| Subject: Austin A40 convertible
|
| A friend is considering the purchase of a 1953 Austin A40 Somerset
| convertible. He's curious about parts availability and any specific
| problems to watch out for when he looks at the car. Any words of
| advice would be appreciated.
|
| BTW, the ad indicates the car is a "3 position drophead." We took
| this to mean the hood can be up, down and something in between.....
.......... - Ralph
In the mid 50s when I was in high school one of my best friends had
an A40 saloon. Later in the early 60s I bought an A40 drophead.
Basicly they had the same running gear except the drophead
had two SUs and the saloon had a single choke down draught carb. We
both tended to treat these cars a bit roughly, (driving on various
combinations of two wheels). The cars responded by
braking crankshafts, axels and sometimes clutches. If you don't
treat them as roughly they might do better. I was once towed
about 250 miles at 70 miles perhour on the end of a 2o foot rope.
For 4 or 5 hours all I could see was the tailgate of my friend's
brother in law's pickup and a steady stream of freshly drained beer cans
sailing over and around my head from my friends in the truck up front.
Sometimes I changed the view by trying to pull along side them.
We had tried to drive to TiaJuana and had broken the crankshaft
about half way there.
A year or so later I was coming down from "cloud top" on hwy 17 at
about 2 am on a foggy night and found my right rear wheel passing me
at about 60 mph. We slid across all 4 lanes on three wheel in a shower
of sparks. (that was after they had widened the road to 4 lanes and before
they put in the center wall.) The wheel had pulled of over the lug bolts.
Later that day I traded it even for a good running '55 Plymouth.
"3 position" drophead usually refered to the roof rather then the passengers
positions, tho there may be exceptions 8^)
regards/dickn
|