American Austin parts!

Also, I almost missed all of these great parts from Sneezer out in Wisconsin.  Some of the engine parts are also applicable for Bantams!  Don’t miss out, the auctions end very soon.

American Austin Chromed Headlight Rim

American Austin Chromed rim

Click here to see the eBay listing: American Austin Chromed Headlight Rim

American Austin Headlight Buckets:

American Austin Headlight Bucket sneezer

Click here to see the eBay listing: Headlight headlamp housings buckets American Austin 1930 – 1935 Sold for: 149.00

Intake manifold American Austin and Bantam

Intake manifold American Austin and Bantam1

Click here to see the eBay listing: Intake manifold American Austin and Bantam  Sold for: 32.65

American Austin Transverse Generator Mount 1930-1933:

American Austin Generator Mount2Click here to see the eBay listing: Fan/generator mount AMERICAN AUSTIN 1930 -1932

Fan cooling American Austin 1930 – 1935

FanClick here to see the eBay listing: Fan cooling American Austin 1930 – 1935 Sold for: 14.99

Flywheel cover American Austin and Bantam 1930 – 1940

flywheel cover

Click here to see the eBay listing: Flywheel cover American Austin 1930 – 1935  ??

More parts have arrived! This time with some more Austin parts.

This is a good time to be restoring an Austin or a Bantam.  Over the couple of years I have been stalking eBay looking for parts, there have been plenty of dry spells.  I don’t know how long this deluge will last, but we have several sellers listing items and hopefully more will join.  The more the merrier!

Take a look at these new offerings in Tennessee.  The parts are primarily for Austins, but there are some great Bantam pieces peppered in there as well.

AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – ORIGINAL CRANKCASE – 1930-35

Austin Crank CaseClick here to see the Ebay Auction: AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – ORIGINAL CRANKCASE – 1930-35  No Sale

AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – VALVE GUIDE – 1930-35

Austin liftersClick here to see the Ebay Auction: AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – VALVE GUIDE – 1930-3 Sold for: $4.00 each

AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – 1930-1935 – PISTONS, RINGS, PINS, AND VALVES SET

austin pistonsClick here to see the Ebay Auction: AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – 1930-1935 – PISTONS, RINGS, PINS, AND VALVES SET No Sale

AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – ORIGINAL GEAR SHIFTER COVER PLATE

austin tranmission coverClick here to see the Ebay Auction: AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – ORIGINAL GEAR SHIFTER COVER PLATE No Sale

1940 American Bantam Hollywood / Riviera Trim

bantam trimClick here to see the Ebay Auction: 1940 American Bantam Hollywood / Riviera Trim

AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – DRAG LINK – 1930-35

Drag linkClick here to see the Ebay Auction: AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – DRAG LINK – 1930-35 No Sale

AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – ORIGINAL CRANKCASE FRONT COVER – 1930-1933Early austin timing coverClick here to see the Ebay Auction: AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – ORIGINAL CRANKCASE FRONT COVER – 1930-1933

AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – ORIGINAL WATER INLET 1930-33

Early Austin water inletClick here to see the Ebay Auction: AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – ORIGINAL WATER INLET 1930-33 Sold for: 20.00

AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – ORIGINAL FAN PULLEY & SPINDLE – RESTOREDFan pulleyClick here to see the Ebay Auction: AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – ORIGINAL FAN PULLEY & SPINDLE – RESTORED

AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – GAS CAP SIMILAR TO ORIGINAL – 1930-35gas capClick here to see the Ebay Auction: AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – GAS CAP SIMILAR TO ORIGINAL – 1930-35

AMERICAN BANTAM & AMERICAN AUSTIN WATER INLET – 1934-35, 1938-40 – PART 2318late austin and bantam water inletClick here to see the Ebay Auction: AMERICAN BANTAM & AMERICAN AUSTIN WATER INLET – 1934-35, 1938-40 – PART 2318 Sold for: 29.00

AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – FAN BELT – 1930-33 – NEW

new austin fan beltClick here to see the Ebay Auction: AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – FAN BELT – 1930-33 – NEW

AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – ORIGINAL VALVE INSPECTION COVER – RESTOREDvalve coverClick here to see the Ebay Auction: AMERICAN AUSTIN BANTAM – ORIGINAL VALVE INSPECTION COVER – RESTORED

1965 1966 Ford T-5 Emblems

If you’ve been following along, you’ll see that most of the items posted here are related to the American Austin and American Bantam cars.  However, if you’ve been tuning in since the beginning, you’ll know that one of the first posts spoke about Betsy, my 1965 T-5 which I’ve owned seemingly forever.  If you’ve ever wondered why this site isn’t “Richard’s Helpful Bantam Links” or “Bantam Car ‘n’ Parts” it’s because there are some other cars I would also like to help people with along the way.  One of these offshoots of cars is the German Mustang, the T-5.  Once I have finished developing the Austin/Bantam area of the website, I’d like to construct something for the folks with T-5’s as well.

The T-5’s were built in small numbers, and not that many have survived over time.  Each T-5 built, though, was far superior to every other production mustang built.  Beyond upgrades made to the cars to ensure better handling on rough European roads these cars are fantastic.  Rather than just succumbing to the whim of the factory workers, each T-5 was inspected with a fine tooth comb before it was able to be marked as a T-5 and shipped abroad.  The goal of the inspections was to make sure that the cars were not only within tolerances acceptable for production cars, but to make sure the cars had a strict adherence to the engineering drawings.

Just a blueprinting an engine brings out the very best as imagined by the engineers, blue printing the pony car did just the same.  These cars are surprising handlers, especially if compared to their brethren.  My Betsy can take a curvy mountain road with the best of them.  The only draw back is the Automatic transmission, but that is easily fixable.

So, today, for the few people out there looking to restore or refresh their T-5’s I am proud to offer the first T-5 related eBay link.  This link is to one of the most difficult parts to find for our cars, besides those ridiculous hubcaps.  For your enjoyment, an NOS pair of T-5 emblems.  When I found the used pair I initially ended up with for my car, I had to drive 5 hours and pay an unfathomable sum that I’d rather not remember.

P1070472Click here for the eBay listing: NOS 1965 1966 Ford T-5 Emblem for German Export Mustangs

More parts have shown up on eBay: joegingerichjr strikes again

Joegingerichjr has posted some more items.  Although I haven’t had too many things to bid on, I may have to cast a bid in on the NOS window regulator.  I’m not sure how mine are, but it would be great to have one guaranteed to operate properly (and to give me an idea of what is wrong with all of my parts).  The last set of parts that sold are all things we have seen before on ebay, so the prices were fairly predictable.  Now, we have a wholly different group of items, and my guess as to what they will go for is as good as yours.

Pistons 1:

Pistons 1If anyone knows more about the pistons, please let me know.  They look completely different from any of the Bantam pistons I have seen, and have much thicker walls than I am used to.  The only piston I have seen that bears a resemblance to these is a late 50’s replacement I saw with a 3 main engine that blew up, but was never rebuilt.  Please note the correct bore sizes for your application.

Click here to see the eBay listing: 8 American Austin Bantam Pistons No Sale

American Austin/ Bantam Generator support

 Generator bracket

This mount should work for 1934-1940 Applications, with some 1933’s thrown in for good luck.

Click here to see the eBay listing: Bantam (American Austin) Front Engine Piece Sold for: 42.99

American Austin / Bantam Cooling Fan and Pulley

Bantam Fan

Somehow, these fans and pulleys always seem to get lost.  This unit looks as though it will fit an Austin or Bantam with a V-belt and a traditional generator.  However, note that there are some differences in the fan blades themselves.  I believe one of the variations of the fan blade looked as though it had a doubly thick mounting section.

