It’s been a long time since I have updated this site fully. In the past month and a half, we have had some great successes in finding cars new homes. I had originally considered making this a multi-marque website, but am now considering narrowing it down to only Austin and Bantam cars for a while in order to perfect the content.
Thanks for following!
Out in Mesa, Arizona, there is a man with two American Austins. They were imported there long ago from the mid west and have had the chance to spend their golden years in the warm dry climate. Both cars are for sale and their histories are known back though the 1950’s; as they have been in the same family at least that long.
As for the two cars, there is a coupe; a perfect candidate for a hot rod. It is a 1933-35 coupe that has an unfinished chop on it. The chop was started in the 60’s, and the current owner spent a great deal of effort in correcting it so it was done properly.
For more information on and photos of the coupe click here.
The second car is a 1933-1934 Roadster. The car has had some modifications to it over the years so the previous owner could keep it on the road and up to date.
For information on and photos of the roadster click here.
The catch is, the seller would like to sell both for one price with almost enough parts to make the roadster correct. There are a lot of parts in this lot, but it will take a lot of work to build a perfect car from either, and the seller has priced his cars accordingly. If you’re not looking for perfect, but want a roadster you can put together with minimal work and enjoy, this may be your best chance this year.
This is a teaser shot of the most recent find of the day:
The unknown roadster. This is most likely a 33-34 American Austin Roadster which has had its share of customization over the years.
More photos are supposed to be on the way, and I don’t know about you, but I’m very curious to see what the rest of this car looks like.
It has been a very hectic week here at the site. Earlier last week, I saw that this site was mentioned in the American Austin Bantam Club Newsletter. I am very thankful for the lovely things the editors had to say about what I am trying to do here. With the editorial, our traffic increased and I realized I need to organize the growing content to be more intuitive for new and returning users.
If you are new to the site, or have gotten used to certain page placement please note the following change: American Austin and Bantam content is migrating from the “eBay link” tab to the “community” tab. I am working on condensing the offerings so you won’t have to click around as much and can book mark one main page rather than several. To the new and old visitors alike, thank you for your support and keep coming back.
In other news, my new project has started arriving, one bit at a time. This cut down American Austin body arrived today:
1933-4 American Austin Coupe cut down project car
At one time, this body was supposedly some kind of tame hot rod or show car. If it indeed was a show car, it’s glory days in this incarnation have passed. It has some bantam brake, suspension, and drive line components; which may be evidence of some hopping up. Please watch for updates.
To steal a phrase, this isn’t my first rodeo. However, this is my most successful venture as of yet. My first website was something I made on Geocities in High School, which sadly vanished along with Geocities. It was, as you could guess, a website about cars. The sole purpose of the site was to put my car collection on the web for others to enjoy. At the time, visitors and clicks meant nothing, but knowing I had staked out my own little piece of the web was all that mattered.
In college, I launched goldstandardlocatingservice.com. Don’t try to click that, because it’s a long dead link. I experimented by actually buying a domain name and trying out a hosting service. To say it failed epically would be an understatement. With grand intentions of offering my locating services to the public, I went in with no organized plans. No website ever actually published and my apprehension of the web grew. In Law School, I learned about blogging though blog spot. If anyone from my school is reading, they probably remember it as the free food blog, but it was a way for students to locate all of the events in the school that incorporated free food; from lectures to dodge ball. Up until now, that two year effort was my most successful attempt at publishing anything on the web, except for helping my Dad with a website for himself a while back.
I’m thankful for WordPress. It has given me a nice platform to experiment with ideas and concepts while trying to develop a long held dream. I go more in depth regarding that dream elsewhere on this site, so please feel free to browse. Although this site is limited, it is growing, and the number of views grows every month. So far, there have been over 10,500 views. Your views and comments encourage me to keep striving toward my dream of providing you with wonderful content. Your suggestions have guided me and my ears are always open. Please keep watching for updates both in content and organization.
