How it all began...

Its my Dads fault, obviously (well I've got to blame someone). He had a couple of Avengers when I was growing up, and these are the first cars I can remember. They were both 1600 estates as I recall, the first was a metallic aqua blue-ish colour and this was followed by a bright red one, badged as a Chrysler. Perhaps, however, we can go back farther than this...
The story goes that, as a baby, whenever my parents couldn't get me to settle they would take me for a ride in the car my Dad had at the time, a Hillman Minx. As a result, it could be that I developed an addiction to Hillman engine notes almost from birth. Parents, eh!

The symptoms start to show...

When I passed my driving test at seventeen guess what I wanted as my first car? That's right an Avenger (well, I didn't think I'd get insurance on an Aston Martin). Sadly they were a bit thin on the ground and I settled for a lime green Chrysler Alpine with go faster stripes on one side only(?). Perhaps if it had them on both sides, to balance it, or better still, none at all, things would have gone better...
A couple of months later I was in hospital, recovering after writing off the car (called "Snot" by the way, amongst other things!), and nearly myself, with the aid of two telegraph posts, some very unforgiving tarmac and a BIG grass verge! Still, every cloud has a silver lining and, when I got out of hospital, there was an Avenger estate waiting for me. Sure the honey brown paint was faded, the exhaust was shot and there were strange marks on the roof from the massive roof rack but it was solid and the interior still had plastic covers on all but the drivers seat.

Steed

It was a 1979/80 (v reg.) 1300LS estate, Chrysler badged apart from the bonnet which sported a Talbot badge. It needed a name so I called it "Steed", since it was old and an Avenger and the TV series "The Avengers" was being repeated. Steed served me well for over six years, hauling me to Sheffield and back during my student days, then transporting me to work and back, when I got my first jobs. It got as far North as Leeds and as far South as Reading and even on the rare occasions when mechanical trouble reared its head it could be nursed home and fixed easily. Eventually, though, it started to lose the fight against the curse of all things made of steel (especially Avengers) and the tinworms and ironmites started to eat poor Steed away faster than my limited time and money could repair.
One black day ,coming home from the forestry where I worked (and where Steed had served as transport, workman's hut and lunchtime hot pie express), I felt the suspension move when I braked. The man from the local garage confirmed my fears, the front, drivers side strut was going backwards and forwards aswell as the more usual up and down. Worse still, Steed was beyond economic repair!
So Steed was parked up on the drive and a Rover 216 Vitesse Efi arrived to take over its duties. During the time I had been running Steed I had acquired another Avenger estate in scrap condition and had stripped it of its useful parts and my Dad had chopped up the very rusty shell which was then taken away in bits as scrap. Now I had one and a half dead Avengers which I thought should be worth something to someone. The trouble was I had an idea that, one day, when I had the time and money, I might be able to restore Steed to its former glory, and so Steed became a permanent feature on the driveway.
After a year and a half it was evident that the restoration was not going to get done, at least not by me, and so I reluctantly put an advert in "Practical Classics" and sent a letter to the Avenger & Sunbeam owners club; - FREE TO GOOD HOME. Over the next few months I had a few enquiries, but most just wanted bits and I wanted to part with the whole lot in one go.
Eventually, in February 1999 a lad from Telford 'phoned to say he wanted the complete car for a restoration project on his own Avenger, which he had recently acquired. He duly arrived with some mates and we pushed Steed onto his trailer. I would have liked to have driven Steed onto the trailer under its own power but it kept jumping out of gear (a result of attempts by my Dad and I to free off the seized brakes using engine power - What fool left the hand brake on for nearly two years?!?). As he took Steed away to donate his parts that others may live, I looked forward to life with modern cars and space on the drive!

