Austin 10 Clifton date and colours

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Rogan
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Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2020 9:15 am

Austin 10 Clifton date and colours

Post by Rogan » Fri Jul 03, 2020 9:40 am

Good day
I am currently restoring an, what I think is 1936, Austin 10 Clifton in South Africa. The date I got from the diff.
I am trying to decide on the colour, and when I inspected the components I found the body, fenders and heads were all painted a dark green, presumably Westminster green.
The chassis number also does not seem to correspond to the sequence in the lists of cars in "The book of the Austin Ten" The chassis number is G126413
The original dealer name tag in Johannesburg was still on the car
I am just curious as to why this car was not painted in traditional colours, with black fenders and chrome/black headlights

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peter_winney
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Location: BATH

Re: Austin 10 Clifton date and colours

Post by peter_winney » Fri Jul 03, 2020 3:24 pm

Rogan
Welcome to the forum.

The chassis No. of your 10hp Clifton G126413 reveals that it was one of the open cars that remained in production alongside the Cambridge until 1937. Your date of 1936 will be correct, July or slightly later maybe. Your car may also have a body No. GPA 126713 - earlier cars had different Nos for body and chassis. It is likely it has a downdraft Zenith (introduced @ G105479). It may have Girling brakes and Easiclean wheels as the car in the picture below. I am not sure when these features first appeared on the open cars. Previous to that the export models had 16in wire wheels (unlike the 18in wheels of the UK cars).

late-clifton-july-mag.jpg
late-clifton-july-mag.jpg (150.67 KiB) Viewed 10745 times
The club sells an Austin Colours Reference Book (see Parts Department / Regalia / Books in online shop - website Home page) that lists the colours available for particular models and years and references some modern colour codes. Most Austins, certainly in the UK, had black wings, but this appears no longer the rule by 1936. The Cambridge could be had in single colours or with two tones of the same colour. It was also possible for the customer to specify a colour. Cars were often exported in knock-down-kit form for local assembly and local colour options may have varied.

It is great that you have the original dealer tag.
Peter W
Member since July 1972
Never too old to learn something new

Rogan
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2020 9:15 am

Re: Austin 10 Clifton date and colours

Post by Rogan » Sun Jul 05, 2020 8:47 am

Thanks Peter
Your reply sums up my car. The car has a body number tag, which is the same as the chassis. The car has Easiclean wheels and I think the engine had a downdraught carb. The engine that came with the car is a later engine, same bore etc, but with different mountings, shell bearings and place for a water pump. Unfortunately the gearbox did not match the engine - I have fitted an earlier engine with a sidedraught carb.
Best regards
Rogan

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peter_winney
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Joined: Wed Nov 20, 2019 3:31 pm
Location: BATH

Re: Austin 10 Clifton date and colours

Post by peter_winney » Sun Jul 05, 2020 10:41 am

Rogan
An Austin 10 engine with a water pump sounds like a much later one from a Utility of the 1940s or possibly a boat or fire pump engine. But you may find you can fit the manifolds and carb to get a bit more "oomph" and economy from the earlier engine, though that might complicate the exhaust pipe layout.

The Clifton is a delightful car and I hope you have a lot of fun.

Peter W
Member since July 1972
Never too old to learn something new

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