Engine Punk

Getting down low with Little Satan While in pre-war Austin mode, I found these pictures I took of a well-executed Austin 7 special at the Crash Box Club gathering at Powderham Castle back in 2019. It's only knee high Little Satan is a neat little aluminium blob with a mischievous radiator mascot. I reckon there’s something of a Ford Model T flat tracker about it and I’ve heard Austin 7s and Model Ts mentioned together as endowing the population with cheap reliable transport in both their respective countries. All you need to know, clearly displayed Running gear is 1935 Austin 7 Ruby with shortened rear chassis members and the engine was built Don Rawson, who is a well-respected name in Austin 7 circles. Output of this engine was estimated at 60bhp partly thanks to a stainless steel induction system for SU carbs by Haywood & Scott of Basildon. They were also responsible for the eye-catching stainless zorst system. I especially like the way the ally body has been left unpain...

This Super Robin certainly has presence I've seen some remarkable three wheelers in long distance trials and two of them have been built by George Osborn. George campaigned his Reliant Rialtopless ( Vintage Thing No, 120 ) in MCC events for many years with a policy of continuous improvement.  Mudguards were secondhand items off an Ifor Williams trailer At the Powderham Show this summer I managed to have a proper look at his Reliant Super Robin. It's probably a Hyper Robin now, his latest investigation into how much fun he can have with some Reliant components. George's passenger, Celia Walton, usually gets out his side, rather than clamber over the zorst. The chassis is a standard Robin chassis so, as far as the DVLA is concerned, this vehicle retain its Reliant Super Robin identity. The wheelbase is the unaltered although it looks longer due to the two-seat cockpit being further back in the chassis. The 850cc engine is relatively standard, relativity depending on the obser...

The Imps at Powderham 2019 belonging to from left to right, Ann and Tony Dowler, Karen and Simon Benoy, Drew Thomas and Louise Ransome Headon Having learnt nothing from the 2019 Testing Trial, in which I tried to compete on a sidecar as well as a car, I ended up involved on two car club stands at the Powderham Show. Next to us was this lovely early Scimitar - except that they never made a convertible.... Some of my trialling friends had enjoyed themselves so much last year on the Motor Cycling Club stand, I fancied joining in. There was also the issue of an official Hillman Imp presence. Many years ago, we'd enjoyed a strong showing of cars from far and wide but times change and people move on. A group of local members fancied trying to revive the Impishness of lore and - to cut a long story short - I ended up trying to organise a stand and get some cars together. Next to the Imp stand in the other direction was this lovely Alfa Romeo Montreal. I don't think I...

Those all enveloping front wings need to be that big to allow the steering lock. The radiator mascot is the hilt of a Spanish sword This extraordinary creation caught my eye at the 2011 Crash Box Club Historic Vehicle Gathering at Powderham Castle. It's a post war Alvis clothed in one man's interpretation of outrageous French pre-war coachwork Mike Waters specialises in electric power steering solutions that make classic and vintage cars more useable. His conversions are very neat and unobtrusive and this is a side project that illustrates a long standing interest in French coachwork The epogee (oo that's a good word) of this style was a carossier (another good word) called Figoni et Falaschi (Italians working in Paris) who the Anglo-Saxons nicknamed Phoney & Flashy. The basis was a post-war time-expired Alvis 14 saloon, which donated its chassis, engine, gearbox, radiator and headlamps. Mike knew what lines he wanted and created a new bodyshell around re-p...

Eventually I have established that the server for my website was changed by my internet provider and when the old address was switched off my pictures disappeared some time after the change over. Older posts were affected and it took me some time to notice this. A couple of years ago the link from my Anarchadia website connected to the old server and for a while it appeared that Engine Punk wasn't being updated. Regular readers may remember their favourites showing my impressions of the Lincoln Vintage Vehicle Society as the most recent blog entry. So it wasn't a Blogger problem as such.It was me changing IT horses in mid-stream. No backup is now available because all the change occurred 2009, so it's a case of re-loading the images but the blog needs a bit of weed (still damn and blast tho). Work is going on in the background to restore the old posts in bite sized chunks, like when I'm waiting for the immersion heater to boil the bath water after some intensi...

I spotted this Ford Anglia at the recent Powderham Show, run by the Crash Box & Classic Car Club of Devon . It was a Ford Anglia that my parents had when I was born and my father dropped me on my head in it. My mother turned over the Ford Pop that she was driving during the winter of '62/'63 whilst pregnant with me so I couldn't really turn out any other way. With such a long standing affiliation with small Fords it's surprising I don't have one... I have always liked the Anglia saloons and am partial to the vans but the estates left me cold until I saw this one. Anglia estates look too tall and frumpy whereas the cars look sporty and the vans look just great to my mind. I think it's the rear side windows - there are too many vertical lines. Slam it into the weeds and panel in the windows and the Anglia estate is transformed. Our American cousins would call this a sedan delivery. I remember seeing a Morris Oxford once converted on similar lines but...