A life-long petrolhead has opened up about spending nearly 50 years behind the wheel of the same classic car, saying he would be lost without it, despite a design flaw after an interaction with a neighbour.
Peter Jibb, 79, from Stamford bought his 1957 Austin A35 saloon from a colleague in 1979 and has since used it to travel more than 60,000 miles.
Speaking to specialist car insurance company Adrian Flux’s blog Forever Cars, Peter stated that, whilst it was considered an old model in the 1970s, he knew that it would become a desirable classic so decided to restore it.
He explained: “I began to think ‘well, hang on a minute, this is worth saving. I wasn’t necessarily thinking I would keep it for a long time…
“I would be a bit lost without it. I don’t want to spend all my time gardening, I like to be able to do things with the car. I’m not really one to be sitting watching TV all that much, and I find that the car is an interest, something to do other than watch TV.”
Peter has been interested in cars since his teenage years and, although the little Austin was in a usable condition when he initially bought it, decided to take it off the road to restore it.
Despite already being 22 years old, the petrolhead was still able to source plenty of spares for the model and even repaired existing components which he could sell on to fund the restoration.
Now in good working order, the Austin A35 is a regular sight at classic car events in Peter’s area and national rallies as part of the model’s owners club.
However, Peter noted that owning the classic Austin has not always been plain sailing, sharing how an interaction with a neighbour resulted in a serious engine fault.
He added: “Every so often I used to open the garage door and keep it running, because you can’t just leave it standing idle, and she complained about the fumes. At the time I was changing the antifreeze and I was running it up to get all the air bubbles out of the system. I should have told her to go away but, trying to be a good neighbour, I switched it off.
“Half an hour or so later she had disappeared, so I took it up the road. I hadn’t got all the air out of it, and I blew the head gasket. I took the cylinder head off, and there was a hole in one of the pistons.”
Nevertheless, a blown head gasket has hardly put Peter off his classic Austins. Following the incident, the petrolhead removed the sump and fitted a new piston, allowing the car to still be used, albeit at a slightly slower pace.
He has also restored a particularly rare Austin A35 Pickup, only 477 of which were manufactured between 1956 and 1957, with less than 50 surviving.
Despite its old age, the Austin A30 and A35 remain cherished classics, being one of the first truly affordable family cars offered in the UK after the Second World War.