1960 A55 MkII - More pics and story - Finally!!!

[les509]

Bought this (along with four other cars) this week. Sold my other A55 to get this, have been after it for a while, the day I was going to pick up my other one, this one's owner phones me and tell me that he's decided to sell!! Just the one pic at the mo, will take some more pics this week and give more details (there's quite a story behind this one).

More pics, story to follow tonight (I promise!!!)

















The most mods this will get are probably a set of TR6 steels and a spin on oil filter conversion - I can't justify doing anything else because it's so original, it'd be a crying shame to ruin it. Anyone found me an estate yet?

[Seth]

That looks really nice!

[dollywobbler]

Ah, those fins bring back memories - same as my Aunt's Oxford VI traveller if I'm not much mistaken?

[briandamaged]

I am being steadily eaten away by the desire for a Farina....pics like this don't help!!! Beautiful.

[arthurbrown]

Big fins are DA BEST!

[bmcnut]

VERY Nice! Has this car been a regular up at p'bro for the last few years? I don't seem to recall seeing many in this colour and if its the one I'm thinking of then its cleaner than clean, its concourse perfect! Could be wrong tho lol

[street]

That looks great! Lovely colour combo
More pics and story pleeeez!

[Pid363!]

Another fine set of fins.

[trg1984]

she's gorgeous!!! any plans for it??

[les509]

Right, story.
FX 7 (It's original number) was registered new in Zanzibar in April 1960, assigned to C.F.Long of the Education Dept, then sold to Mr G I Walker of the Ministry of Agriculture in August 1962.
He purchased the vehicle for his wife, as she had recently written off her Fiat 500 after swerving to avoid running over a local, then unfortunately hitting a palm tree!
Mr Walker was employed to train the locals of Zanzibar (then a British Protectorate) to grow crops other than the Cloves that they then relied on for income, diversifying into coffee and various herbs and spices to provide other income should the Cloves harvest fail .
Mrs Walker was employed as a nursing sister in the main islands only hospital, and they both lived with their 3 children in a large house called Kisambani.
In 1964 the Islands were invaded by the Tanzanian Rebel Army, at which time all foreigners were told to leave. The Cambridge was loaded up with as many belongings as possible and was driven to the port. Mrs Walker came back to Britain with the children, whilst Mr Walker returned in the car to help others escape.
1 month later the car was loaded up again, driven back to the port, loaded onto a ship and returned to Britain via the Suez Canal.
The car was then registered in London, and subsequently driven to Aberdeen to rejoin the family.
The car was used that summer, but Mrs Walker found it difficult to get used to the volume of traffic (!) in the city compared to what she had been used to in Zanzibar, so the car was put in the garage on blocks , and there it stayed for 33 years, until she sold it in late '97!
The engine had suffered because of this long period of no use, as had the brakes and suspension etc., which can only be expected.
The gentleman that she sold it to carried out the necessary repairs to make it roadworthy again.He sold it to a friend of mine, and I have hounded him to sell it to me for quite some time.A week ago it became mine.
It has still only covered less than 31,000 miles from new, and only needs some minor attention to make perfect again. It has it's original bench seat and column gearchange.
There are marks on the steering wheel where the pet monkey that the family had in Zanzibar used to hang on it, and tiny teeth marks in the brass ring on the end of the gear lever where it used to chew it. If ever a car had a story to tell, this is it.
What happened to the original number is unclear, but I guess it is either something to do with either the big logbook changeover in 1977, or the guy who did the work on it sold it on separately from the car.

[Seth]

Fantastic story!

[Lankytim]

Wow, what a history!

[les509]

cheers guys, I'm off to ASDA to see if they sell pet monkeys!!

[XJR 40]

That's lovely, I'm quite envious now. That's the same as the one that Larkin had vandalised during the "Popular Classics" magazine days, but even his didn't have the surprisingly scarce column change.

Like Brian, I'm finding it very hard to resist the temptation to get another Farina-styled A55/60 or Oxford V/VI, my last one was a great car but some arsepiece nicked it one day when my back was turned, back in 1990!

I lived fairly near by Aldershot at the time, so no prizes for guessing what became of that one, a '67 A60 in all-over Carlton Grey with red leather and a 1.8ltr 3 bearing MGB engine/o/d gearbox.

[dollywobbler]

Fantastic. The monkey story really is fab! Anyone else would probably replace the items for nice shiny, immaculate ones thereby removing any trace of character or history. Booo!

I can see it now. "The new styling trend for 2007, monkey bites."

[qwerty]

Wow just read through the story. Thats brilliant! Must be great to have a car wthat you know had such an interesting and varied life!!

[disasterbus]

Just found this - lovely and what a cool history