With all the Austin Americas featured here, you’d think they sold in vast numbers in America. Well, they didn’t do too badly until it became clear they weren’t up to handling American roads in combination with American car maintenance habits. The likely underdeveloped automatic didn’t help things either. Well, here’s a car that should solve all the reliability problems, any issues you have with lacking power, and the engine itself will be low maintenance to boot. IF you can get it installed. Honda engine conversions are not unusual among the Mini crowd, so obviously that translates to their big brother too, right? Right? You can find this 1969 Austin Hondamerica for $1800 as a full kit, or for $500 without the Honda bits, in Federal Way, WA, just north of Seattle.
Clearly the seller thinks highly enough of this car not to cheapen it with pictures of a corset-clad honey. The red definitely looks good on this car, although as you can see in the pictures, the bumper and perhaps more of this car have had an encounter with a vertical object. Parts to fix that do come with the car. There is only surface rust, no penetration, and the interior has been rust-proofed and insulated.
Door panels have also been done, and the seats are in good shape, barring one tear on the driver’s seat. The engine comes with some performance parts, and there are no leaks in the suspension. An ECU is still needed, and the seller doesn’t mention if any mounting hardware for the engine and transmission is included, let alone what work is needed to fit it.
The car also comes with a set of Minilites with new tires, so there is hope that this is primarily an assembly job to debug and then paint later. Well, how about it? Are you feeling lucky? A quick search does show parts are out there, and people are doing the conversion, so this could definitely be a fun little hot rod.
Rusty But Trusty 
October 12, 2013 at 2:46 pm |
“I got this great idea but I have no clue as to how to accomplish it” said the seller of this car.