1966 Ex BRS Austin VAK 100 "Noddy" van. Shack building.

Sounds like a good plan- those rabbit holes are always tempting though !
Any progress is progress.
James

Surprisingly, I sold a few bits from JOY: the engine, gearbox, a wheel, and a few other sundry bits, all managed to largely offset the cost of moving the original rolling chassis from the farm to home. Sadly, although I did manage to track down the original chassis number from BRS archives, it wasn’t considered sufficient evidence for DVLA to act on with regard to reinstating the original registration number, and the chassis was just too far gone to plough the time and effort into that it would have required, only to have ended up unable to register it as I wanted. I have kept the solid parts of the chassis though, in case I need to make repairs to GUG’s one anywhere, and will do my best to recycle what I can into other stuff. I’ve also got both axles, all the brakes, steering gear, four sound wheels, pedals, front wings and bonnet from JOY to keep/use as and when I might need them.

Thanks John. 👍

Yes, memories are funny things. It’s quite bizarre when you think about the things that drive us, and what triggers our emotional response.

I have a 1953 BSA Bantam in the garage, which is another irrational possession. My dad bought it on a whim when I was eight, as something I could ride around the fields on and then move on to something else when the time came. I’ve had dozens of motorcycles in the forty three years since, but I’ve never been able to part with that Bantam, even though, by any standard you care to apply, it’s a rubbish motorcycle. 🤣

One day I will be able to put the Bantam in the back of the lorry and take off somewhere.

Yes mate. All the “styled” bits are, the bonnet, the front wings, the cowl over the top/front of the body above the windscreen, and the roof panel are all fibreglass.

The rest of the body is a mix of ash, teak and ply, with a sheet aluminium skin and extruded aluminium gutters/cappings.

I too, wouldn't thank you for a Maxi, I'd not long started to drive and my Mum had two. I hated them new. But...
On one Le Mans trip I was offered a Bailey 12' that had starred in either, "Last of the Summer Wine" or "Oh No, it's Selwin Froggitt" (I forget which) as a chip van. A service later, and it was hooked onto my Subaru for probably the longest, fastest journey of it's life. I had my seven-year-old lad and his mate and it was perfect.

He's in his thirties now and when we hook up a live feed and a Whatsapp line for the Le Mans race, which we do every year, he still asks if I remember that caravan.

So yes, memories are powerful things.




Many years ago, my Dad bought a Volvo 145 after years of Vauxhall estates, Victors and 101s. After I passed my test I got offered a 144, so I bought it. As soon as I drove it, I felt like my Old Man, without the money or whiskey habit of course. It was slow (auto) and falling apart, but I loved it!

Keep up the good work Glen!

Is this nearly finished yet?

Hokay. Small update.

Had a bit of misbehaving time this afternoon. Lockdown has enabled me to get a lot of stuff done that would otherwise have been de-prioritised in favour of “going out” and other such pointless activities, so I’ve actually got myself into a position where there aren’t any other “just” jobs that SWMBO* wants done first...

Those of you with elephant-like memories will remember that a few months ago I attempted to get the DAF going, with limited success. It’s reluctance pointed toward a failing lift pump, so I pulled it apart earlier in the year and ordered up a replacement. Some mucking about with threaded adaptors was required, because genuine DAF pumps are eye-wateringly expensive, and aftermarket ones really cheap but have NPT threaded ports instead of metric ones. Anyway, I eventually got the bits together and the pump fitted this week.




The steel hard line from the pump to the filter body was really badly pitted, so I elected to replace it with a length of flexi. I will probably also review the hard line that feeds the pump, as I’m not massively keen on the clumsy fittings, but that can wait until I’m connecting it up in the Austin.

Did it work I hear you cry?

I shall offer you the following video by way of answer...




With that done, I spent some time un-burying it from beneath the junk that’s been piled on top of it. Hopefully I can get it ready to try moving it over the next day or two.










 

* To be fair, she has been very accommodating in allowing me free rein to work on the Land-Rover and tidy my workshop, so I can’t complain. 😀

Great stuff, both of your vehicles.

John

Today has been a day of Austin-ness.

First off, I have some spare wheels. The original lorry had six mismatched rims, and GUG also had an assortment of different styles. Between them both though, there are six Dunlop ones that are pretty much all the same, and are the ones I’m planning using. Three of them have tyres on that hold air, and are on GUG, the other three have been sat on/around the DAF, so needed moving off it and it seemed a sensible time to strip the old tyres off...



These are rims designed for tube tyres, and have no well in the centre to drop the bead into like modern tubeless ones. Instead, to change a tyre, you deflate it, push the tyre away from the outer rim, then the lip itself back 1/2” or so, and hook out what’s effectively a great big circlip, which releases the lip from the wheel, and you can just slide the tyre, tube and flap (a big rubber ring that sits inside the tyre between the tube and the wheel, like a massive bicycle rim tape) off the wheel.

It’s quite a good design, and allowed a driver away from base to repair his own punctures if he was so inclined, without even removing the wheel if the flat was on the front. However, when faced with tyres that were fitted 50 years ago, and have sat out in all weathers since, it’s not quite as straightforward. 

The old tyres are absolutely rock hard. Even with no air in them at all they barely give when you hit them, and their beads are practically welded to the rims. There’s really no option but to carefully cut them off. So the first step is to run around the sidewalls with a jigsaw to remove as much of the tyre as possible. Then carefully slice down diagonally as close to the rim as you dare, through the thickest part of the tyre and allow access to cut the bead reinforcing wires. On these tyres, which are heavy 8.25 - 20 crossplies, the bead wires are two braided steel cables, about 1/4” thick. With them cut, a careful application of a brick bolster and a 4lb club hammer finally sees the tyre bead pushed away from the rim and the detachable lip removed. Repeat for the other bead, and again for a second wheel.





Two was enough for today. The third one was between the DAF and the hedge, and I couldn’t get it out until I’d moved the lorry. I will get that one stripped shortly though, and clean and prep these three for paint so that they’re ready to fit tyres to when I’m in a position to be getting them.

With that out of the way I started poking at the DAF. It started readily today, which is a bonus, but it didn’t want to move as it had sunk into the ground, had a flat tyre, and one of the brakes was sticking on.

First job was to jack up the flat, tip some fairy liquid around the beads where it had popped off the rim, and put a ratchet strap around the circumference of the tyre to push the beads out against the rim. This allowed me to get some air in it, and it held once the strap was off. I jacked up each of the other wheels in turn and stuck a plank under them to lift them out of their ruts. The passenger side rear wheel was stuck fast though, and I couldn’t get in to do much about it with the vegetation along that side. So there wasn’t much else I could do except exercise some brute force and drag it back onto the driveway. Where it promptly got stuck.



I couldn’t get the brake to release, and none of the brakes were working either, as it didn’t seem to be building up any air pressure. I tried the traditional “hit the drum with a hammer” trick, with no joy. Even the big sledgehammer made no difference. Eventually, I ended up just smashing the drum off.





This finally allowed the wagon to roll. However, lack of brakes, and no power steering due to a rotted out hydraulic hose, no mirrors (because I’ve flogged them) and the other rear drum locking sporadically, meant that manoeuvring it around was tricky. So I decided that discretion was better than valour and just nosed it onto the hard standing rather than spinning it around first to unload the spare Austin axles off the back. I’ll worry about how I get them off when I’ve chopped the cab off and got the engine and gearbox out.

Close of play tonight saw me here.



More tomorrow.