1964 austin a110 westminster 3 litre farina - £4500
Many people identify with the Farina Austins such as the A60 as plain dowdy vehicles driven back in the day by safe pairs of hands such as civil servants & accountants. However, there was the lesser known more exciting range often known as the “Big Farinas.” Often adopted by the Police they were like A60's pumped up on steroids and featured the Big Healey 3 litre straight 6 engine. The big Farinas were also subject to the popular swing to badge engineering at the time and consequently there were 3 main versions all utilising the same basic bodyshell. Namely they were the Wolseley 6/110 (we have a superb show condition example available, please ask!), the VDP 4 litre R and the Austin Westminster - the latter of which is our example here.
Such cars as these were not common back in my childhood and did not escape the ravages of corrosion, their ultimate fate was quite often the banger racing track. Hence today they are very rare. Our example is a South African import so right-hand drive. It is a restoration project but the bodywork and underside is virtually corrosion free meaning there is no real welding work required. Instead, plenty of mechanical work to be done including re-installing the 3 litre engine which is supplied with it.
The interior is a joy to behold in these cars; this one finished in blue leatherette with walnut dash, cappings & rear picnic tables. Disappointingly, the spartan strip type “thermometer” speedometer featured in the 1100 was fitted in these cars and would carry over in the successor to this car - the landcrab derived Austin 3 Litre. Quirky, though, nevertheless ☺