PRICE ON ...
A nut and bolt restoration
As I mentioned last issue, our J40 pedal car, made in 1950, is unusual and rare. It is a ‘bolt-together’ version, some of which were apparently shipped disassembled in the boots of fully-grown Austin cars. There are no records saying exactly how many bolt-together examples were made, but the number was quite small if the Austin J40 Facebook page is any indication. In 2001, the UK Austin J40 club secretary reckoned our example was the earliest known survivor and seemingly it still is.
October 2020 saw me dust off all the parts, some of which I had restored and painted in 2004, and a pre-restoration assembly was tackled. A trial fitting of panels before painting is a smart move, just in case something needs to be straightened or aligned. Many enthusiastic young drivers made sudden contact with stationary objects, which is why the headlights are often knackered. Reshaping is no small task, as the metal used in the first models was 18-gauge steel — the same as used on the fullsized Austin A40.
Of course the first mistake I made was assuming that all the panels would align properly. Wrong. Nevertheless, in the absence of a workshop manual or another bolt-together example to copy, I pressed on. A J40 aficionado might be able to spot the imperfections, but I’m quite happy with the end result.
The right-hand-side panel had the usual impact damage and splitting at the top of the front wheel arch, so that work was entrusted to Bruce at North End Panel Beaters, who did the fine work on our Mark 1 sedan in 2019. He cut out the damaged piece, moulded another, and welded it in place with such precision that only very minor filling was required to achieve a smooth finish.
The next task was to try out the remaining paint I got from the lovely Adrienne (Kustom Car Club) at Spraystore in Christchurch in 2004. Unfortunately, Adrienne died a couple of years back. That sad event in part encouraged me to complete the pedal car, especially as she had gone to the trouble of mixing my colour of choice.
The next problem was that, thanks to the various environmental (with the emphasis on ‘mental’) protection authorities’ world-wide restrictions on paint composition, the process used for mixing the paint in 2004 was not allowed in 2020 so, despite Spraystore’s best efforts, there is a slight difference between the 2004 and 2020 colours. I quite like it. The original colour is applied to the centre panels and the newer paint to the outer panels creating a subtle twotone effect, separated by some vintage fender weld.
My impatience with watching paint dry resulted in one side receiving a nice beach towel impression. That took a lot of subsequent polishing off, and there are a couple of patches where the paint could’ve been a bit thicker but, in the end, my practice of sanding down the completed panels with 1200 wet and dry, followed by an application of some Re-po Extra Cut, gives an old-but-newlooking finish, befitting a 70-year-old pedal car.
Reassembly took a bit of extra time, as I mistakenly fitted the engine panel to the top of the front inner guards instead of underneath and — would you believe — I did the same thing with the boot floor. Luckily it was a bolt-together model. On the plus side, I was able to reuse the original seat foam in both the seat base and rear panel. The 6V torch bulbs had to be imported from the US, and now it has fully functioning lights.
It’s had a test drive around the front yard and, aside from the handbrake needing adjustment, everything is working as it should. I do pity the poor children of that era, as it is very heavy. Either the mums and dads were doing a lot of pushing back then or they were turning out some heavily muscled offspring!
All up, I’ve spent around 22 very satisfying and productive days finishing this project. Want to own one yourself? One needing a full restoration just sold in Australia at an auction for $5600! And in the UK there is a very rusty basket case for £500, so they’re still out there.