Lot Ended
Description
Exceedingly rare survivor; three owners from new; expertly restored
and uprated during the current 15-year ownership; Denis Welch cylinder head with
direct fuel injection and low boost turbo; front disc brakes; telescopic shocks;
a proper Q-car in wonderful condition throughout
Launched in 1954
to replace the A70 Hereford, the Austin Westminster was a large saloon that went
through five generations of development (A90; A95; A99; A105 and A110) before it
was replaced by the Austin 3-Litre in 1968 (an example of which is elsewhere in
this catalogue, Lot 23).
Built on the same
production line as the Austin-Healey 100/6, the A95 ran from 1956 – 1959 and had
the same 2.6 C-Series straight-six engine and much of the same running gear as
its sports car sibling. Fitted with twin SU carbs, it produced 102bhp mated to
four-speed manual transmission (with optional overdrive) which made it good for
a top speed of 92mph.
While the vast majority of
the 28,000 sold were saloons, a more expensive Countryman estate version was
also available for £1,252 (over £250 more than the saloon). A spacious 5/6
seater with a split tailgate, the Countryman had a useful 62 cu ft of load space
with the rear seats folded down. Austin’s brochure was keen to point out that
the seats could also be folded in such a way as to make a double bed with “No
fear of intrusion because all doors can be securely locked” – an appealing
feature which no doubt secured a few more sales…
First registered in Essex in January 1959, this A95 Countryman is an
incredibly rare car today – when exhibited at the Colchester Classic Vehicle
Show in 1991, it was said to be one of only three known to survive in the UK.
It has had just three owners from new, the first
being a Mr CR Boreham of Hedingham, business cards stored in the glovebox
showing that he was an electrical contractor who specialised in the supply and
repair of TV sets, radios and domestic appliances. Business must have been good
because he ordered a highly specced car including optional leather
upholstery and floor-change overdrive transmission.
He was to keep the Countryman for 37 years, taking it to shows during
his retirement and finally passing it to his nephew, Mr I Yeldham of Sudbury, in
1996. He in turn kept it for 15 years before selling it to our vendor in
December 2011.
By this time the Countryman was
looking a bit tired and had been off the road for a while, so our vendor decided
that such a rare machine deserved to be returned to its former glory. A
professional mechanic who ran his own classic car restoration business, he set
about a total nut-and-bolt rebuild which was to take several years to complete,
the whole process being documented by many invoices and a few photos on file,
plus a handy narrative drawn up by the vendor.
Once stripped down to a bare shell, the body was sent off to Rix
Media & Soda Blasting of Chester-le-Street to be thoroughly cleaned,
de-rusted and acid etch primed (see photos). As the vendor wanted to use the car
as a daily run-about, he also took the opportunity to incorporate a few choice
upgrades to make it suitable for modern traffic.
This included a full engine rebuild and an ingenious new cylinder
head. The original Westminster head had an integral cast inlet manifold and a
single Zenith carburettor which was ditched in favour of an uprated head
supplied by Healey specialist Denis Welch Motorsport of Yoxall. This was then
equipped with a six-port direct fuel injection system made in-house at the
vendor’s garage, and mighty fine it looks too.
In
addition, a low boost Garrett turbocharger with an intercooler was added, the
aim being to make the engine very torquey, the better to cope with the steep
hills around the vendor’s North Northumberland home. A Megasquirt mappable ECU
was also specially made and discreetly on the bulkhead behind the glovebox, with
a wired-in USB port to connect a laptop should you ever wish to change the
settings (the vendor says they should never need any adjustment unless you plan
to go racing).
Other trick parts include
Tuftride hardened rocker shafts, K&N performance crankcase engine filter
breather, uprated Walbro fuel pump and a 10-row fast road oil cooler. An uprated
radiator is also fitted along with an electric cooling fan supplied by Matt
Lewis Racing of Dorking plus associated controls supplied by Stoney Racing of
Shrewsbury.
