Breakdown of expenditure for those considering buying my project

The following is my verifiable outlay so far (in terms of parts and third party labour)

Initial purchase price    551.00

McKenzie inner arches approx    30.00

McKenzie front valance   58.00

McKenzie front valance top panel   14.00

engine work by third party   90.00

re-core radiator   217.38

newly forged leafsprings all round   634.50

bush shackle   9.40

wheels shot blasted and re-painted (900 two-pack)by third party   100.00

fitting tyres to wheels   50.00

petrol tank repaired 60.00

POR15  25.00

starter motor 59.00

hydraulic pipe kit (made to measure) 104.12

rear shocks   44.99

engine mountings   11.48

12.59

side lamps   82.00

front shocks   47.52

classic tyres   497.10

king pin set    44.00

pull off springs   42.65

brake shoe re-lining   88.00

wheel bearings   24.45

front wheel cylinders (MG TD/TF)   99.35

two mater cylinders   105.00

misc bushes from NTG 9.40

Grand Total    £3,110.93 

PLUS
other expenditure for which I can't find the receipts:
clutch plate, clutch cover and thrust bearing, 
ex-stock, brand new and primed Austin 101 front panel
handbrake cable
track rod ends
etc

Any price finally agreed upon would have to cover at least the outlay so far on parts. I do not know how to quantify the work done to get the van to the stage it is at now. Have a look at how far I have come, by looking back through the blog. What we have now is a rolling chassis with engine (run on test bed but needs finished carb and exhaust), gearbox, prop shaft, breaks (hydraulics to be completed), wheels, tyres, shocks and leafsprings. To go on to it we have a front scuttle on which I have done lots of work, but which is not yet finished. Also have lots of metalwork done on inner arches, steps etc.

I also have lots of other parts: doors, wings, inner wings, sliding door runners, cab back, floor supports, floor panels, headlamps (originals and replacements), etc

Selling the project

Well folks, I think I have finally given up. I have bought another plane, started another metal project, set up self-employed and ...well, the list goes on. But the long and short of it is that I have run out of steam for my Austin 101 and need the garage and mental space.

Readers who have followed the project in the past will know how much work I have done on it over the years. Loads of metalwork. The engine now runs and is mounted back on the chassis in  front of the gearbox and shaft on fresh rubber mounts. 

It has new brakes, new hydraulic piping, new slave and master cylinders, a thousand pound's worth of 5 brand new classic tyres. Newly forged leaf springs all round and freshly mounted new shock absorbers. The scuttle is nearly ready to be mounted on the front of the chassis around a newly re-cored radiator, sitting on a newly fabricated frame. 

I shall be working my way through the receipts to try to work out just how much I have spent on parts over the years, and other than recouping the initial outlay, I only expect to recover the cost of parts and re-fabricated parts. 

Nothing will compensate for the thousands of hours spent on the project, but that never matters. Nobody does it for the money. It is all about the pleasure of the challenge. Someone keen could finish the project in about 6 months...,and I don't think I want to know about it when they do, because it is too frustratingly close to completion and I don't need my nose rubbed in it.

But I just know that I don't have the motivation, now, to finish it...and more importantly, I have other things making demands on my time.

So, get in touch if you are interested. If I don't sell privately in the next couple of weeks or so, I think I shall put it on ebay.

Read back through the blog to see what you'd be getting for your money.

inspiring

I have something like this is in mind for my 101, except with my milk float folding doors.

Back from the dead

So, in the year I hit 50 (still young!), I was hit by depression, work related stress and then was hospitalised with pulmonary embolisms in both lungs! Jeeezus!

Nearly dying is just about the best reason for not making progress on my Austin. But I am back from the dead, now, rattling with pills, and Martin and I have our mojos back.

A few days ago we fitted my new starter motor

 

Call the Midwife

on TV this evening

Making tools from scrap steel

Spent a couple of days re-organising my workshop, clearing out clutter and welding up new stands for fabrication tools. 

Making the quarterlight sill was tricky because I'd lost the base for the sheet bender and had to clamp the tool to a workmate. 
All very unsatisfactory. 
So I decided I needed to make something much more substantial.
 

 Sheet bender gets a rigid base

 A box section in front of the bender provides a tower for a quickly removed shrinker tool 

(same for the stretcher on the other side of the bench)

A rigid support tower for my guillotine

. . .  and all made from scrap, including the workbench which was rescued from a demolition.

quarterlight window sill

 It has just occurred to me that I have done a few bits of scuttle metal work which I haven't recorded. Among them is the sill of the driver's side quarterlight. It was riddled with rust and so rather than bodge repair it, I decided to remove it and fabricate a replacement part.

Mine is more radiused, less sharp-angled than Mr Morris's, but I think he got that wrong. The radiuses on mine are similar to the ones edging the windscreen. Also, I used thicker material, so I think it ought to add strength. I have decided that I like it so much I am making one for the other side, even though that one is in ok condition.

Will weld it in next weekend. Will also then fit starter motor and coil.