For years I’ve scoured the web pursuing my far-scattered interests. One place I have enjoyed lurking and posting is theHamb. While working on compiling the American Austin and Bantam section here, and looking for some pieces for a personal project, I found myself on theHamb. Although their new interface has left a lot to be desired, in my opinion, there is still some wonderful content and great community support. If you have never been to theHamb, I suggest you try it out.
With the new interface, the creators have invested time in implementing a new search algorithm which I haven’t gotten used to yet. Trusting google to take up my slack, I began my search. Hidden deep within theHamb, but only posted recently, I found out that a car I had posted on this website had recently found a home. Actually, when it was posted here, it was more of a shell; in need of someone to give it copious amounts of love.
The Giovanni Cam Bantam- 2014
Bereft of everything making it the monster it was in the 60’s and everything that made it a great compact car in the late 30’s, the new owner brought his car to the hot rodding community. He was seeking any clues to the car’s past that anyone could provide. Thankfully, theHamb is well stocked with people who have a great memory for cool cars.
Within hours, a member posted a not only a clue to the history of the car, not only a photo, but a scanned image of the magazine on which it was a cover car. This shell, was a cover car only 52 years ago.
The mystery bantam in June 1962
There were some very drastic modifications made on the car in the intervening years, but the car was left with a few clues as to its origin; the reshaped cowl, the remnants of the name “Scruffy III” above the rear window, and some well aged decals on the passenger side of the car.
The current owner is elated at his purchase and has magnificent plans to bring it back to life. To follow the story of the “Southern Stormer,” click here. Did the buyer know what he was getting into when he took the plunge? Not necessarily. Could this have worked out any better? Probably not.
The moral of the story is, you never know what you are going to find out there and sometimes you don’t even know as much about your own items as you think. We are very fortunate when we can find people who can help shed light on our treasures and help polish them back to their former luster.
Perhaps you have wondered why this new website suddenly went dormant. You may have assumed it was abandoned by the creator after realizing what sort of work goes into an undertaking of this magnitude.
I am here to say, the site is live. It survived an arduous two weeks of moving the headquarters of Richard’s Automotive Services and will be coming back better then ever soon. You can look forward to enhanced and updated content, as well as some new features. Mind you, these features wont be fancy, but they will add a new realm for your personal searching leisure and a new area of interest.
I will be launching a craiglist section for the American Austin and Bantam enthusiasts, which will offer current online ads which have not been included elsewhere.
I will also begin rolling out a section for Ford Model T enthusiasts. Keep coming back for more updates. Beginning tonight the eBay links will be updated.
Thank you for your patience and support. Thank you Dennis for you feedback and suggestions!
Before I too go out to enjoy this beautiful fourth of July, in between doing some work, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Independence Day. Although we on the East Coast are being warned about Hurricane Aurthur, I hope you have a chance to enjoy the day with those who you mean the most to you and pass the time doing something you are passionate about, whether it is lounging in a hammock, manning a grill, walking in a parade, setting off a few mortars, or turning a wrench.
Whenever I think of my photos and patriotism, I immediately think of this photo:
This is a 1967 Comet which I purchased two years ago from a veteran who courageously fought for the facets of our nation we are celebrating today. You can find the car on eBay here: 1967 Comet Cyclone Clone.
This car also brings to mind something every person looking to purchase a car long distance should consider, make sure you actually go to look at it or have someone with expertly trained eyes do it for you. However, that’s a story for another day. In the mean time, enjoy your weekend to its fullest!
Have you ever gone on a vacation, only to find that the trip was the most memorable part? This weekend I went on a journey with my Dad to look at a car I’ve been calling on since April. The owner called me last week and was ready for me to come and take a look at it, so I completely changed around my weekend plans. Usually, I make sure my expectations are a bit low, to ensure some excitement when I finally get to see what ever it is that convinced me to drive over 10 hours even if it is junk; but this time I let my guard down.
