I really begun to hate Austin Freeway's a couple of years ago...
At the age of sixteen, my brother John, had persuaded my parents to buy him a car to restore. He had friends who always managed successful restorations on pre-war cars. My parents knew the gentleman who owned a service station in Heathmont. There on his premises was an Austin Freeway with a seized engine. Far simpler to obtain parts for than anything pre-war, my parents parted with $100.00 to secure the car. Like any kid with a new toy, John started to dismantle it under dad's guidance. They removed the cylinder head and soaked the bores with penetrating oil... eventually the old Blue Streak relented and begun to turn over. By then, John had pretty much forgotten about the car and there, in a closed single garage, it sat. Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to have a crack at re-assembling the old car... I was eleven. Although I managed to return it to a visually complete state, it was never going to run... there it sat again, before it was relinquished.
We lived on a lovely Park Orchards property that backed on to a 17 Acre Pentecostal Camp. The camp spent most of its time empty with the caretaker Gil and his wife, being the only people present. It was a such a visual throwback in time... really 1950's in appearance. Every year, the place would come alive with loads of people and even more religious announcements. Although not of their faith, I loved the place... It was a huge play area as far as I was concerned. I would be outside on our property and hear Gil in a Wolseley laboring away with a trailer full of anything from tree branches to tools driving about the property as he maintained it. The car was a MkI 24/80... off-white with a red interior. I was curious about this old car and found out that it was the close sister model to our Freeway. With the camp scheduled to close sometime in the near future, I approached Gil about purchasing his Wolseley - he returned with an answer from the church that the price was to be $75.00.
I purchased the car which by this stage was inoperable. It was now 1985 and I enlisted the assistance of my father, who pointed me in the right direction where he could. His health was failing and he passed away later that year. I didn't continue with it after that - it hurt a little bit too much and I focused more on my social life. My mother then organised for the Wolseley be removed. Two years later, the camp was sold off and sliced up for residential housing.
I've had four Farina Wolseley's since then and I reckon I will hang on to the one I'm currently restoring. I've always wanted a Freeway though... just never found the right one. So a couple of years ago, this A60 Countryman turned up on eBay... not a Freeway, but pretty close. This is a great car on so many levels. My son Charlie took a strong liking to it... just as I did all those years ago with John's first car. I have told Charlie that it's his if he wants it... the condition of his ownership? He has to help me restore it.
At the age of sixteen, my brother John, had persuaded my parents to buy him a car to restore. He had friends who always managed successful restorations on pre-war cars. My parents knew the gentleman who owned a service station in Heathmont. There on his premises was an Austin Freeway with a seized engine. Far simpler to obtain parts for than anything pre-war, my parents parted with $100.00 to secure the car. Like any kid with a new toy, John started to dismantle it under dad's guidance. They removed the cylinder head and soaked the bores with penetrating oil... eventually the old Blue Streak relented and begun to turn over. By then, John had pretty much forgotten about the car and there, in a closed single garage, it sat. Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to have a crack at re-assembling the old car... I was eleven. Although I managed to return it to a visually complete state, it was never going to run... there it sat again, before it was relinquished.
We lived on a lovely Park Orchards property that backed on to a 17 Acre Pentecostal Camp. The camp spent most of its time empty with the caretaker Gil and his wife, being the only people present. It was a such a visual throwback in time... really 1950's in appearance. Every year, the place would come alive with loads of people and even more religious announcements. Although not of their faith, I loved the place... It was a huge play area as far as I was concerned. I would be outside on our property and hear Gil in a Wolseley laboring away with a trailer full of anything from tree branches to tools driving about the property as he maintained it. The car was a MkI 24/80... off-white with a red interior. I was curious about this old car and found out that it was the close sister model to our Freeway. With the camp scheduled to close sometime in the near future, I approached Gil about purchasing his Wolseley - he returned with an answer from the church that the price was to be $75.00.
I purchased the car which by this stage was inoperable. It was now 1985 and I enlisted the assistance of my father, who pointed me in the right direction where he could. His health was failing and he passed away later that year. I didn't continue with it after that - it hurt a little bit too much and I focused more on my social life. My mother then organised for the Wolseley be removed. Two years later, the camp was sold off and sliced up for residential housing.
I've had four Farina Wolseley's since then and I reckon I will hang on to the one I'm currently restoring. I've always wanted a Freeway though... just never found the right one. So a couple of years ago, this A60 Countryman turned up on eBay... not a Freeway, but pretty close. This is a great car on so many levels. My son Charlie took a strong liking to it... just as I did all those years ago with John's first car. I have told Charlie that it's his if he wants it... the condition of his ownership? He has to help me restore it.
At the time of purchase, I had nowhere to put this car. The last thing I was going to do was leave it outside, so I took it to work. As an Automotive teacher, I'm always looking for suitable projects for my students. We raided some parts off a Morris Oxford (shown on this site) and set the kids some work to do. A majority of the work was carried out by three year ten girls, with some assistance from me. They:
* Serviced the car with an oil and filter change and greased relevant areas.
* Removed and replaced a faulty muffler and rear section of exhaust.
* Removed the column gear change apparatus (one of the boys did that)
* Replaced the gearbox with a 4 on the floor type from a Wolseley 15/60 and filled with new oil.
* Fitted a klaxon horn (which will be removed when the car is restored).
We then road tested the car on the quadrangle and all proved to be successful.
* Serviced the car with an oil and filter change and greased relevant areas.
* Removed and replaced a faulty muffler and rear section of exhaust.
* Removed the column gear change apparatus (one of the boys did that)
* Replaced the gearbox with a 4 on the floor type from a Wolseley 15/60 and filled with new oil.
* Fitted a klaxon horn (which will be removed when the car is restored).
We then road tested the car on the quadrangle and all proved to be successful.
Well, now the car is back at my mothers property where it is housed in an old stable... it looks like an unfitting end, but it gets driven every month around the paddock. Once the 14/56 is mobile, I will bring it to our house and begin it's restoration with Charlie - all will be video documented.
In May 2016, my mother sustained a fall and lost her mobility for several months on account of a nasty knee injury. Since the injury, the full function of her knee has never returned, which has been further compounded by arthritis. So March 2017 was to become the month when my mother moved out of her house after 40 years, which meant that we had some cleaning up to do. The old Austin was one of the first items I attended to, so I had it moved to the 'Chookshed.' This was a huge storage and parts facility in Warrandyte, where the Wolseley Car Club had inhabited for the past twenty years. I approached the owner and paid a nominal sum for rent so our Austin had somewhere to stay in the interim. But there was an issue... the owner of the Chookshed was in far worse health than my mother and he too was about to make tracks. So that was that... the club had to find alternative accommodation for their parts and working bee days and the Austin would have to be sold... this was going to suck!
13/5/18: And so off she went from the Chookshed site on the 23rd March 2017. Surprisingly, this old Austin turned up on Gumtree for sale again about a month ago, for less than what I sold it for. The seller only had it listed for (I think) $1,750.00. I was ready to jump on it, having owned it for seven years and already missing it. But we do need to be realistic - I loved this car, it was a wagon with an ultra straight body, minimal rust and the sweetest 1620 engine... but I didn't do an awful lot with it and have nowhere to keep it. I will miss this beautiful old lady and rest assured, if we move to a house with more land, I will go on a hunt for another wonderful Farina!