Barn find! - Austin 1300 GT
oldroverboy.
on 30 March 2014
Went to visit an old friend who is married to a farmer, and in the barn 1 Austin 1300 GT (headlamp units missing) covered in various droppings and partly covered by a tarpaulin.
Doesn't look in bad nick!
Comments
SlidingPillar on 30 March 2014
They were quite a good car according to my father, but like all BL cars from era, rust is all to common.
72 dudes on 30 March 2014
As a teen, I thought these were rather good - probably because I had a bog standard Austin 1100 and the thought of a twin carb 1300 capable of 95 and 0-60 in 13.5 seconds, with a rev counter was quite appealing!
How times have changed
ohsoslow on 30 March 2014
I had one, 1973 L reg. Good fun to drive but the sills rusted out. Apart from that most of it held together during the time I had it.
As far as I can remember the only things that needed fixing were a pin breaking on the gear lever linkage and the hydrolastic suspension losing its pressure leaving it leaning over to one side.
hillman on 30 March 2014
I, more correctly, SMBO and I, once restored an Austin 1300 for SWMBO's friend. It was really a basket case due to corrosion and the engine/gearbox were shot, but we took it on and did the best we could. I had learned to weld by replacing the sills on SWMBO's Mini, and undertook to do the 1300 too. I'm the worlds worst welder and was lying underneath dodging drips while SWMBO was inside the car putting out the fires. I'd given SWMBO a flap to flap out the fires, but I found that she realised that it was more effective to blow the fires out, partly carbon dioxide partly draft. SWMBO had a very red face by the time we finished.
We sourced an engine/gearbox together with driveshafts from a dismantlers in Oldham and when we had put it we found the the drive shafts didn't fit. We took them back to the dismantlers who recognised that he'd given us the shafts from an Allegro. We had to wait another two weeks before a suitable car came in, then we were able to finish the job.
bazza on 30 March 2014
Comical now but really rather nice in their day. The 1300GT engine had similarities to the then 1275 Cooper S and moreover was a straight swap into a Mini, giving a really quick Q car. Hence scrapped ones were always in demand. The car itself was very pleasant with a good turn of speed. But like everyrthing else made by BMC, they rusted out in just a few years, particularly under the boot and the rear subframe--just like the Mini!
unthrottled on 30 March 2014
Best place for it!
*Boom Boom Tsch!!*
Doc on 5 October 2014
Comical now but really rather nice in their day. The 1300GT engine had similarities to the then 1275 Cooper S
1300GT: 70 Bhp
1275 S: 76 Bhp
doubleg_uk on 5 October 2014
"But like everyrthing else made by BMC, they rusted out in just a few years"And everything made by Ford, Vauxhall, Rootes. Even a few years would have been better than the average Escort could manage before serious structural rust issues struck. Don't even start me on the imports of the day... Citroen, Pugs, Renaults and even the mighty VWs rusted like there was no tomorrow!
Just a fact of the era I'm afraid. Modern protection systems as we enjoy now were simply not available.
Gus.
stevewool on 5 October 2014
I don't suppose he wants to sell it does he?
I wish I'd never sold mine...
oldroverboy. on 5 October 2014
I,ll ask.
catsdad on 6 October 2014
My first car was an 1100 and it was by far the rustiest I ever had. I bought it privately when it was 6 years old in 1977. When I lifted the sodden carpets I could see the road through various holes. Worse the sills had been replaced with pop riveted outers and when I looked through the inspection holes what should have been a strucural member along the side of the car, within the sills, had all but rusted away. It needed extensive welding to make it safe. After that it ran OK for a couple of years as long as you held the gear lever in place with your knee! One useful feature was that even though a saloon, you could remove the back bench seat base entirely by just removing one screw and as the bench had little legs attached you were left with a big load area. I moved a twin tub washing machine with ease. In effect these were Honda magic seats 30 years before their time. Finally the styling of the 1100/1300 and original mini and Allegro all cried out to be hatchbacks but BL never invested then money to reengineer them.
Andrew-T on 6 October 2014
I don't suppose he wants to sell it does he?
He might even give it away?
But on the topic of rust, in those days the use of winter road salt was becoming popular, and that was death to most cars. Japanese ones weren't any better, especially when they used dodgy steel. I had the first BMC 1100 sold in Alberta (1962) where salt wasn't used (the winters were too cold for it to work) and the car lasted well for 3 years before we moved east to Ottawa. Rusting was under way by the following summer.
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