Not a Moggie - but a close relation - Austin A30.

Post by **iambiggles** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:36 pm

My latest restoration. Pretty much finished. 1955 A30 2 door.

Speedwell Blue, Red leather interior, Beige Wool carpets. Still on the original 803cc engine which runs well, but I may well swap it out for a 948cc as the spares for the 803's are getting harder to get.

Rather spiffy if I say so myself

http://www.thefullers.co.uk

Post by **ASL642** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:41 pm

V. jealous! I used to have a 1957 4 dr originally speedwell blue with blue interior but resprayed black before my time. Had it for 11 years but had to give it up as couldn't fit 3 children and a dog in! Congratulations on a lovely resto!

Post by **nick69** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:59 pm

I have a 56 A30. Very cool little cars

Post by **ASL642** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:11 pm

Fast corners are interesting though!

Post by **iambiggles** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:29 pm

interesting in the same way a wheatgrass enema is *interesting* ??

;)

Post by **ASL642** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:37 pm

Yep! Two wheels!!!!

Post by **iambiggles** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:39 pm

regaliaqueen wrote:Yep! Two wheels!!!!

if you're lucky! ;)

Post by **Kevin** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:18 pm

Looks a cracking little car did you do the paint yourself.

Post by **ASL642** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:18 pm

The bus sized steering wheel and v. interesting suspension made it a fun white knuckle ride at times, always carried a small hammer for when the float chamber stuck - does this rings any bells?!

Post by **iambiggles** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:58 pm

Kevin wrote:Looks a cracking little car did you do the paint yourself.

I wish!! lol

Nope - it was done by a local spray company that also do stuff for McLaren and A1 racing. Very skilled. pretty reasonable too.

Post by **iambiggles** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:59 pm

regaliaqueen wrote:The bus sized steering wheel and v. interesting suspension made it a fun white knuckle ride at times, always carried a small hammer for when the float chamber stuck - does this rings any bells?!

Of the Notre Dame variety - yes

**the bells, the bells!!!**

Post by **ASL642** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 1:34 pm

By comparison the Moggy is state of the art. But wouldn't have missed those years for anything. V. happy memories.

Post by **iambiggles** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 2:26 pm

regaliaqueen wrote: By comparison the Moggy is state of the art. But wouldn't have missed those years for anything. V. happy memories.

Well, like the Mog, there's a fair bit you can do to improve things. Pretty much take everything off an MG sprite or early MG as far as brakes and suspension.

They used to race these quite sucessfully - I believe Sterling Moss used to race a Speedwell A35. And a great story I heard recently about Graham Hill: apparently for one of his Monaco races he drove all the way from the UK in an A35, raced, then drove all the way back

*slightly* different from the cosseted existance of todays F1 drivers!

Post by **Kevin** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 4:26 pm

It was John Sprinzle I believe who was the first sucsseful A35 racer and here is a snippet from Speedwell

joined by "up and coming" racing driver Graham Hill, Graham joined Speedwell well after the company was established, and took the position of work's foreman because at the time Colin Chapman wouldn't give him a race drive while he was so good at his job. In reality, being 'in charge of the workshops' meant that Hill was acting as fitter, bolting the latest tuning gear onto Speedwell's very competitive A35's. The A35 driven by John Sprinzel and later by Graham Hill along with Speedwell-modified Austin Healey Sprites were raced to many victories bringing much good publicity to the company.

Post by **iambiggles** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:39 pm

Kevin wrote:It was John Sprinzle I believe who was the first sucsseful A35 racer and here is a snippet from Speedwell

joined by "up and coming" racing driver Graham Hill, Graham joined Speedwell well after the company was established, and took the position of work's foreman because at the time Colin Chapman wouldn't give him a race drive while he was so good at his job. In reality, being 'in charge of the workshops' meant that Hill was acting as fitter, bolting the latest tuning gear onto Speedwell's very competitive A35's. The A35 driven by John Sprinzel and later by Graham Hill along with Speedwell-modified Austin Healey Sprites were raced to many victories bringing much good publicity to the company.

Ahhh - cheers for that. I *could* have looked it up, but I was watching the golf

Post by **nick69** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:56 pm

Oh yes mine has midget uprated suspension all round, midget discs up front, modern leather interior. The engine is at the shop being built at the moment and my friend is making a rear disc set up for me.

Well I actually have 2 of them. The other one is in a 1000 bits as ive been modifying the front end for its V8. Its gone very well as I now have the 1966 Ford 289 V8 and C4 auto box mounted with great success. The rear axle is going in next week.

I like them.

Post by **iambiggles** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 9:41 pm

nice!! what engine did you go for?

my plan is to either go 948 or 1098 (midget) as I want to keep the original gearbox as I dont want to modify the floor. I've got a spare box which I'm going to rebuild with A35 ratio's. I'm tempted to go the full suspension/brake route, but in fact the brakes are really good on this one.

Post by **nick69** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 10:53 pm

The factory brakes work REALLY well when properly adjusted. Anyone who says they are rubbish doesnt know what they are doing. The engine in the first one is a 1098 which works well with the smooth case box but you also have to swap the half shafts and diff to the midget ones.
You will also have to drill a filling hole in the midget diff as most dont have them or they are in the wrong place.
Apparently my 1098 is now running at 87bhp/75lbs of torque but we will see when its finished and in the car.

Post by **iambiggles** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:09 pm

Yup - the brakes have been rebuilt and work great.

I'll probably just to the half-shafts and diff rather than the whole carrier/axle.

Thats good numbers on the 1098, who's doing the rebuild?

Post by **nick69** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:40 pm

Its not a company, its a friend. He used to be a mechanic in F1 back in the 60s/70s. He said those numbers where at the fly so would be a little lower in the car but thats fine with me.