Hi, if you've been searching for a beautiful Austin America, this car is for you.

If you've seen the site in the last few months, then no doubt you've been following my progress in the restoration of this wonderful 1969 Austin America. If you haven't seen the "Rescuing An America" page, then you may want to now.

I decided to restore this car after being contacted by the owner. I was amazed at how original it was. It even has it's original California black and gold license plates. It never had an antenna or a radio and the factory radio blank is still in the dash. It had been sitting since 1996. No accident damage of any kind and very little rust. The floors were perfect! I new it would be an excellent car to restore and document on the website. Plus, it was an excellent opportunity for me to put my money where my mouth was (so to speak) and see what's still available, parts wise. And, lets face it: I love Americas and there was no way I was letting this one go to the scrap yard.

I spent 4 months restoring this car back to better than original condition and the end result is simply fantastic. It's now ready to be enjoyed by a new owner .

Keep in mind the majority of the parts used were NOS dealer parts and OEM parts sourced from both here in the USA and from England. You just won't find a nicer, more authentic example of an Austin America anywhere. I patterned this restoration after my restoration on my own 1970 America which I've had now for 20 years. I'm extremely happy with the end result and because this car was in such great shape to start with, I think it's turned out even nicer than my own car.

Here is a very brief rundown of just some of what was done during the restoration.

• Body Repainted in Dupont's 2 stage Nason Urethane paint in the original color, Damask Red. Painting included the wheel wells, engine compartment, door jams and trunk. Paint has been color sanded, polished and waxed.

• 1275cc Engine & Manual Transmission completely rebuilt. The rebuild included: A Kent Megadyne 256 sport cam with lightened lifters, a 3.1:1 ratio final drive gear set for much lower rpm's at freeway speeds, all syncros replaced in the transmission, cylinder head converted to run on unleaded fuel and viton valve stem seals were used to eliminate oil consumption. High flow water and oil pumps, centered oil pickup pipe, long reach oil drain plug magnet, converted to use a modern spin-on oil filter.

• Door, trunk & window seals were replaced except for the wing windows.

• New carpets and padding, new headliner, new seat upholstery, new dash upholstery, all new dash switches.

• New bumpers, new overriders and new reverse light assembly. New headlight trim rings. New body side trim reflectors. New body side trim logos. New tail light assemblies with lenses. New hubcaps.

• New brake master cylinder. New brake flex lines (all 5 front and rear). System flushed and DOT 5 Silicone brake fluid added.

• New clutch assembly, clutch master cylinder, clutch slave cylinder and clutch flex hose. System flushed and DOT 5 Silicone brake fluid added.

• New Pertronix Ignitor and matching Flame Thrower Coil Electronic Ignition System. This is a state of the art the ignition system and is the best product available. New K&N air filter.  New Bosch triple electrode W7DTC plugs.

• New battery. New OEM helmet top battery cables (not shown in the photo below). New Lucas Voltage Regulator. New generator brushes and springs. New engine compartment I.D. plates and decals (some of which are also not shown in the photo below).

• New Poly-Urethane front suspension bushings. 5 new tires.

• Steering rack rebuilt with new nylon bushing and rack boots.

• New coolant and fuel hoses throughout.

• New 1-1/2" diameter exhaust system of my own design with 2 bolt gasketed flange at the exhaust manifold.

As I stated, this is just a brief list of what I've done to the car. Please feel free to email me for more details and more pictures and even Mpeg movies.

This America is very quiet, solid, and it rides fantastic. The transmission shifts perfect, even when standing still. The engine idles smooth and yet makes plenty of power. It rolls out onto the freeway effortlessly and easily keeps up with traffic. It is able to easily sustain cruising speeds of 75-80mph at approximately 3,800-4,000rpm with the 3.1 final drive gears. It should easily get approximately 35mpg on the freeway, even at these speeds. With the uprated water and oil pumps, and the wider blade 11 blade cooling fan, it will stay cool in stop-and-go traffic, when climbing long grades or when driving on hot summer days.

