Guppy's 1959 Austin A35

[Guppy]

Due to popular demand (from one member) here's the thread for my Austin A35, AKA tha Austang AKA Phyllis.

It's a 2 door 1959 model, the final year they were produced before being replaced by the mini (apart from the vans) and has a 948cc A series motor. I bought it when I was 18, had it for 10 years now, and I want it to be the car that I never sell. It has only done 50,000 miles/80,000 km, so not bad for a 54 year old car.

When I bought it, it wasn't in a warrantable condition, due to some small rust spots in the floor beneath the driver and by a bumper hanger, and it didn't have reflectors on the rear either, and one or two other minor things. The brakes also needed some work, but aside from that it was pretty tidy - certainly not conrcourse condition, but pretty much ideal for a first project.

So far I've mainly done maintenance stuff - had the rust fixed, overhauled the brakes (the drums were full of sandy rusty gunk), cleaned out the fuel tank and the carb (after the fuel bowl filled with rusty stuff), etc. I also got some minilite wheels for it (they cost $50 more than it cost to buy the car in the first place!) and adjusted the guards slightly to stop the new radial tyres rubbing. Made some new carpets too, and various other small bits and pieces.

It has been in storage for the last 4 years or so while I've been travelling the world, but it does get occasional use, and it was used as my friends wedding car too.

Plans for the future include a restoration and repaint at some stage, but my situation doesn't permit it at the moment. It has already had a respray - the original colour is a darker shade of green. I'm thinking a dark metallic green/blue would look good, but we'll see.

That's all I can think of at the moment.....enjoy!

[Guppy]