1959' Austin A35

This is the first time that this 1959 Austin A35 has been offered for sale on the open market since 1980. The previous keeper to me had owned this car since 1980 and had spent that time developing the car to what it is today. I had seen this car at a show and tracked down the owner and asked if he would be willing to sell it, which at the time he wasn’t. After a period of time the owner changed his mind and subsequently I purchased it.
This is 4 owner car which, as far as I am aware is structurally almost completely original only having had two small areas of welding carried out in its life time. It retains its original sills, both inner and outer and the A” and “B” posts. All the chrome is in very good order as are the window rubbers and the car is fitted with a laminated screen and a properly louvered bonnet. The interior is very nice having been fitted with an MG midget dashboard with full instrumentation including air fuel ratio and boost gauges. The car also benefits from a new head lining. New Wipac Quadoptic head lamps with uprated bulbs have just been fitted along with new top quality wiper arms and blades.
Mechanically this car has been developed to the following specification.
1275 MG midget engine turbo’d running a GT1725 Saab turbo set at 12 psi boost, Sierra type 9 5 speed gearbox, 3.7 diff, Rae Davis 2 piece ½ shafts, Megajolt distributorless fully mapped ignition system, 400 lb inch front springs, telescopic dampers all round. Frontline front suspension, MG Metro 4 pot calipers and vented discs, Yellow stuff pads, MG metro pedal box twin circuit servo’d brakes including brake/clutch master cylinders along with fully hydraulic rear brakes with Minifin brake drums. A fully recirculating high pressure fuel system is fitted with a pressure regulator and pressure gauge. Most of the engine hoses have been replaced with silicone and the radiator has been re-cored and is fitted with a thermostatically controlled electric fan. An engine oil cooler has also been fitted. I have just fitted light weight forged 1.5 ratio rockers with new rockers posts and rocker shaft. The battery is mounted in the boot, the engine and gearbox lowered in the car to keep the centre of gravity low as possible and to move some more weight rearwards.
Included in the history file are print outs from a rolling road session showing 140 bhp at 10 psi boost, the car currently runs 12 psi boost, and my estimation is that at this level of boost the engine produces 150+ bhp. The car starts first time every time whether hot or cold and on a fast run will return just under 40 mpg. The car never overheats and is completely untemperamental and uses very little oil displaying good oil pressure even on prolonged high speed runs. This car retains steel wheels with chrome rim embellishers and standard hub caps with 165/65 R 13 77T tyres which are almost new.
This car drives very well indeed and benefits from a MK2 Austin A40 steering box. The steering is more precise than most vehicles of this type and it is able to cruise at high speed with a reasonable ride and steering recession even taking into account the stiff front springs. I have print outs from various drag strip runs with the quickest being at Santa Pod, there car then produced a 15.9 second ¼ mile run at a terminal speed of 91 mph, not bad for a car almost 59 year old. On the road the cars turn of speed surprises many. The engine produces usable boost from around 1800 rpm and its acceleration in any gear is particularly strong.
I have a stack of history with thousands of pounds worth of receipts and information regarding the development of the car. I also have the original buff log book which, including the new style V5c shows 4 previous keepers since new. This would make a great car for events such as Goodwood or even as a competition car which the previous owner used it for on occasions, it turns heads wherever it goes.