Well, I just got home. It is definitely an Austin A40 Sports. The body is aluminum, except for the hood and cowl/windshield frame. The front and rear suspensions are totally missing. The engine (with two carbs) is sitting on the ground, as is the body. This is a cute little car! Right behind the doors, there are little plastic turn signals that pivot up out of the body. The dash is wood, and is pretty much gone.The convertible top bows are there, but pretty bound up. The muffler and part of the tail pipe are in the trunk; It looks pretty good. I'm going to buy it and.................I don't have a clue. My first thought was Gasser!, but I don't think I'll go that route. I don't really know what to do with it, but I can't just let it sit there any longer.
If it is an A40 Sport, I think you're going to find some pretty humble underpinnings. Sport lable aside the A40 was the basic transportation utensil of the British Isles in the late 40 and early 50's. Like the Spright and midget you might find a stressed tube unibody type layout.Might even have quarter eliptic springs on the rear, and lower A arm with col spring and Lucas lever shock upper front suspension member. Porbably have a rack and pinion. Likley powered by a Austin/Morris "A" series engine on the 1200 cc area. Maybe 50 HP. the sport model will probably carry dual SU 1 1/4 inch side draft carbs. # main bearing engine, pretty bullet proof but not a heavy breather. I have a friend who has a mid 70's midget which he stuffed an old Busch series Olds v6 with automatic into. Not much foot room and pretty toasty environment. There is an ealier model A40 running locally with a GM 4.3 V6 that does fit rather nicely, and pushes the car along quite nicely, runnig a narrowed ford 9 inch for 3rd member. Might be a good host to a T Bird 2.4 Turbo engine or something along those lines. Engine compartment is likely pretty narrow. Good luck, could be a fun project .
I knew what you meant.....it was the wrong kinda weed. Nothing worth reporting other than the engine.
How about a Flathead V8-60 in there?? Seroiusly, an Olds Quad 4 or a multi-valve OHC Toyota engine would be neat. A buddy of mine in town just ran the Hot Rod Power Tour with a Morris Woody Wagon. I watched him building it over a several years period. He installed front & rear disc brakes, a Toyota 4 cyl. 16 valve dohc engine, 5-speed, A/C, etc.. Pics of it might make the magazines. It's sharp. Looks completely original from the outside. Tastefully done He could probably help with what would work. He knows these British imports inside and out. Let me know if ya' want help.
Good for you animal. Wow, there's so many ways to go with it. I'd search out how many have sold in the past 5yrs and see what it's worth. I'm guessing less than the cost to restore so that may be out (not to mention we're all HAMBERS). I see a very neat and different kustom in there. You may have enough stuff to sell international like the trafficators and such, and if the motor isn't stuck it's all "rebate" mat'l. Being an aluminum body could make it easier or harder to kemp this thing depending on your outlook and skills. It needs about a foot or more added to the front sheet metal. It needs sculpted wheel openings. It needs a tapered Carson style top or something similar with function. The stock grille and hood shape can be retained but some styled and aggressive looking bumpers, maybe some pissed off lookin nerf bars. Power is anything that fits. While perhaps pricey, knock-off wires and wide whites could complete the look. And these are just my 1st impressions. I'll bet the early concept drawings had similar styling cues. Am I the only one in this school of thought besides buschandbusch?
A stripped down DOHC 4 would be cool. Light too,m so it wouldn't throw off your handling all that much. With no suspension in it, you could upgrade it with something more modern so it handles like a modern sports car too, while keeping the vintage racer theme.
Pretty sure those pivoting turn signals are called Semaphores. VW guys pay big bucks for the beetles with semaphores. This car would be cool restored back to stock, but I could also see it being done up road race style, like the Cobra/Ace and early Ferrari that it resembles. Good to know it's not going to sit there and go to*****.
I've seen that car at the Year One monthly cruise-in in Braselton, and drooled aaaaaall over it on Power Tour. That car is one of the coolest I've seen in a real long time. Everyone sees it, glances at it, and walks on by. I'd own one like it in a heartbeat. -Brad
Flip it to some English gent in the sporty concourse de elegance set for big bucks and use the cash to build a hot rod
Damn just found this thread did you buy it? Easiest suspension swap would be MGB and while you're there fire a 215 in it you know it makes sense.Those things are rare even here!
track down a triumph 6 cylinder and stuff that in it. cams,headers,intakes, high compression pistons...there is alot of stuff avalible for them! I would imagine alot of triumph stuff would work- they liked to rip off other folks part designs then modify them to work on thier*****...
Wow - tough call. I'd sniff around with the wine and cheese crowd first - there were so few of these things made, I'm suspecting someone with a damaged body would love to have this one. It looks fairly straight and aluminum is tough to hammer flat. Should no one have interest in it from 'that' side of the fence, there's a few other options for rebuilding it... Firstly, parts seem nil. So, you're wide open on that front. So, choose a style- Vintage racer- you could use the later MGB components (good call there) or other Austin stuff (good luck there) and since the original multi-carb 'banger is still in the picture, it'd fit into some sort of 'modified suspension, factory engine' class. Gasser - this is a wide open deal, of course. The flyweight nature of the aluminum body would encourage one to head for the suggested 215 V-8 (let me be the first to suggest "Alloy Angel" lettering..." and keep it all aluminum. That'd be cool. Modern Street Machine - Not HAMB-friendly, but still a cool route. A Buick Grand National Turbo 3.8 would be a great fit in the tiny engine compartment and would deliver serious power/weight ratio. Some homework would turn up the best-possibly suspension goodies (the MGB call is still a good one here, but I bet Mustang II tubular goodies would be more than up to the task.) Tuck a set of 16x7s under the front and 16x8s out back and you'd have a fun ride with good proportions. If I were wearing your Chuck Taylors, I'd sure bet heavily on some collector of Austin stuff somewhere longing for this clean body. As fun as it'd be to build it into a hot rod, the lure of real money and the knowledge another rare classic automobile was getting completed because of your efforts would serve to make the cash feel even greener. You could dump a bunch of money into it, or flip it and make a fair wad right away - and get something you've been dreaming about for a bit longer. You can't go wrong no matter what route you choose! Nice score no matter how you look at it. ~Scotch~
Remember the Jag luxury custom post from about a year ago? This would be so cool. Just get it started (Collect up some parts) then let Jay Leno catch wind of it and sell it for $$$
go gasser , blown chrysler hemi injected, could you imagine how high the injection would stick up!!!!
I was wondering what ever happened to this one. I thought it was lost forever. What's the plan Animal?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/A-first-for-eBay-Two-Austin-A40-Sports-No-Reserve_W0QQitemZ280021582721QQihZ018QQcategoryZ29753QQcmdZViewItem
I don't know what we're going to do with it, but we will be picking it up in a week or so. I also found a pair of '64-'65 Barracudas that I need to get. We picked up a 1958 Anglia today, dinky little********. It'll be Ratso's, with a gasser flavor. Love those little cars! I may just put the aluminum Austin body on a tube frame with my aluminum slant six with crazy induction and a four speed.
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