I bought the car aged 25 after an inheritance and was immediately taken with the colour and the styling. In Durban, South Africa I only ever saw another A95 that was the same colour as mine - plenty of black ones, black/white, grey/white, light blue with a darker blue flash down the side and matching rims. They were an incredibly popular car in their day and in the 1960 South African Motoring magazine called CAR, there is a very comprehensive write up about the A105. This model didn't reach South African shores until late in 1959 and early 1960 - thousands of the A105s were sold .
 
So mine started off as a basic A95 with all but a Philco valve operated AM radio. Due to the nature of the terrain and the fog over there, it wasn't long before I took the car into the Austin agents, and got them to fit the genuine heater/demister, which proved a godsend when travelling through the country in the winter. Next to go on was a pair of Yellow Lucas fog-lights and some time later a pair of Lucas long range spot lamps, mounted inside of the fog-lights.
 
At that stage the car had completed some 30,000 miles over a four year period. The drum brakes were fine when they were cold, but suffered from chronic brake fade at high speed - 80 miles per hour. So I sourced a brake booster and back into the Austin dealership for the booster to be fitted. That was an enormous help, but still not up to scratch when trying to slow the beast down from  80+ MPH.

Then quite by chance , I came across a wrecked Austin- Healey 3000 which had front disc brakes. So off came the drum brakes, and with some modifications by the Austin dealership, on went a set of front disc brakes. Now we are talking, and these worked a treat. The front and rear Armstrong lever type shock absorbers were replaced with telescopic shocks which improved the ride no end.
 
Then a friend of mine said he knew where there was a 3.0 litre engine from a Healey 3000 in which the driver was tragically killed when a tyre burst and the car rolled several times . That vehicle had done around 80,000 miles and there was nothing to salvage other then the engine and the gearbox which had the electric over drive. So over a ten day period the 2.6 litre A 95 motor was removed along with the gearbox, the Healey prop shaft was used as it was a perfect fit. I had the propshaft balanced. The 3.0 litre motor was stripped down to the bare block and was sand blasted and then soaked in a cleaning detergent, can no longer remember what the detergent was called but it was heated up to about 110 degrees F and left over night to soak. The next morning when the block came out, it looked like it had come straight from the factory. So the next stage was to have it sent to the machine shop it went to be rebored, oversize high compression pistons were fitted with heavy duty main and big end bearings. The cam shaft was tweaked  just a little so as not to spoil the smooth idling of these great engines. The Healey head was sent way for cleaning and rebuilding with heavy duty valve springs fitted. Fortunately there was enough room in the engine bay so the Healey inlet manifold and the twin SU AUD 217 HS6 carburettors were fitted. Now we are talking about performance.



 
Now because the A95 had a 3.91 diff ratio and the overdrive model had a 4.11 ratio with 2.87 on overdrive 4th - in effect giving it a five speed gearbox.  The floor mounted gear lever from the Healey  was used and the steering column lever was completely removed.  The hole in the instrument cluster was covered with a rubber grommet where the gear lever protruded. The mechanics did a great job in fitting the floor mounted gearlever without damaging the plush pile carpet. It was a very professional job and looked like a factory fitted option.
 
The 3.0 litre Healey exhaust was fitted with the twin tail pipes protruding from just under the rear bumper between the spare wheel carrier and the rear leaf spring. Once started it sounded like nothing I had ever heard before, and on the open road it sure had that Healey bark that the Healeys were renowned for. My fuel consumption went from 22 Miles per gallon and with the overdrive in use it returned around 28 -31 miles per gallon.
 
Because it was now technically an A105 Westminster with a potent weapon lurking beneath that big bonnet, the rear A95 motif on the boot lid was replaced by a 105/6 Westminster. I never advertised the fact that it had a 3.0 litre motor lurking under the bonnet.
 
It gave me many years of motoring pleasure until the rust started to set in and the final straw was when the chassis holding the rear spring shackles in place had rusted through, and upon further investigation it was found that the rust had set in all over under the vehicle and in the doors, mudguards and door sills. By that time the car was getting on in years and I kept it for 20 years before selling it off for spare parts.
 
P & G Francis

1959 A40 Mk 1 Saloon De-Lux Reg.No. 420 FHY,

The car was first sold in September 1959 by Henlys Ltd. Bristol, the body colour was Horizon Blue with matching light blue interior. It stayed in the Bristol area for over forty years, when it was purchased by ourselves in 2001.

The previous owner had spent many years on a complete restoration, but was forced to sell it due to loss of storage space. We happened to be attending the The 2001 Bristol Classic Car Show when it was held on Durnham Downs in Bristol.

We first saw "FAY" as we affectionately named it, with a little For Sale sign in the windscreen, as we approached the owner to show interest in his car, he soon had us crawling about on the grass pointing out all the work he had done, and I must say it was as clean underneath as on top.

So after agreeing a price, we became the proud owners of this absolutly spanking car in June 2001.

Since then we have used it for Shows,Rallies and charitable events throughout the South West and have been lucky to win several awards and cups.

We are still good friends with the previous owner, and the car is subject to overall inspection by him, including underneath, to make sure we are looking after his pride and glory that he did'nt realy want to sell.

Terry & Margaret

The car was originally sold new from our local Austin dealer here in Oshawa Canada. The salesman picked the car up from The Austin Motor Co in Toronto and then drove it out to its first owner, a local farmer, who lived about twenty miles away. It was painted Mendip Grey and was fitted with the optional wide whitewall tyres. After many years of use it was handed down to his two young sons who drove it around the farm and almost destroyed it!  When it was offered to me in 1972 it had been brush painted bright red, was full of dents and missing the bumpers etc.

After a few months I repainted it a two tone grey,rebuilt the engine and gearbox and replaced all the missing parts. Now, looking quite presentable, it was driven for a number of years until other projects took precedence and it was left in storage for more than ten years. Sitting in the back of a shed it deteriorated quite badly especially the interior which was frequented by a racoon and countless families of mice!  

A decision was made to make the car roadworthy and to sell it .The brakes were unseized, a few rust holes hastily patched and new inner tubes fitted. Once back on the road and after an entry in a local car show, my interest was revived and a full scale restoration was gradually embarked upon. With the minimum of funds and no time restraint, countless hours were spent hand stripping the bodywork, removing rusted sections and welding in new metal, bumping out dents etc. I also fitted a factory sun roof from a donor car in the U/K .This was very time consuming to get it fitted correctly but well worth the effort. Apparently Somerset's supplied to North America were not offered this option.


Most parts were restored rather than replaced and kept original as possible. The exceptions being the fitting of an Austin Healey differential and some oil gallery work to the engine.

After prepping the car I had it sprayed black and then refitted all the glass and the newly rechromed parts. The car is now an absolute joy to drive and to look at!  It brings back all those memories of British 50s motoring. Our family car at that time was a Seven Ruby which was then replaced by a new A30 .Dad drove this car ,keeping it running and looking like new, up until the late eighties.

 
Dave Golding
 Canada