I base this information on my own car, which we drive everywhere, including a car show that is 9 hours away in Phoenix, AZ. 

I've posted photos below and don't hesitate to email me for more views, larger better quality pictures, photos of specific areas or more information. I literally have hundreds of photos taken before, during and after the restoration process. I would also be happy to send you an Mpeg movie of the car driving or sitting with the engine running, etc. This is truly a fantastic Austin America and youll be proud to own it. It is beautiful and ready to attend this years car shows and club events, so please give it a good home. If you live within driving distance, please make arrangements to come see and drive it. You will be very impressed.

The car will come with it's official original, signed, Heritage Certificate from the British Motor Heritage Trust in England. This authenticates the cars build dates, engine, body and VIN numbers, paint color, etc. This is suitable for framing and a must for car shows. The car is also registered with the Austin America Register and will come with the complete membership package, including it's own sequecially numbered dash plaque. Also available at an additional cost is an extremely rare AMCO Center Console with armrest and locking storage bin. These are impossible to find and were originally available as a dealer option only for the Automatic Transmission cars. (They are easily adapted to the manual cars.)

I am more than happy to help arrange shipping. Or, if you live within a few hundred miles, just come get it and drive it home! However, the car must be paid for in full before you either come and pick it up, or it leaves here on a transport. I expect payment in full with a cashier's check or money order.  No other payment methods will be accepted. I will not ship this car over seas or to south America.

I really appreciate all the interest and emails for the car and wanted to answer a few common questions:

First of all, forget what you've heard, read, or experienced regarding Austin Americas. This is not "that" car. This car is quiet, dependable and fast. It does not have ANY overheating or transmission problems. The brakes are as good as those on a modern (non-ABS) car. The ride quality is smooth and tight, in a word, fantastic. 

Please realize that this is not the wornout second hand Austin America that your friend or your mechanic had (and has repeatedly warned you not to ever buy) that always ran bad and eventually blew itself apart and was left on the side of the road.  I've spent $8,500 on this car and have every receipt for every part, to prove it.

This is a MANUAL TRANSMISSION model. The transmission is completely rebuilt and shifts just like any modern car with a manual transmission. There is no difficulty engaging 1st gear at a stop, and there is no clutch "judder" when taking off in 1st gear. The transmission easily and cleanly shifts and downshifts without ANY problems and there is no "double-clutching" needed. There is NO vibration or rattling in the gear shift lever during take off in 1st gear.

Although the car would have no problems driving several thousand miles to your home, I wouldn't recommend it. By the time you get done paying for a one-way ticket to fly here, fuel, meals, hotel rooms, etc. you could have sat home and had it delivered for much less. Plus, the paint, chrome and glass are perfect. Is it really worth having a bunch of rock chips and dings everywhere? This is a beautiful car, let's keep it that way.

Lastly, let me say that this car is quite modified to be a much better and more dependable car than it ever was when new. There are a lot of powder coated parts in the engine compartment, alot of new chrome on the body. Alot of sound deadening undercoating and insulation, even in the roof. Far too many modifications to list here and as I mentioned, I have receipts totaling $8,500.

I'm not asking or even wanting to have my time paid for. I did this restoration for the fun of it. All I ask is that you pay for the parts that went into the process. That's extremely fair and it will allow me to do another one to the same level in the coming months. To put your mind at ease about future parts availability....The America uses the same engine and transmission as it's cousin, the Mini. So all the mechanical items will be available, well, probably forever the way the Mini's are loved. Austin America specific items are also still quite avialable, both here in the USA and in England.  The fact that I completely restored this car in 4 months should be proof that nearly everything is still available.

If you're wondering about the $8,500 spent on the restoration and how that breaks down. 

$3,000 invested in the engine, transmission and related under hood components.

$2,600 invested in bodywork and paint.

$1,000 invested in the interior.

$1,900 invested in the remaining mechanical and exterior trim and other misc. components.