Custom Car – September 2019

uThere’salotmoretothiscarthanfirst

meetstheeye,andStevenhasputalotof

thoughtandsoundengineeringpracticeinto

thesuspensionandthewayitdrives.There’s

10. 5 degreesofcasterinthefrontbeamand

thewholelotrollson 4 x 16 inchVintique

multi-drillsteelswith 5. 50 - 16 and 7. 20 - 16 Coker

Classicbias-lookradials,allobtainedfrom

NorthHantsTyres.

“Itreallywasthejourneyfromhell,but
Iwasn’tabouttomisstheopportunityto
collectthecarofmydreams.Literally.”

LessonsinTwelve
NowI’lladmitIhadtodosomeresearch
here.TurnsouttheAustinTwelvewasbuilt
from 1921 throughto 1939 ,andthename
continued(asthenumber 12 )onintothe
late’ 40 s.TheAustinTwelvewasnever
officiallysoldasapick-upbutmanywere
converted,particularlyduringtheSecond Everywherdetails,likeeytheouhomemadelookthereafuelreneatfiller

neckandheadlampandtaillamp

brackets,andthoseunusualbonnet

handles,whichStevenliberatedfroma

cupboardthatwasinhisroomathome

whenhewasababy.

WorldWar,andthisoneisunusualinthat

thecutdowncabusesthecurvedrear

panelofthefour-doorsaloon,whereas

mosthaveasimpleflatback.Allthebetter

forroddingthen,eh?

What’salsonotimmediatelyobviousis

howcurvythesecarsare.“There’snota

straightlineonit,”saysSteven,“everybit

Icuthadtobesplit,piecutorhavebits

addedtomakeitalllineup.

“Inordertoobtainsomeofthe

compoundcurvesIneeded,Iboughta

MorrisMinor’shellandcutoutvarious

differentcurvedsectionsfromthattoform

bitsofthecab.”

Re-formmightbeabetterwordthereas

thisthingwasrottenwithacapitalR.“ 2 ft

upitwasnon-existent,”helaughs.“The

wholethingwasabsolutelyrotten,butit

wasbuiltonwhattheycallaHeavyTwelve

chassis,soluckilythatwasreallysolid.

Thebigsixcylinderenginecausedafewproblems

duringthebuild,necessitatinga12-inch

stretchinthechassisandare-thinkofthefr

ontgrille/bonnettreatment.Checkthe

steeringoutthough–afterafewattempts,the

solutioncameinacompleteSeries2Land

Roversystem,whichfitsaroundtheengineat

reat.