I was instantly exited for you and your dad, mostly because you are quite lucky to have such a cool relationship with your dad and can enjoy the hobby together, I was even a little jealous because my dad died when I was 14 yrs old. I'm sure I'm not alone on this, and you know what they say about opinions; but the back half of those 1/2 ton panels kind of have a body that only a mother could love, but I bet that this will be cool as hell when you guys are done with it. That's just my opinion. BTW, I've never been too jazzed about naming cars, but because it was a big thing on all the 60's drag cars and the panel occupies quite a bit of real estate (sheet metal) I think you guys should use the build period to think about a name, maybe even get suggestions from our HAMB bros. Have fun.
Watching this......good luck with it....I used to have one that was an ice cream van....I will try to get a pic of it
Is it gonna be a Fordson for a Ford dad :wink: A bad a bing, bum chik would be in place. Consiter it a an Bump as the very least.
DDDenny, thanks for the comment, it is appreciated. Naming the new ride has a pretty funny story to it. I did not know this but to protect the privacy of car accident victims, the injured party is named at the site and their real names not released for several days if ever. The EMT name them and it is usually related to the accident: Porsche Trauma, Ford Trauma, Toyota Trauma etc. When Dad arrived he was called Spider Trauma! No one knows why. He was not hit by a Spider Model Car nor was driving one. I teased him that maybe it was because they thought he was Spiderman with the whole flying through the air etc. Either way, we laughed about it the whole time he was there. To the extent that he actually said what ever we build next, he was going to name it Spider Trauma. Not sure how it will get adapted to the Van but this was my initial thought on the design:
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