Following the veterans – in a ‘20s Austin
Imagine my surprise when reading the double-page spread about the London to Brighton run ( CCW, 4 November) and seeing that the Austin behind the 1902 Albion is my 16/6 open road tourer!
We purchased the Austin some 18 months before the 2005 London to Brighton run and that year travelled from Cambridgeshire, overnighting at my parents’ house in Dagenham, before leaving early on the Sunday with a car full of people. We stopped at The Bolney Stage pub and warmed up with bowls of hot soup, and decided that we would turn around. Since the picture was taken the car has been fully re-sprayed, a replacement duck down hood fitted, and only this year it finished having its engine rebuilt as we managed to break the crank shaft after a long trip up to Kirby Lonsdale for the Austin Ten Drivers’ Club National Rally a couple of years ago.
It has taken 18 months for me to get all the work done on the engine and we managed to pick up the re-bored block, reground replacement crank shaft and re-white metalled mains and big ends the weekend of the first lockdown, so this year I have had plenty of time to rebuild and refit the engine. We have managed to do around 500 miles this year and are looking forward to many rallies next year when hopefully we can all get back to as near normal as possible. I enclose a shot of what the car looks like now – in much better weather than on that London to Brighton run! ]
LETTER OF THE WEEK
Fred Leach, Chatteris, Cambridgeshire