Click here to see the eBay listing: American Austin Engine Fan & Pully  Sold for: 20.00

Austin / Bantam Piston 2

bantam pistons 2Same thing as the pistons above, they don’t look like the pistons I’ve seen come out of engines.  Maybe they are old replacements?

Click here to see the eBay listing: 2nd set of pistons  Sold for: ??

Bantam Outside Door Handles:

$_57This is a nice matched set of original Bantam outside door handles.  If you must have a door handle with a lock, you may want to bid as only non-locking handles are available NOS at this time.  Another thought is, since there is no key, unless you have a lock smith who can reverse engineer a key the lock will only be for decoration as there is no key.  Also, don’t forget, the lock goes on the passenger side.  Looking at the photos again, I realize that there may be missing parts from the locking door handle.  I have one, which is basically missing the same parts.  Does anyone have a photo of a complete unit that I can post for comparison?

Click here to see the eBay listing: American Bantam Outside Door Handles Sold for: 20.00

Period Correct Horn:

bantam horn

Here’s one that I’m not very sure of.  The horn is a Bosch.  From my recollection Bantams and Austins did not use a Bosch horn.  I believe they are listed as using E.A. Labs, Schwarze, and Motovox horns.  You may want to make sure this is right for your car before bidding.  However, finding a horn for a Bantam is like finding a needle in a haystack; so if you like this period horn, why not enlist its services to let everyone know you’re coming through.

Click here to see the eBay listing: Bosch Horn Sold for: 107.50

NOS window regulator:

Bantam window regulator

I’m not sure if there are any differences between the window regulators used in Bantams and Austins.  Either way, this is a nicely preserved example, which at the very least will give me some photos to help rebuild mine.

Click here to see the eBay listing: American Bantam WIndow Regulator Sold for: 153.15

1939-1940 Bantam Hood Sides

Bantam Hood sides 1These hood sides appear to have no holes punched for either two vertical stripes of trim or Bantam emblems.  It is most likely that these are for a commercial truck or a passenger car with lower trim designation.  They look nice and straight and can be a bear to find in any condition.

Click here to see the eBay listing:American Bantam Hood Sides  Sold for: 100.00

Attention viewers! Do you have any spare parts you’d like to sell?

Besides linking you to the most current eBay auctions, trustinrust.com is about much more.  The concept embodied by this website is a lot broader than I can let on at this point, as developing it one stage at a time is the only way to do it properly.  Revealing the complete plans would leave you wondering why I am so slow at getting this thing together.  So, besides providing you with a frequent blog of items for sale and a listing of vehicles for sale, I am now listing parts both for sale and wanted.

Please take a few moments to check out the new used parts for sale sections and the NOS / reproduction parts for sale sections.  The purpose of these pages is to make your restoration just a little bit easier.  Remember, eBay auctions only last several days and craigslist ads have mysterious lifespans that no one fully understands, however a listing here runs until sold.  The idea behind this system is to keep leads alive as long as possible, this way parts and cars don’t slip back into the woodwork to be forgotten about until the next time an owner is motivated to put the effort into selling.  I want people who are looking for parts to be able to get exactly what they need so their project isn’t put on hold at the whim of some rare piece.  I want you to have options available, so not only are you getting a part you need, but the best one for you.

Right now, there are only a few listings; but browse a bit and show your support.  If you have anything you’re looking for, contact me to place an ad.  If you have somethings you wouldn’t mind selling to clear some space in your garage, there is plenty of room here.  If you manufacture reproduction parts or perform some essential service for our hobby, your listing is wanted.

Working together, we can create something amazing; and I would love for you to be part of it.

P1040832

P1040207

Piston2: Bantam parts from NY (but not from me)

Thankfully New York has a decent population of Bantam enthusiasts.  Unfortunately, I have only met two Bantam owners in my own state so far.  However, I have to say, our cars attract truly great people and our clubs are populated by these same folks.  If you are reading this, and have any interest in Austins or Bantams and have not yet joined the clubs; you really should.  A lot of clubs are just groups of people with a similar car, with the Bantam clubs, you get that and so much more.  The level of camaraderie and helpfulness is unlike anything you may encounter elsewhere.

