Restoration methods

[roy mawbey]

Justin,

You are so correct! It was Nitro Cellulose I used. Looked it up on my restoration diary. And yes, for painting black it was perfect! A photo of my dad's 1939 Austin Eight Tourer the milatary version. As I mentioned previously it was a body off resto, He did everything. I remember in the 50's doing the crown wheel and pinion on tne differential with him. We had engineers blue to check the mesh. With a large hole in the chassis from a shell of some sort straight through it and the sand so much of it from the desert of North Africa I just don't know how he did it. We had the engine he fully restored kept in our lounge for about 2 years to keep any moisture out. I helped him build a garage out of Asbestos He drilled so many holes whilst I swept up and put the bolts through for him to tighten the nuts. Roll on 30 years and you realise how dangerous

On the spray side, this nitro cellulose can still be obtained over here but for special cases only. I only had a pad filter in the 70's how much cellulose I digested god only knows.




Roy

[merbesfield]

Roy

Roy, that's a great looking little car. Do you still have it? Hope you're health is ok! The things we all did before we knew any better is scary.

[JTR70]

Yes, that is a very intersting car with an interesting history! It Has removable sidewindows just like a speedster. I know what you mean about attitudes changing toward hazardous materials. Its just like the seat belt thing we spoke about a few weeks ago. You look back on it in amazement that you're still here. Yes, another great property of those old laquers was they cured super hard and could be polished to an even further luster than the later finishes. This hardness was also the eventual downfall as it would crack or "laquer check" as the years rolled by. Nothings perfect is it? Justin

[roy mawbey]

[admin]

Roy ,Great story on the Austin 8 and a real nice looking car. I'm a sucker for Brit cars a few mos ago I picked up a nice original 1954 Rover 90 at an Estate Auction,that was given to a local woman by her Brother in 1974 from Queenslland Au. and over the past I have had a 49 MGTC and I restored a 59 Bugeye among other vintage American cars & Cycles , but due to room and money restrictions no longer have them but My main thing now is my 356 Basket that I put on a Rotisseri on Monday. Next I'll learn how to post Photos.Sorry for the long post but its 8degrees F. out and I need to roll the car outside and sand blast the perimeter of the floors before I move on.
Thanks for posting, Bruce C.

[roy mawbey]

Hi Bruce

Nice to hear from you. Yes, after the Austin 8 my dad bought a frogeye sprite like the one you had. I liked that car. I liked the engine access and I can picture my dad now underneath the hood cleaning and working on the SU carbs if I am correct? The old Rovers were well liked over here as well. For some reason don't ask me why I have a 23 year old Rover Metro that takes up garage space. I like the engine similar to my Mini and it still starts on the button and goes well. So there it sits whilst my BMW sits out on the drive in tbe wet.

Can't resist it, a view of the Austin in about 1957 with my mum and my brother at the steering wheel and me in the back. We were on holiday in one of those caravans. We knew how to live





Hope you get that 356 on the road, look forward to hearing your progress on that.

Roy

[JR]

Hi Roy,
Nice pictures of you and your Mum with the Austin.
You had me confused-NOT hard to do-when you mentioned 'The Caravan'!
All I could think of was North Africa and camels!

Ah Ha-then I saw 'The Caravan' behind the Austin.
I am surprised that the Austin could tow it.
Back in the 70s we had a 'Pop Up' Camper Trailer and used it quite a bit on trips with the kids when they were young.
I'll dig into the drawer where all the old photos are 'stored'- Read Stuffed, and see if I can find a picture of it!
I have a good friend who had a Sprite, we called them 'Bug Eyed'.
He was our Grumman A6 Airframes Tech Rep and made the USS Coral Sea combat cruise that I was on in 1969-70.
When he left for NAS Miramar in about 1972 from Virginia Beach he made up a tow bar to tow the Sprite behind his big American Motors car.
Guess who rode in the Sprite to test the tow bar at speed on the highway before he left!!
Well the tow bar worked and he made it all the way to California.
He later found a MG Midget and put the Bug Eye body on the Midget frame.
Memories!!
Dick

[merbesfield]

Great stories Roy. I'm not old enough (51) to have seen or remembered many of those types of cars, but somewhere along the way I definitely was afflicted w the P bug. Have you seen this museum, which unfortunately is closing, for mini cars? It is located in My state Georgia and I never visited it. I think it is only open a couple more weeks then the auction. I don't know why he is closing. http://microcarmuseum.com/

What became of the blue 356A in the background?

[admin]

Great storys and even better photos. And the Frogeye (England),Bugeye (USA)had a pair of SU's . My Rover Saloon is very rare here in the States, its the only one I've ever seen ,its even RHD.as it was sent here from Australia in 74 I am really looking foward to driving it this summer. If Dick and his Buddy tested the tow bar that way now a days thet'd probably get 5 to 10 in the Pen from the Safety Police . That was another good story . I have seen the ads for the Microcar Auction also, which is depressing .Hopefully they go to good homes.
Thanks for sharing.,Bruce

[JTR70]

Really great stories and photos you guys. I have to admit I am not familiar with any of these cars other than the "bug eyed" sprite and thats only because my uncle in San Deigo had a bright yellow one in his back yard which never ran but being a little kid it was of great interest on every visit there! Thanks for the crash course! It is a shame that the Mini museum is closing... Mark, I believe the Blue coupe in the photo is the very same that Roy still owns to this day. That is the one right Roy? Justin

[roy mawbey]

Yes, Its the same one as I still own, only the owner is a little older.
An interesting bit of trivia. The Messerschmitt was as advised an early one. When we removed part of the body the original primer was exposed. This was a greeny blue paint the same as we believe was used on the 109 fighter. This colour primer was used a lot in the aircraft manufacture and we assume they had gallons of the stuff left over from the war and used a little of it up on their three wheeler.

Of course only conjecture on our part. My brother though has aluminiun fuselage parts from a downed 109 ( the pilot baled out and survived ). We looked hard at the part he has but it looks like heavily shotblasted aluminium no paint to be seen.

Roy

[roy mawbey]

That museum looked really interesting, I guess these types of cars now only interest older people? who knows.

Dick, you mentioed above you were surprised the Austin eight could pull a caravan. Well first of all, in the early 50's some farmers opened up a field and rented it out to caravan owners who then rented them out for holiday makers for one or two weeks at a time. They had minimal washing facilties on the site and as for toilets a lorry would appear every day to collect every thing in a bucket My brother for some reason always wanted to follow the lorry around to each caravan with my mother shouting at him to come back to ours. If that was bad the gas mantle lights, no fridge in high summer and a useless cooker I was pleased to get home
Thank goodness we only went for a week.

Secondly, the Austin eight just about managed 7 mph in 1st gear and topped out at 60mph going down a hill. As for torque it couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding It made walking a pleasure.

Now, how it got on in the desert as a lowly staff car I just don't know but it looked the part in the desrt paint job when we first got it.

Roy

[JR]

WOW-What history Roy!
Good for you!
Dick

[admin]

Roy that was a good story and we have a few Messershmidts around here and there is an active Microcar Club in the Boston area .Your 356 is really nice, thats agreat picture.
Bruce

[JTR70]

Great Story Roy! This is exactly the reason why people rough it and go camping; you have such an appreciation of home when you return. Justin