An
Australian
Austin
1800 Station Wagon
|
An
Australian |
|
|
|
 |
|
Photos courtesy Graeme Widmer (c) The
car in question was converted by a friend/colleague (an Engineer with
the NSWGR) of my father's back in the mid/late 1960's. He decided that
the only car worth owning, rightly so, was an Austin 1800, but it had
to be a wagon, as of course they didn't exist, he set about having one
made.
The
gent in question still lives in Beecroft, Sydney, where the car resided
for many years. Various options were investigated for the conversion,
including fabricating the entire thing, but some careful measurements
at wrecking yards discovered that the back end of an EH Holden almost
fitted, so one was acquired and attached.
It
wasn't quite a perfect marriage however. The most disturbing feature
was the fact that an 1800 had a roof line that sloped to the back window,
and when this was extended, the roof gutter ended up being stupidly
low.(see the photos).
The
other problem was of course that 1800's didn't carry a load very well
without sagging in the rear, the additional permanent load meant the
car had a permanent sag.
The
ute suspension might have been the answer. Too late now.
The
car did of course have all the practical features of a wagon.
I
seem to recall that the conversion cost about as much as the car cost
when purchased almost new in 1966. An interesting thought if you convert
that into todays values for a similar car.
The
car was always guaranteed to turn heads wherever it went, and I was
lucky enough to have many enjoyable rides in it.
In
about 1975 the car was sold to friend of mine, who loved it and drove
it around Sydney for a number of years, until it finally gave in to
neglect in C1980.
|
|
|
|
