Projects Austin Gassers

Just bought a '48 Austin. Car drives, has what I believe is a ford axle. Need info. Believe car is a old racer, not what seller said. Too many thing cut out to be a fresh build in the '80's.

 

Hi, lots of info here...just give us a lot of pictures!

 

Nice Austin. Like Jim said, the more detail pictures you can post, the more info you will get back.
Is that All Star auto on 16th street in berwyn?

 

Car is a shit box. BUT its a Dorset.

 

Yes.

 

All steel car. Steering WAY WRONG!! DANGEROUS TO DRIVE!! Tired Sbc with th400, open 9" YUCK! Thinking 500, 472 Cad. or Pont.

 

Here is a pic of the axle. When I have a chance will take more pix of scarey steering column.

 

Does anybody have a 472 or 500 Cad motor they don't need?

 

Nice car to start with! I traded for one a few months back and it had major steering and brake problems like yours does. Sounds like we both have some work to do to make these old gassers safe and drivable.
Mine has some good stuff underneath; chrome dropped axle, nice hairpins, Old rear end, ladder bars,etc but the workmanship is REAL rough.
Here's a couple of pix....

 

Mine was red oxide primer when I got it. I started sanding looking for a name or other identifying features but all I found was this '60s lace and cobweb paint job with no lettering.
It runs and drives but..... the steering box was junk, the axle had 20 degrees of caster, no front shocks and the front brakes didn't work. The ladder bars bind up the rear parallel leafs so it's really stiff in back.
All that and it's still a kick in the ass to drive! Can't wait til I get some of the bugs out and can really beat on it some.

 

Can anyone help us out with some history on either of these old gassers?

 

There is a guy Austin Works, has the fix for your droopy door handles, also Scott Rods in Ohio has glass body parts. Haven't talked to them yet. But prices on the web site seem reasonable.

 

Does your car have a coil over straight axle? Been thinking going that route. not much room in these little bastards.

 

I talked to Scott's rods, the front end cost was ok but add 500 to crate and ship to California and it gets expensive. Then you have to fit it and mount it. Mine's all steel too, and so far the body seems very solid (except for the rear apron which is about 1/2 Bondo) I'll probably leave it all steel.
This one has a transverse leaf, early Ford style, with early Ford spindles, hairpins, and early disc brakes. I just replaced the Austin steering box with a Vega box and cross steering. I'm in the process of installing the steering column and re-building the driver's side header to clear the steering shaft.
I'm actually not sure what to do with this car. Right now I'm trying to make it driveable while keeping it as it is. If someone recognizes it and it has some meaningful history I don't want to change it but if not, it will get a new chassis and a complete rebuild - like Mazmanian's Austin but without the chopped top.

 

Hooooooraaaaay!
Thank you, some people liked it with the chop, me, not so much.
There is a reason it got it's nickname.

 

Here's a couple pix of the front end.... note the lack of shocks. I'll have to do something about that.

 

That chop on Mazmanian's car never appealed to me either and NHRA sure didn't like it. Not real sure it gave it any real aerodynamic advantage though, so why did they give him trouble. I saw the restored car at Bakersfield a few years ago and it's just bitchin'.
When this car became available, all I could see was candy red and polished Halibrands. My wife, on the other hand, saw a dirty old brown car that barely ran. Little by little she is starting to see what I saw, I think.

 

My feelings on chopping these cars is not related to anything but aesthetics.
Some cars look good in both chopped and unchopped form, but in my eyes these cars just look a little goofy when they are chopped, at least the way the MAZ car was done.
I had one of these when still in high school in the early 70's, so I guess you could say I have had some feelings for them for a long time.
Some years back when talking to Tom Wilford at the CHRR about the Maz car; I made a very regretful mistake in voicing my thoughts on the cars' chop. At that time, I did not know that Tom had owned the car, so I feel a need to choose my words on the matter here because I know the cars' s history and the connection so many people have with it.

 

No place else in the country has glass. If you are looking, try local. Mazz's car was done by some hack. Real chopped Austins look good. Though I wont chop mine. Look up Jim Oddy's car. 392. Nice car and has had it for eons.

 

Your's is really old timey. Mine has 2 by 4 front clip. Why? I don't know. Original frame was pretty stout for a little piece of Brit crap. Over engineering as per usual. Not under as today.

 

I didn't realize it, but they had independent front suspension originally so someone really cut a bunch of stuff off the frame rails to get them to look like they do. The stock frame is mighty thin though. They added 1/4" plate to some areas, like where the old Austin box was.
I finished re-drilling the front hubs to 5 on 4 1/2" today, so I can put my front Halibrands on it. I'll bolt the rest of the front end together tomorrow, align it and get started mounting the steering column.
Gotta give credit to Rotten Leonard's drill jig - worked great!!

 

DD, yeah, I've stuck my foot squarely in my mouth many times over the years. But everyone is entitled to their opinion, I'm just learning to be more diplomatic about expressing mine. Of course, I'm getting close to that age where you can say anything anytime to anyone and people just write it off as "crazy old bastard".
Top chops and many other body mods are really a personal taste issue, some cars just don't need to be screwed with while others just need fixing. Manic has a point, Oddy's car is chopped and it's bitchin'.

 

Hey Manic, tear into your new Austin yet?
Got my new steering column installed today. Now that I know where the steering shaft is, I can start building a new driver's side header.
Gettin' the itch to drive it again. Should be better with steering and brakes!

 

Haven't been able to do work. Since I rent, have to deal w/assholes. Blocked garage. Cant get the car home. Ready to start shooting IDIOTS!! They don't get it. Cant block access to garage. But I did get parts. Two Predator's. Both need rebuilds.

 

Got my front axle assembly all back together and aligned then started on a new driver's side header. It's gonna be a lot different than the other side due to the steering shaft but, whatever. Re-doing some of the wiring will be next after the header, not a grommet anywhere on the car, just wires going thru holes in metal. I'll fix that while I move the switches to the dash instead of the steering column support.
I pulled out some old '60s era fiberglass bucket seats to replace the Austin Healey like seats that were in there. I'll pull the seats and try the - glass ones maybe tomorrow.
Speaking of gathering parts.... I scored a nice old Weiand 6-71 blower manifold at the swap meet at the Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield. I'll be gathering drive pieces next. Hopefully, once it's running again, I can tear it apart to put the blower on it.

 

Fore sure dumping the front axle. But just haven't decided on coil over or transverse. Still need to get the damn thing home so I can work on it. Working on trying to get 472 Cad motor. Need a way to get that home. But for now will just collect parts. Have Dyer's shop about three miles from me.

 

Saw the solid rotors. That's kind of scary!

 

Had 'em on my street roadster - no problem. It's a light weight car with small, narrow tires on the front, no need for huge brakes with mega stopping power.
A Cad powered Austin, that's way cool! My buddy had a '49 Stude pickup with a stock 500" Cad/TH400, that thing hauled ass and drove smooth and quiet.

 

Your runnin' a smallblock. Maybe OK? but still wouldn't trust them at high trap speeds without an anchor! If you don't know what that is, then your to young or I'm to old! Thank you John records Landecker.

 

Ran a 62 Cat wayback machine Sherman. NO front brakes! At 120 it was SCARY to stop. Also 63 Temp, a little better, but still scary!