BRothers of inventioN
Owning a less obvious classic long-term involves far more than driving it. You learn to get creative with parts and repairs.
At first glance you wonder what these cars have in common. They were built fifteen years apart, and couldn’t be classed as direct rivals. Yet both had innovative designs, and the enthusiasts who own them have had them for almost five decades – you learn a lot when you’ve been with a car that long.
Ben Courage bought his 1937 Lancia Aprilia in 1964: “My pregnant wife couldn’t fit behind the wheel of my Riley Lynx,” says Ben, “so I went out looking for a family car. I specifically wanted an Aprilia because I’d read about them in Motorsport magazine. Dennis
Jenkinson used his Aprilia to crisscross Europe following Formula 1 races and found it to be ideal for the job. I paid £110 – mine came from Switzerland, hence the 1964 ‘B’ suffix numberplate. I believe a student brought it over, then sold it for the money to get home.”
Having owned the car for five decades, what mileage has Ben done? “It was my everyday car for a long time, but was laid up for a few years. I’ve done 120,000 miles and still use it at least once a week. It’s been repainted three times, but most of the outside bodywork is still original. The car is good enough to be used in current traffic conditions, with respect to the brakes, steering, and handling. It cruises comfortably at up to 70mph on the motorway, although I find 60mph to be less stressful.”
Ben’s Aprilia, a model 238, left the factory with a 1352cc engine, but after a conrod broke and destroyed the block, he fitted a later 1486cc from a Series 2 Aprilia; known as a model 438. The Lancia is narrow, but there’s plenty of legroom. You’re under no illusions that it’s anything other than a pre-war design, but the Aprilia is comfortable and certainly feels like you could dart about through traffic in it. Ben is particularly complimentary about the Lancia’s gearbox: “It’s really nice to use and very precise. Although all four gears are non-synchromesh, that’s never a problem. Of course I’m well used to it by now, so I can change almost without using the clutch if I need to. I suppose I’ve learned to do it by ear, calculating engine revs.”
Practical additions
In case you’re wondering, yes those are Volkswagen Beetle tail lights – a popular modification since they fit perfectly. When new the Lancia had just one rear light mounted high on the bootlid, but “some owners also fit Morris Minor lights. In spite of a large Lancia sticker on the side, people still think it’s a Volkswagen,” admits Ben.
With a career as an engineer for Rolls Royce’s Aero division, it’s no surprise that Ben devised methods and made tools to keep his Aprilia on the road. The spark plugs are located below the valve gear inside the domed alloy camshaft/rocker shaft cover. Ben uses a combination of a long plug spanner and his homemade plug installer/extractor – a wooden dowel with a length of rubber hose and electric tape on one end – that holds the plug lightly in place until you can start to thread it into the head. “The plug connectors are among the few design weaknesses, as any moisture in the oil leads to HT short circuits and explosions in the chamber, blowing off the oil filler cap.”
“The original conrods ran directly
I had a coupling machined to fit the Aprilia and it looks like it might work
on the crank without shells,” explains Ben, “they were prone to pick-up and seizure, which could destroy the engine. Lancia changed to thick-walled shells, but those are no longer available. When an overhaul is required the rods can be machined to take a modern shell, to suit the reground crank. My car’s S2 engine has thick shells, but they are pretty well worn now and I have a replacement engine ready to install, with S1 rods machined to take modern thin-wall shells. Some owners prefer not to risk seventyfive year old alloy rods and have steel replacements made instead.”
Certain parts have become so hard to find that getting them made to order is the only solution. For instance, the Aprilia uses three flexible propshaft couplings, which consist of a canvas ring with steel eyelets for the bolts. “They wear and are expensive,” explains Ben, “and making one is a specialist task. I was on eBay and spotted a coupling for £20 that looked like it might work; it turned out to be an auxiliary drive for a Toyota Previa. The holes were in slightly the wrong place, but the Toyota design uses an alloy ring with the bolts in rubber bearings to provide the flexing. I had a coupling machined to fit the Aprilia and it looks like this design might work. It should be cheaper
and more durable, I haven’t had chance to test it properly yet, however.”
