ATLANTIC PASSAGE THWARTED
Your recent article on the Austin A90 Atlantic (C&SC, December ’22) brought back memories of the time, in the early 1960s, when I was one of 13 taking an HND in Mechanical and Production Engineering at Bromsgrove College of Further Education. Most of us were in our late teens or early 20s. We were apprenticed to local companies such as Heenan & Froude, Metal Box or LG Harris, and drove pre-war ‘bangers’ including Austin 12s, Standard Flying 12s, Morris 8s and even a Vincent Black Shadow!
However, a number of our cohort worked at The Austin in Longbridge and aspired to higher things. One was the late David William Fletcher, who acquired a rather secondhand A90. Unfortunately, the car suffered from ‘WW2 Italian tank syndrome’ (three reverse gears, one forward). Being engineers, we soon sorted the problem by adjusting the (stretched) column-shift cables. With the car capable of forward motion, another issue was revealed: low – and falling – oil pressure. Diagnosis took longer, but it was found to be an oval crank wiping out the white-metalling of the big ends. David solved this in a pragmatic manner by liberating a box of white-metalled big-end shells from the Longbridge stores. These were kept in the boot of the A90.
One weekend we all decided to spectate at a club meet at Silverstone and, true to form, the big ends were knackered when we got there. After a good day, we shoved the car on to the side of the track, jacked it up and proceeded to carefully remove the sump, complete with oil, and replace the big ends. While we were doing this, the Clerk of the Course drove up and asked if he could assist. One of our group replied: “We’re just changing the big ends and won’t be long. Would you like a cup of tea?” He replied: “No thanks, just clear up before you leave,” and drove off. We completed the task and drove back to Bromsgrove.
The A90 later disappeared and David, after working on gas turbines with Noel Penney for a couple of years, moved to Gaydon and then on to MIRA, where he ran the climatic wind tunnel until he retired.
John Brown Ceng MIMechE
Worcester
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