The car was delivered to the Australian Company Brown and Dureau of Melbourne in 1949.
By the time I acquired the car it had damage to every panel. The gearbox had lost the cluster gear. The engine barely ran and the engine block had been cracked full length down the LHS and repaired using bronze welding. The rear drive shafts were loose and the brakes did not work. The rear shocks and mounts were torn out of the chassis. How the car reached this stage in ten years only an Australian could know. Roads here are still a bit primitive once one leaves the beaten track. This car had been well off the track! Restoration has taken quite some time but I am pleased to say that "giving an Englishman a piece of metal" back in 1948 proved to be a worthwhile investment!
The pleasure of sitting at 100/110kph and listening to the sonic whine of the exhaust through the rag hood is a magic sensation. Worth all the effort. I have also just remembered how good the smell of a bit of burnt oil and fresh leather upholstery can be on a long drive.
Peter Henson
May 2017 - New photo provided by Peter Henson.
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The car was purchased from the floor of the Earls Court Motor Show of 1948 and whilst built in 1948 was sold as a 1949 model to an Australian Company called Brown and Dureau of Melbourne, Australia.
By the time I acquired the car it had damage to every panel. The gearbox had lost the cluster gear. The engine barely ran and the engine block had been cracked full length down the LHS and repaired using bronze welding. The rear drive shafts were loose and the brakes didn't work. The rear shocks and mounts were torn out of the chassis. How the car reached this stage in ten years only an Australian could know. Roads here are still a bit primitive once one leaves the beaten track. This car had been well off the track! Restoration has taken quite some time but I'm pleased to say that 'giving an Englishman a piece of metal' back in 1948 proved to be a worthwhile investment!
The pleasure of sitting at 100/110kph and listening to the sonic whine of the exhaust through the rag hood is a magic sensation. Worth all the effort. I've also just remembered how good the smell of a bit of burnt oil and fresh leather upholstery can be on a long drive.
Peter Henson