Practically Classics Forum

I was flicking through http://www.mobile.de/ to see what Austins being sold in Europe,surprisingly,some are left hand. I didn't realise that British marques were welcome in Europe. I would love to import a Leyland P76 and an Austin Kimberley/Tasman

P76's still have a good following but the Kimberley and Tasman are virtually worthless.

A P76 with the personalised plate "LEY.076" lives somewhere near me and is possibly driven daily. I never can get a photo of it when I see it.

I also see a battered blue Kimberley every now and again.

I was surprised to see a number of P76's a few years back when I was in Toowoomba. They looked like daily drivers as well.

I didn't see any Tasmans or Kimberleys, though I do have strong recollections of these cars. Our neighbour had a red 1972 Kimberley that was in showroom condition. I remember its , er, distinctive appearance and the strange tone of the 2.2 litre transverse six which sounded like exactly what it was, a Maxi engine with two more cylinders.

There's a Kimberly in daily use locally, its engine managed to reach a creditable 81,048Km (50,655 miles) before succumbing to the usual, and the guy is currently doing a cracking job of fitting a KV6 as its length means that, even with the gearbox on the end of it, there's space. He reckons that his modification will be reversible (yeah, that's what I thought.... ), so is seeking out a genuine, unused EXF block into which he can rebuild the original engine.

Yeah right.

It would be much easier to fit a Russell Hobbs under the bonnet than a KV6 kettle.

Yes, but that would have been a bit too light for the car, resulting in poor traction.

Word is that this butchery has died the death already as the guy doing the work hasn't yet managed to teach himself to weld properly. Shame, as he already wears a suitable helmet on a daily basis to keep the aliens out, they want to burrow into his head and steal his thoughts, apparently.

OK, I say "word is that..." where perhaps "it's in this week's Gazette Classifieds (P22, column 3) as an unfinished project" would have been more accurate but hey-ho, better to have wrecked a rare car than never to have tried at all.

I won't be surprised to see its doors on a Maxi this time next week. Mixed feelings about that, I love Maxis.

If this Kimberley is located in East Northumberland, it begs the question of how many other of these 'British World Cars' are knocking about here. I know there are a good number of Leyland P76's, for example, all fitted with the 4.4 litre version of the Rover V8.
What about the Marina 6 or the Cortina 4.1? Locating some of those would be interesting.

The bloke who owns it has another two Landcrab-style cars, one 1800 Ute and one 18/85s in his collection, there is another Kimberly locally that's in rather nice condition and a show regular, it's also beige, but has Australia's own block casting so still drives just fine (and used to give my Dolomite a darned good run for the money). I posted several piccies of that one on the old Practical Classics "official" forum which means that I probably have copies somewhere, will put them up at some point.

Is there not some fella down south, Manchester area rings a bell, who has a vast array of Aussie BL tin? Sure I've seen a piece on his collection in an edition of Jalopy or Real Classics.

The Manchester man rings a bell, yes.
I wonder if he has a Marina Six, which is my personal favourite. I drove one in New Zealand once. It had the 2.6 litre straight-six from the cheaper versions of the P76 and a three-speed floor-change manual. It had so much torque that gears were almost superfluous.