Anyway, before I get carried away with how great this hobby is, I would like to present you with some new items listed this week by seller piston2 in New York.  Over my short tenure in the clubs, I have seen a few items popup from this seller occasionally such as a three main zenith and an nos Hupmobile gauge cluster.  With the large offering this time, it is possible there will be more listings, so I’ll keep my eyes open for you.

American Bantam Reproduction Fiberglass Headlight Bucket:

American Bantam Reproduction Fiberglass Headlight Bucket

In the world of Bantams, there are some parts that are difficult to find.  However, the parts that top the list of difficult to find are headlights.  Ideally there were over 12,000 headlights made, and they are more difficult to find on occasion than 3 main engines of which only around 500 were made.  If you can explain that, please feel free to post in the comments section.  The headlights used on the Bantams were Stabilite with Corcoran Brown lenses.  Unlike some other parts for the Bantam which were interchangeable with other marques, the headlights were wholly original for our little cars.  There have been numerous attempts to make these out of fiberglass, or even to spin them from steel, but these efforts never really caught on with the club for various reasons.  If you need a headlight, this may be a decent part to hold you over if you can figure out a replacement for the stainless rim, as this bucket looks good.  If you need a lens, NOS lenses are available.

Click here to see more of this headlight: American Bantam Reproduction Fiberglass Headlight Bucket Sold for: 43.51

American Bantam original Grille Badge:

bantam emblemThese emblems are available brand new from a club member.  If you’re looking for something for a driver or an original car this may be perfect for you, however if you are after that newly minted look, do not despair there is an option.  In speaking with a club member (I didn’t ask if I could put his name here, so I don’t want to do so without asking), the original grille badges should have enamel applied to the rear of the thin badge.  The reason for this application of additional enamel was to stabilize the emblem and prevent the material from lifting off of the face due to the tension it would create on the thin casting.

Click here to check it out: American Bantam original Grill Badge Sold for: 66.00

American Bantam – inside door handle and window crank:

bantam inside handles

Please note these handles are very similar to an early Ford.  If you are after brand new handles, they are available.  In fact, I’ve been meaning to order a set for my project for a few months now.  To match my project, which I haven’t really mentioned here, I have contemplated employing a wooden knob to match other details of the car; but I haven’t decided yet.

Click here to check out the handles: American Bantam – inside door handle and crank Sold for: 42.51

American Austin Amp Gauge and Dash Backing:

American Austin Amp Gauge and Dash Backing

According to the seller, the Amp gauge may work.  Also, please note that if you are working on an American Austin and you can’t seem to secure your gauges properly, you probably need one of these retaining brackets.

Click here to check out the gauge: American Austin Amp Gauge and Dash Backing  Sold for: 115.29

And We’re Back! More parts are on eBay with a new seller on the market.

The last few weeks have been something for Austin and Bantam enthusiasts.  There has been at least one useful part on every day, and not just useless bulbs that spammers list as appropriate for every car built.  Unfortunately, while caught in the midst of this windfall of parts, both my computer and myself were in less that prime shape.  I would like to apologize for missing some of the great items listed last week, but I don’t see a similar slip up happening in the near future.  We have a few sellers with great items, so I will break it down by seller:

Today I am posting the listings of joegingerichjr.  More to follow.

Bantam hubcap 1:

bantam hubcap 1

Click here to check out: Bantam Hubcap 1    Sold for: 33.25

Bantam Hubcap 2:

Bantam Hubcap 2

Click here to check out: Bantam Hubcap 2  Sold for: 68.25

Bantam (American Austin) Starter:

Bantam (American Austin) Starter

Click here to check out: Bantam (American Austin) Starter   Sold for: 88.88

American Austin Headlight Buckets:

American Austin Headlight Buckets

Note, one of these headlights has the lower retaining ring screw hole off center which would likely make its original application a late 33-34 American Austin without a headlight bar.  Thank you for the tip Drew!