“The contacts on the distributor are a pig to adjust,” continues Ben, “but I wouldn’t go with an electronic ignition. I’ve kept it all six-volt because I like it to be as original as possible. Will I restore it? I’d like to one day, but what’s preventing me is being so busy on my other cars. I’ve got several other Lancias; a 1935 Augusta, Delta, a couple of Y10s and I’m restoring a Fulvia Zagato.” Ben then mentions, “a friend has a Jowett Javelin at the moment, but it’s under restoration.” Javelin owner David Morris immediately jokes, “aren’t they all?” It raises a good point though, as even concours classics will always need a bit of fettling here and there – it goes with the territory.
Travelling by Javelin
David has owned this particular Jowett Javelin for twelve years, “I bought my first for £85 in 1963 and I’ve had five or six since. I always liked the cars,” explains David. The Javelin was a completely new sheet of paper for Jowett, nothing like they’d done before. Sadly, financial troubles meant the firm closed in 1954, however. “When Jowett ceased production the company guaranteed to support their cars with parts for the next ten years, and when I bought my first I wrote to them before they closed.” remembers David. “Jowett Engineering was still going strong until the end of 1964.” We tend to forget that when cars like these were built it was still a time of austerity and rationing, people worked on their own cars because they often had to. Cars needed little jobs every week, whether greasing or oiling bearings, tightening parts or topping up levels.
“I imagine there are now between seventy-five and one hundred Javelins left on the road, with perhaps three times that in pieces or laid up in garages,” says David. “The majority made for the UK market were DeLuxe models; they came with picnic trays and walnut veneer. Mine is a Standard model, usually exported. Hot climates would have destroyed the wood and leather of the DeLuxe cars, but my car has had a leather interior added. In the post-war years, the Jowetts were continuing to develop their products and updating parts – largely because of race experience with the Javelin and Jupiter. If you’re going to work on a Javelin it helps to have the extensive online catalogue showing all the parts year by year, with their annually updated serial numbers.”
David’s Javelin was restored in 2001 and since then he has made a few subtle changes to the car, “I fitted braided steel flexible brake hoses; does it make any difference? Well, it feels about the same as before, but it was only £15 a hose, so it is worth it for peace of mind. I was also suffering with the spark plugs getting wet – they tend to get rainwater thrown up from the front wheels. Thinking laterally, I went to a motorcycle spares shop and asked what they did to keep the water out. I ended up buying some NGK motorcycle plug caps and made
The newer-type gaskets work much better, once they’re lined up correctly
some neoprene covers, which solved the problem.”
David’s Jowett also benefits from an electric fuel pump, electronic ignition and halogen headlight bulbs. Some of the front suspension bushes are poly-bushed to counteract grease contamination and David has made replacement lower swinging arms for the rear axle. The Javelin also has screen washers mounted on the bonnet.
Originally, the composition gasket between the oil filter casting and the engine would have been made of cork. One of the Jowett Club’s UK members has reproduced them in aluminium, with integral Viton O-rings for a more precise fit. “The cork gaskets,” explains David, “tend to leak and owners looking for a fast, cheap fix would over tighten the bolts – which bent the aluminium housings further and made matters worse. The newer-type gaskets work much better – once they’re lined up correctly.”
The placement of the radiator behind the engine in the Javelin allows for excellent accessibility – at least to the engine, although the rear-most plugs were always difficult to reach without getting dirty. The flat-four can be wheeled out on a trolley jack for bigger jobs and for maintenance you swing the top of the grille up on hinges and unbolt the lower half.
“Jowett used a unique thread for the oil cooler take-off banjos – 22
threads per inch,” explains David. “But to cure the problem of stripped threads, a club member made a special adapter to go from the fine thread form used by Jowett to a standard BSP thread, in order to use normal thread fittings. Another tip is to use a socket-headed bolt drain plug for the oil filter drain plug, which makes access easier, since it’s awkwardly positioned beneath the oil filter.”
Javelin ownership is not reliant on specialist parts though. “Recently I needed to replace the radiator, so I went to a specialist; the internals turned out to be an off-the-shelf item, with the option of three or five cores, so I went with the five!”
Aside from the styling, what immediately impresses with the Javelin is the amount of room inside. The car was designed with a flat floor and seating for six. The engine is mounted ahead of the front axle and low in the frame. “They wanted a car with good ground clearance for the poor roads in export markets,” explains David. “It has a commodious boot, you can remove the back seat and, at a pinch, sleep in a Javelin.”
With the hands-on attitudes of owners like Ben and David, these cars will likely still be in regular use in another fifty years’ time.
Thanks to
The Avon Valley Railway for their assistance, 0117 932 5538.
www.avonvalleyrailway.org