Austin A40 Farina Restoration

In May I posted this photo of my A40 Farina, here is some more info:
Made in England (Longbridge) for export so is LHD, build date probably late May 1963 so 50 years old.
Registered in Portugal (Lisbon) in June 1963. The logbook shows only one lady owner until around 2002 (last tax disc) when it seems to have fallen into the hands of the motor trade until I rescued it. Obviously dry-stored all that time.


Doesn't look too bad from these pictures
does it.

Closer inspection reveals a dodgy paint job, probably about twenty years ago and using two-pack paint which is an absolute swine to remove.

Here is a picture of a similar car in racing livery. The colours are what mine should be - and will in due course !

A bit of stripping down and probing revealed the following areas of rust.
All the rubber seals were corroded away to buggery in the warm climate here and the car had obviously been full of water, probably most of its working life, and had rusted from the inside out.
The worse affected areas being the plenum chamber, front floors and the sill to lower front and rear wings.

    

Here you can see some of the worst areas cut out for preparation and eventual welding of new panels, all of which have to be made by hand using hammer and anvil as the parts are not available for me to buy.

Fortunately there is no such problem with obtaining mechanical spares from England and, after overhauling the ignition system and carburetter, the engine started ands runs very well. The car even goes into gear and has a working clutch although I haven't actually driven it on the road as the brakes need overhauling.
My priority right now is to get the body structurally sound so more news of the mechanics later.

Some of the holes ground back for repair.

The picture on the right shows the right hand front floor
with the inner half having been fitted with its new panel. The chassis section runs front to back right through so, after having fitted

a new piece to the bottom of this, it was easier to

make the complicated floor shape in two halves, first having repaired the inner sill so that there was something for the new floor to sit on.

Above is the repaired plenum chamber minus rust holes. The black paint is just to keep the damp at bay, when I get to the painting stage it will be the correct colour, that is, BMC Cumulous Grey


Below some not very good shots of repaired sections of inner front floors and lower front wings, in undercoat.

There will be more photos soon but for now I'll give it a rest and be back soon.

Old habits die hard. Just bought an Austin A40 Farina for restoration.