25-11-2017, 07:41 PM
This much travelled tired little object arrived yesterday & I spent a useful, smelly afternoon finding out what I had bought (unseen)
The car was bought (from a returning home HK Policeman) by an American in the 70's while working in HK. He took it back with him to California & it eventually ended up in a barn in Ohio. fast forward to 2017 & I heard about it & bought it from the wife/daughter of the late owner. It had not moved for 20 + (?) years, but was sharing a dry barn with many four footed furry critters. They clearly lived in the car & made nests in the battery box, under the driver's seat and under the back seat. That was the smelly bit this afternoon. (one big black rubbish bag full...6kg!old nests, nuts... URGH)The nests were mostly made from carpet & some foam rubber, but amazingly the upholstery (probably from the 60/70's) was hardly damaged. unfortunately the only damp in the barn came from the nesters pee & there are some, not serious, holes in the floor caused by this uric acid!.
I have now established that the crankcase is M163594 & the body is AG1357.Chassis is probably 151214 {Another AG that I brought in from California (with an RK (1929) saloon) had a body number 68 older, but a chassis 868 younger} I will have to scrape the Chassis to see what I can see as the aluminium plates are unreadable. The standard works hardly acknowledge the AGB (Mills misses it out completely, so finding two in the USA was extraordinary.
The car has been modified (late 60's??) with a four speed box, 17" wheels (with seriously dodgy tyres with many different aspects/sections!), It has been fitted with hydraulic brakes (Lockheed...probably Morris 8), has "helper" coil springs at the rear (off a bed....?) but it has a downdraft 30VE1 Carburettor sitting on a 9E1 head! So it may be an interesting drive when I get to that stage!
First I need a coil to even think about trying to get the engine going (OK I know peoples views on this subject.... ) then make the brakes work, stop the steering column moving about, then think about the body which is basically solid, covered in yellow flaking paint 1mm thick. and some (well quite a lot) surface rust. I don' think an oily rag will be enough!
The car was bought (from a returning home HK Policeman) by an American in the 70's while working in HK. He took it back with him to California & it eventually ended up in a barn in Ohio. fast forward to 2017 & I heard about it & bought it from the wife/daughter of the late owner. It had not moved for 20 + (?) years, but was sharing a dry barn with many four footed furry critters. They clearly lived in the car & made nests in the battery box, under the driver's seat and under the back seat. That was the smelly bit this afternoon. (one big black rubbish bag full...6kg!old nests, nuts... URGH)The nests were mostly made from carpet & some foam rubber, but amazingly the upholstery (probably from the 60/70's) was hardly damaged. unfortunately the only damp in the barn came from the nesters pee & there are some, not serious, holes in the floor caused by this uric acid!.
I have now established that the crankcase is M163594 & the body is AG1357.Chassis is probably 151214 {Another AG that I brought in from California (with an RK (1929) saloon) had a body number 68 older, but a chassis 868 younger} I will have to scrape the Chassis to see what I can see as the aluminium plates are unreadable. The standard works hardly acknowledge the AGB (Mills misses it out completely, so finding two in the USA was extraordinary.
The car has been modified (late 60's??) with a four speed box, 17" wheels (with seriously dodgy tyres with many different aspects/sections!), It has been fitted with hydraulic brakes (Lockheed...probably Morris 8), has "helper" coil springs at the rear (off a bed....?) but it has a downdraft 30VE1 Carburettor sitting on a 9E1 head! So it may be an interesting drive when I get to that stage!
First I need a coil to even think about trying to get the engine going (OK I know peoples views on this subject.... ) then make the brakes work, stop the steering column moving about, then think about the body which is basically solid, covered in yellow flaking paint 1mm thick. and some (well quite a lot) surface rust. I don' think an oily rag will be enough!