Here are  pictures showing some of the restoration work I have been doing on the Overland.  Most of the work so far has been machining replacement parts.  The white metal camshaft follower bushes had loosened and subsequently been broken in use.  The zinc die-cast of the oil pump casing and of the magneto body had degenerated badly.

On Wednesday 13th April we successfully bid for a 1915 Willys Overland Model 83 at an auction in Buxton.

On a number of occasions I have come across the problem of removing a tacky (or sometimes hard) brown varnish.  This residue is left when vehicles or equipment have stood unused for some years and the petrol has slowly evaporated.  I have tried a number of chemicals in attempts to remove the residue, but with little success.  I finally found that a basic non-biological liquid detergent (for washing clothes) plus hot water does the job well.

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Carburettors:

• Strip the carburettor, removing any gaskets and the float.  (If a float has had any damage and has got petrol inside then putting it into hot water will cause the petrol to evaporate rapidly, blowing the float apart.  Experience is a wonderful thing!)
• Place the carburettor in a saucepan and cover it with a solution of water and detergent.
• Bring this nearly to boiling point and leave it to stand for an hour.
• Rinse the carburettor in clean water, using a small brush (such as an old toothbrush) to remove the residue. The residue should come off easily.
• Use an airline to blow any residue out of all drillings.  If a jet was stuck it should now come out without damage.
• If necessary repeat the process, soaking the carburettor again and rinsing off any remaining residue.

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Tanks:

• Fill the tank with a very hot solution of water and detergent.
• Leave to stand for 12 hours.
• Rinse well and allow to dry completely (this is very important).
• The residue should turn whitish and go powdery so most can be blown out using an air line.  If the tank has baffles and inaccessible places it will not be possible to blow out all the particles of residue, but these are normally heavy enough to settle out in filter units and should not cause any problems.

I have a buyer for the car and it will be moving shortly to its new home.  I am very pleased that the car will be going back to the Isle of Wight, where it was first registered, and hope that the new owner will get as much pleasure from driving the car as I have done.

The car will be moving along with all its trappings, which will leave a fair amount of space in my garage and workshop.  I hope that some of this space will be filled by another veteran car before the next season of motoring starts.

DL 126 in the 'igloo'

The car loaded on the truck

Tools made a 6hp Rover

What to look for when buying a 6hp Rover

These photographs illustrate a number of the modifications I have made to my Bolens over the years in order to improve its performance and reliability.

Robin Morrison’s account of the performance of these cars on the 2010 VCC Creepy Crawly Rally.

There was a record turnout of 6hp Rover cars at this year’s Creepy Crawly Rally,  all of them successfully completed the run on both days.

Trying to find the correct make of beaded edge tyre for your car can pose problems. Much depends on what is available when you want them and some makes are definitely superior to others.

Something I hate to see are brass lamps that have been over polished. Over time continual polishing wears the brass away, especially on any edges, and gradually removes any lettering.  This process cannot be reversed.  Another problem with old brass starts in the manufacturing process which leaves stresses in the brass.  Eventually small stress-relieving cracks start and the formation of these can be greatly accelerated by acid corrosion.  Many brass cleaners contain mild acids so using them is likely to cause damage, like a wedge forcing the small cracks further apart.  I have found ways of dealing these problems.