To cope with the extra power, the
front hubs were replaced with Healey items to allow an upgrade from drum to disc
brakes, and the Armstrong lever front shock absorbers were replaced with
telescopic ones, along with uprated Healey springs, nylon bushes and rebuilt
king-pins. A bespoke stainless steel exhaust system was built in-house and the
floor-change gearbox with Laycock overdrive was also rebuilt and fitted with a
modified flywheel supplied by Matthew Storey Engineering of Morpeth – “It’s a
good unit and drops the revs by about 25%”, says the vendor.
All other aspects of the car were restored as required, using
original parts wherever possible. The interior was complete and in generally
good shape, needing little more than a new set of carpets, new door rubbers and
check straps, new furflex and additional sound-proofing mats. The original green
leather upholstery was carefully refurbished and fitted with new seat foams.
There is a split in the front passenger seat which has been there for years, the
vendor preferring to keep it original rather than having it retrimmed.
Period-correct ‘new old stock’ Britax seat belts
were installed at the front as the car did not have belts fitted when new. A new
wiring loom was also made and fitted, along with uprated lighting with LED bulbs
throughout. The dash clock was refurbished by JDO Instruments of Keighley and
uprated to quartz spec and the Smiths oil/fuel/temperature gauge was renewed. A
new stainless steel radio aerial was fitted on the front right wing, along with
two speakers discreetly fitted under the dash.
Much of the brightwork was also replated and the car was painted in
Palm Green with Old English White roof and side-stripes. All five wheels were
refurbished and shod with a matching set of Blockley steel band radial tyres
that look similar to cross plies – including the spare which sits in a wind-down
compartment at the rear of the car, operated by a tool which also doubles as the
starting handle.
You get the picture – this was a
labour of love with no expense spared and no corners cut. The vendor estimates
that over £15,000 was spent on parts alone, not to mention many hundreds of
hours of labour.
Included in the comprehensive
history folder is a copy of The Motor from December 1956, the cover
story being the launch of the A95 range; various contemporary road test reports;
original Austin service voucher booklets; original sales brochure for the A95
Countryman; an original owner’s handbook plus some helpful tips from the vendor
on starting and driving.
Although it no longer
needs one, it has an MOT until June 2027 with no advisories recorded.
We are told that the car drives as well as it
looks and has been in almost daily use since the restoration was completed,
clocking up some 7,000 trouble-free miles. It has certainly been starting
promptly and running nicely as we have moved it around on site, with healthy
50psi oil pressure and a subtle but distinctive ‘whoosh’ from the turbo – a
pleasing feature that will have the Max Power boys scratching their heads: ‘A
70-year-old car with a turbo – surely not?’.
The
vendor sums it up by saying: “The result of all this work is a car that looks
completely standard and yet will storm up any hill in fourth gear, overtakes
with ease when needed and takes motorway driving like a modern
car.”
As you can see in the photos, this fabulous
Q-Car is in wonderful condition throughout and is only reluctantly for sale due
to the advancing years of its devoted owner/restorer. Recently retired from his
garage business and all the space and equipment that went with it, he now has
more cars than he has room for and cannot keep them all.
Believed to be one of only three A95 Countryman estates still
surviving, it could be a long time before you see another for sale, let alone as
good as this one. We can only find a record of one other being sold at auction,
a 1958 example which made a whopping £32,860 in the summer of 2018 (our vendor
went to see that car and was distinctly unimpressed – we can’t give you his
exact words but he didn’t think it was a patch on this one…).
On offer here at a fraction of that amount, and
an even smaller fraction of all the time and money lavished upon it to date, all
this Countryman needs now is a proud fourth owner who can reap the rewards of
all the good work so recently carried out.
As you can probably tell by
now, we like this car a lot and we are sure that you will too, so make sure you
come and see it!
Consigned
by James Dennison – 07970 309907 –
james.dennison@brightwells.com