Seeing as I accidentally pulled a great deal of traffic from a website I enjoy, dedicated to a seemingly unrelated subject matter, I will veer down another path and save the story of the car for another day. Tonight, I will tell you about the violin.
Over 20 years ago, I began playing the violin. Amazingly, that was a time when I was fairly indifferent to cars. My Dad had a LaSalle which I enjoyed driving in, but I hadn’t gone completely off my rocker for these things yet. Instead, the violin fascinated me. The concept that horse hair, metal, and wood could create such amazing sounds boggled me. Many of the road trips my Dad and I took were to antique shops where we would look for oddities including antique instruments. Occasionally, we’d find an old beat up violin, and I would be overcome with a rush thinking I found a lost Stradivarius. More often than not, I found garbage, but with each mistake, I honed my skills and kept an eye out for them wherever we went.
Months ago, when talking to the owner of this particular car, our conversation somehow wandered into tales of my violin playing. Apparently there were a few violins up for sale as well as the car. My curiosity was piqued, this person not only had a car I was interested in but also a cache of violins that hadn’t seen the light of day in over 40 years. Weeks after talking to the seller, I got a few photos of some violins which were for sale, and I waited to get to take a look.
After looking at the car, I almost left the owner without looking at the violins. I was a bit disappointed with the car, as I was expecting too much, and almost forgot the second reason for the trip. I ended up in a living room, faced with six violins and a pile of bows. I spent more time sorting through the bows than i did looking at the car. Out of all of the bows and the violins, one of each caught my eyes, a bow with a diamond shaped cross-section and a violin which is most likely a copy of a French master.
It’s been quite a few years since I have sincerely played the violin and slightly fewer since I actually devoted much attention to the instrument at all. I wouldn’t say I lost interest, but the violin which has followed me over the past few years has a very brash tone, and takes a lot of the fun out of playing. This new violin has a pleasant sound and the mystique of newness to me. I’m happy with my purchase. I’m fairly sure it’s not a valuable instrument, but it is nice and was a reminder that sometimes if we keep our blinders on, we can miss the hidden greatness in front of us.
I didn’t come home with a car this weekend, but I did come home with a violin, having eaten a slice of Jersey Shore Pizza from the mostly rebuilt boardwalk in Sea Side Heights, NJ, and a load of memories. It couldn’t have worked out better.
Thank you to the fine folks at Violinist.com who found their way here, I appreciate your visits.
June 1 has come and gone, as has Spring. Yet, as the first official post here, I wanted to honor the car that inspired my obsession with cars as I know it. This car was my first foray into researching a car’s history, attempting to connect myself with its past, as well as hunting for the most obscure parts and unobtainium. I started when the internet was a small thing that people traded emails through; at a time when eBay was a much smaller place with a limited assortment of trinkets, a time when Hemming’s was the only real go-to source for anyone in the car hobby. It’s amazing how far we have actually come and how far we have yet to go.
On June 1, 1965, this Vintage Burgundy T-5 rolled off the assembly plant in Metuchen, NJ. She has had at least 7 owners over the last 49 years, but has spent the last 11 years with me. Parts for this car were sourced from around the world, but amazingly, the original T-5 emblems were only 10 miles from where I bought the car.
Although my inspiration for working on this car came from my family. Restoring Betsy back into a T-5 was greatly enabled by Gary Hanson, who had an early web presence and serves as the American T-5 ambassador. I still remember the day clearly when he was on the phone with me while I measured a seemingly random pattern of holes on my fender which ended up being the missing piece of the puzzle, confirming my car was a T-5.
What ever your passion is, there are people like Gary seeking to share their knowledge with you who you must seek out. Although they may be hard to find, the quest is worthwhile when you realize the value of a mentor. The only payment most people will ever ask, is that you too help those who come to you and keep our great hobby alive.
Happy Birthday Betsy and thank you!
Everything Bantam 