New Acquisition: Adventures in Austineering 1928 16/6 Burnham

ghce

Well-Known Member
Just concluded negotiations on this car this afternoon.
Early 1928 Austin 16/6 Burnham.
Complete and original right down to the original paint.

Had been stored this last 40 years in a disassembled state with the intention of a restoration but the owner is now past caperble of doing it due to age and infirmity so was bought by another VAR member who reassembled and got it roadworthy but he has too many Austin vintages so I was offered it at a price I could not refuse.
So I am happy to say I am now the owner of a larger Austin than my last one.

Judging by the Registration stickers on the window it was last on the road in 1980 prior to disassembly.

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My last Austin concourse grade ( sold in 2017) 1934 Austin Ten- Four.

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What lovely condition....
Your Austin is the same year as my Auntie's pride, her Austin Seven. Interesting to see the identical common dash instruments, although your grander car has a few more than are on the A7.

Health to enjoy.
 
Austin 7's are very popular indeed but I can't for the life of me fit behind the steering wheel and even with my Ten Four I found it extremely difficult to squeeze my self in ( I am 6 foot 4) so I am hoping that with a scaled up 16/6 it will be a bit easier.

Here is a shot of the dash in the 10/4.

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Ive got a mate here in Auckland with one of those. As long as Ive known him -50 odd years- the thang has never been reassembled ,and sits in his garage under a cover. Has taught me a lesson
 
Ive got a mate here in Auckland with one of those. As long as Ive known him -50 odd years- the thang has never been reassembled ,and sits in his garage under a cover. Has taught me a lesson

Well that's where this one currently resides, maybe it's the same one :D

I have always been a fan of rolling restorations for that very reason.
 
Looks like it has traficators and brake lights retrofited at some stage in its life I think that will be to first thing to go as whilst many get fitted it does detract from the originality and makes one more thing for WOF inspectors to pick on, so best off gone.
I used my last vintage Austin as a daily driver in the city for about 4 years with no brake or indicator lights and found absolutely no difference in safety or convenience for either me or other cars, hand signals are all that was needed.
If the car has lots of power, acceleration and excellent brakes I would concede on the point but as the power is close to hopeless and the brakes criminally poor you always drive with great stopping distances and an eye firmly stuck to the rear or side view mirrors, never had one bad experience with other drivers.
 
Still on a transport buying spree.
Bought 2 Mongoose Mountain Bikes, full suspension models.
Will have to find a way to put a bike rack on the back of the Austin!
Was thinking of one of those ski roof packs as well, sure to get a shed load of looks and comments with that look lol.IMG_20221203_132455.jpgIMG_20221130_134031.jpg
 
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I went to the 88th reunion dinner of the Austin Ex Apprentices Association last night at Bromsgrove not far from Longbridge . 144 of us met up of the 1000 members worldwide . Had an interesting discussion about the pre 2nd WW heavy model's. Austin Ex-Apprentice Association | Facebook

Really appreciate that link, its amazing that these old cars are still around and get as much use (by me anyway) as they did back in their heyday of close to 100 years or even older.

The VAR here in NZ is very active with runs every week throughout NZ with the many regional branches, the largest being in my region of Canterbury.

Its thanks to the good graces of the Auckland branch organiser and the introduction by the Canterbury branch organiser at the VCC swap-meet held in Christchurch NZ ( the largest in the Southern Hemisphere ) that I came to buy this original survivor.
 
Well it's fun owning a near veteran car, been fighting petrol leaks and seepage this last week.
Put the car in the garage ( internal garage) only to find that the whole house soon smelled strongly like petrol so out side it sat in the rain, probably the rainiest December in Christchurch NZ history.
Finally tracked the worst leak to a broken fiber washer on the updraft zenith carb, cured with a home cut paper washer.

The next worst seepage is from the Autovac outlet Petcock, that may take some time to deal with as I will need to find a new one as I don't fancy my chances of resealing / lapping in the 96 year old one, AliExpress is my friend but delivery times are woeful or I might do an upgrade to a better tap than original, one that will hopefully never seep.

Austin in there wisdom decided that the ultra reliable Autovac needs a petcock to be turned on every time you drive the car and off when you are not but why the flipping hell did they put it inside of the engine bay with out a cable to the inside of the cab to turn it off and on, for f's sake how silly is that, and why in the last 96 years did some one not install a cable pull on the dash ?????

I saw an Austin Strangler ( choke ) pull lever the other day at the local VCC ( vintage car club) might have to plumb that to the dash.

So now it's back in the garage as the seepage that still is there isn't smelling out the house.

Last night I was checking out the single window wiper which seemed to have stopped working.

Finally flagged it away till the morning when there was more light.

Next morning, multimeter in hand I quickly discovered it's a vacuum wiper o_O problem solved, next time I will turn the motor on to check the wiper.
I had been wondering where the vacuum Tee pipe off the top of the Autovac went too :LOL:

More adventures in vintage Austins will surely follow.
 
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Just scanned some images of the car from prior to its disassembly somewhere in the early 1980's as evidenced by the car window registration certificate on the far right (Blue 1980 sticker) provided by the seller from the previous owner.

Certainly making me rethink the idea of leaving it as a Rusteration and maybe doing a fuller cosmetic restoration.

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Thanks for that. I found my Aunties A7 chummy in the 'Austin 7 Golden Jubilee 1972 film.
She's still driving the car, usually at least once a week. Last time I was in it, was a lunch pub run on new years day.
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Note the cycle front guards. It was 'tuned' for hillclimbs by the previous owner. That would be the 2nd owner, my Auntie being its 3rd and current owner.
 
Those guards certainly do look skinny!
Austin owners seem to have a streak insanity in them as do some other vintage owners participating in hill climbs and other off road activities.
Just the other day watched Richard Hammond in his new TV series on vintage restoration engaging in this dodgy activity, it's a wonder that so many vintage cars survive!
 
I'd like to know what an 'air strangler' is, as mentioned in the Equipment paragraph on page 5. ???
 
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