Click here to check out: American Austin Headlight Buckets    Sold for: 280.00

American Austin Parabeam Headlamp Lenses

American Austin Parabeam Headlamp Lenses

Click here to check out: American Austin Parabeam Headlamp Lenses  177.50

See you tomorrow!

impala

Buster Keaton: American Austin Afficionado

On eBay today, there is a period photo of Buster Keaton in his American Austin roadster.  This is most likely the car which met an untimely demise as a result of a run in with a locomotive.  Here the car looks quite nice, and a lot of the factory detail work on the car is visible.  As an 8 x 10 photo, this is a substantial item to add to your collection.  A neat thing about this photo is the car is clearly an important part of it.  On the other end of the spectrum, there is something about Joan Peers’ eyes that have insured that I will not be bidding on this otherwise great photo.  (I don’t like the concept of being stared down by a photograph…)

buster keaton austin roadster

Buster Keaton and Joan Peers in a very new American Austin Roadster circa 1931

Click here to bid: Buster Keaton with an American Austin Roadster Sold for: 76.00

Emblems on eBay: 1940 style

If you’ve been looking for a pair of emblems for a 1940 project, now may be your chance.  I haven’t been tracking Bantam items as long as many of my readers, but there are some items which you just don’t seem to come across that often.  Lately, carbs and Austin headlight parts seem to be quite popular, although pricey.  I’ve only seen one of these Bantam emblems in the past three years, and it disappeared with a buy it now.  These have some issues and could mostly use a rechrome and paint to match your car, but otherwise they are pretty decent.

 bantam emblems 1940

Click here to see these emblems: 1940 American Bantam Hood Side Emblems (Pair) Nice

Also, I have my lap top back from a long stint being repaired.  Please look forward to some new updates and expedited posts coming in the near future.  If anything should be a recommendation for a Microsoft Surface, it should be the fact that I have been using one exclusively for managing this website for almost two months.

More goodies! This is one busy week.

I can barely keep up with all of these parts being posted this week.  It almost seems that what ever treasure you may be missing for your Bantam, it could be here sooner than you think.

First up, a pair of gauges have made it to ebay:

Speedometer

Click here to see the speedometer: American Bantam and BRC jeep speedometer working unit 1938-41  Sold for: 485.00

Bantam cluster

Click here to see the gauge cluster: American Bantam Gauge cluster 1938-41  Sold for:  232.50

A rare 1938 aluminum Bantam head has also emerged on ebay today.  These are fairly difficult to find as most of these have been replaced with their cast iron replacements which were used through the end of Bantam production.

aluminum bantam head

Click here to see the head: 1938 American Bantam Rare Aluminum Cylinder head Sold for: 89.88

The seller also has a nice looking rebuilt starter:

rebuilt bantam starter

Click here to see the starter:American Austin or Bantam Rebuilt Starter Motor Auto-lite MAK-4001 Sold for: 182.46

A trio of used bantam closed car door handles has recently come on as well.  They look like they will clean up nicely.  Compared to the price of the NOS ones available, these are very attractively options.

bantam door handles

Click here to bid on the handles: American Bantam Closed car door exterior door handles Sold for: 53.40

If you’re not interested in buying only a few bits and pieces.  There is a seller in Massachusetts who is selling a heap of parts including a Bantam Riviera and Roadster.  There are some engines and other pieces.  What pieces are missing and what is actually there is completely unknown.  For the $9,000 buy it now, you will probably have enough parts to trade with other people to find what you need to build which ever car you hope to keep.  If you’re close to Mass, this may not be too bad of a buy.

bantam parts lot

If you’re interested in viewing the entire lot click here:  Bantam Roadster Riviera and Parts lot