Projects Austin Bantam/34 ford Boattail speedster found

It was the day after Christmas and my uncle called me to let me know that there was a little speedster he knew of that he wanted me to check out while I was in town. So I met up with him only to arrive at somebodys house, and behind a shed was an awkward silhouette under brown tarps.



After we uncovered it, heres what I found.

 

So after a few weeks of negotiation, It was mine... I live 2 hours away, and work fulltime, and the car was stuck in the ground and didnt roll. My uncle handled the picking of the car, and Jim (HarryT) on here was kind enough to doccument the process and send me the pictures. Thank you for that Jim.

 

WOW I am envious, what a great find! Gary

 

The icing on the cake... My uncle was able to get pictures from back in the day. If anybody in Connecticut or anywhere has history of this thing, I would be forever in your debt. The boat tail looks too perfect to be a homebuilt item, there are two identical Lead seams merging it to the austin body, its a very well done car for its day. unfortunatley for me, it's in storage for the next year or so while I finish up some other projects. My plans are to redo it to its former glory, with some mild changes. If this involves redoing the boattail with new metal, it will happen.

The car as far as I know was owned by a guy, who passed away. his wife, eleanor, gave these pictures to my uncle. The tags on the car are from 1960, so I can assume that was the last time it was registered.

 

Lucky man.What a find.

 

that thing is to cool , hope you post the rebuild photos when you get to it

 

That looks like a great find....I love boat tails

 

What a neat car, couldn't have fallen into better hands....can't wait to actually see it in person.

 

Cool story.. Lucky to get such great pictures too...

 

As unique as its new owner. Gonna be a killer car. Anything I can do to help just say the word.

 

What a great find!

 

Sonofabitch that's neato!

 

Fascinating. Do you have any idea when the vintage pics were taken? It's hard for me to tell the car in the background. Could it be late 40's-early 50's? Such a shame it was left to deteriorate like that but that only adds to its mystique. With your ability that car was always destined to be yours!

 

That is a great find! It deserves a full redo. Keep us posted!

 

Do we presume that is Eleanore in the pictures? Beautiful lady. Did she perhaps pass her name on to the car?

 

Sweet!

 

Awesome find. Im wondering whats in the background in that pic with the ford pickup, is that a chassis back there slightly to the right? Could be a farm wagon could be another hot rod....

 

Hey, Toreadorxlt;
Neat find/save. Reminds me of a decent copy - better in a lot of ways - of Edsel Fords' 1st version Speedster. Tail reminds me of the Biddle & Smart style speedsters, done IIRC, for Essex & Hudson, in ~ '27 & '29. Not exact, but the lines are similar. And a bit of the ~'29(?) Packard Speedster. Someone had taste & a good eye for proportion. Do like the Bantam cowl n doors w/the 'cutout' in them. Gives the speedster some nice lines, almost like the side view of an Auburn. Not entirely sure if I like the 34 ford grill, side hood grills, & windscreen frame. Yet. Not bad, but... . Iffen it was mine, I'd name it "Eleanor" , & use part of the last b&w pic in the dash. Make for a good story. Honor the guy & his wife you got it from. Hope you do a rebuild on this, w/a detailed thread. I'd like to see it, for sure. Also pics of the inside of the tail, doors, leaded areas, + underside shots of the body 'skirting'. Was the way Speedsters were done way back when - also the late teens, 20's & to late 30's, 2-man n 1-man board track n dirt trackers.
Marcus...

 

Thanks for rescuing this wonderful piece of history. I hope in your work to get it back on its feet again you can resist the temptation to make design changes and "improvements" in the way it was originally constructed. Just make it safe. Hope to see it rolling under its own power someday.

 

Holy cow. That thing is neat-o. Can't wait to see it when you start on her...

 

That is cool, can't wait to see the build picts when it gets its turn in the shop.

 

Excellent find!

 

Too cool! How ya gonna wash it?

 

What year is the lic. plate tag. might give you more accurate time when it last was on the road.

 

That's a real beauty...
Hope you can find out the history.

 

Wow! Another speedster rescued! Cool find and great pics!

 

Nice find!

 

NEEEEEEEEET! Subscribed to see what happens in a couple years!

 

Unbelievable!!!!! Can hardly wait to see more pics.

 

Very cool.