Kenny

Two weeks later the same lad was on the telephone again. Did I want to buy his Avenger? He had decided that he had bitten off more than he could chew as he didn't think he had the time to restore his avenger. At first I was strong, I swear. I told him I didn't have the space, time or money for a restoration. He said he would bring the car to me, so that I could at least view it. To cut a long story short, two weeks later I found myself the proud, but slightly puzzled owner of a Hillman Avenger 1300DL saloon in reasonable condition and with a bit of tax and test still left on it.
It soon became apparent that it needed work to the brakes (drums all round) and some welding to the floor, by the jacking points, if it was to get another MOT and so I set about the brakes as soon as the weather got warmer. The local garage were given the task of welding and then MOT-ing the beast, christened "Kenny" after the "South Park" TV character. I had the brakes as good as I could get them and the garage was ready to weld in some ships plate when I spied an ad in "Cars and Car Conversions" classifieds, -Avenger/Sunbeam rally spares for sale, in Sheffield. A few 'phone calls and a trip up North in a dodgy Transit van saw me loaded with a grp2 spec 1600 engine, 2" exhaust, tarmac rally springs, brake components, rostyle wheels and all manner of smaller spares. The garage agreed to fit the engine and I hurriedly set about fitting the brakes and suspension, including some Chrysler heavy duty struts from my stockpile of leftover bits from the scrap estate.
Kenny lived up to his TV character's reputation for a long time after that, by dying weekly. First the engine bent a valve, then the newly fitted brake servo packed up. Both were replaced and the car got a new MOT. The engine still wouldn't run properly, which I put down to the small single carb, taken from the 1300 engine, as I hadn't yet got any webers. Twin 40dcoe carbs were found and fitted, making no difference at all. The engine just wouldn't run at high revs for long without developing a misfire and eventually losing all power. It wasn't the head gasket, I changed that. It wasn't the fuel pump, I changed that, twice, just to be sure, first to an electric pump, then a more powerful electric pump. It did seem like fuel starvation though so I rigged up a fuel pressure gauge, measuring the pressure at the second carb. My mate sat in the passenger seat reading the gauge while I drove and yes, the pressure was dropping as the revs rose. In fact it was dropping a lot and only recovering after several minutes at idle. It wasn't the fuel hose, I changed that to a larger diameter braided hose. I was getting desperate. It was now summer and the car wouldn't go more than a mile or so without a rest. There were no leaks in the system and the pump wasn't sucking in air so it had to be the little outlet pipe on the fuel tank itself. I was clutching at straws but I got Kenny over the pit and began to investigate. No wonder there was fuel starvation, the outlet was clogged almost solid! The inside of the tank was painted and the paint had flaked off . All my attempts to get fuel pressure had just sucked more paint chips into the end of the pipe, making it worse. So it was the fuel tank, so I changed it for a new one with a slightly larger outlet and NO PAINT INSIDE!!!
Now Kenny runs well, if you don't mind the noise from that rally exhaust. There's still plenty to do, mostly little jobs, tidying and such. Maybe in time I'll fit a five (or six!)speed gearbox and a limited slip differential, but for now I'm content. Since fixing the fuel problem I've fitted 45dcoe carbs instead of the 40's and the back suspension now has Armstrong adjustable dampers fitted. The front now has Lotus Sunbeam brakes, together with Bilstien struts...

Specifications

HERE ARE SOME DETAILS OF MY AVENGER

MODEL Hillman Avenger 1300 DL SALOON
ENGINE CC 1600CC
ENGINE DETAILS PORTED AND POLISHED BIG VALVE HEAD
DUPLEX TIMING CHAIN
DOUBLE VALVE SPRINGS
TALBOT SPORT CAMSHAFT
FORGED PISTONS
10:1 COMPRESSION RATIO

FUEL SYSTEM ELECTRONIC FUEL PUMP
FILTER KING REGULATOR/FILTER
TWIN WEBER 45DCOE CARBS

TRANSMISSION STD (FOR NOW)

BRAKES DISC FRONT/DRUMS REAR
SERVO PLUS TANDEM CIRCUIT MASTER CYLINDER
STEEL BRAIDED HOSES

STEERING/SUSPENSION TARMAC RALLY SPRINGS
BILSTIEN TARMAC STRUTS
ARMSTRONG ADJUSTABLE DAMPERS AT REAR
STD STEERING ARRANGEMENT

WHEELS/TYRES 14 INCH DIA COMPOMTIVE ML WHEELS
185 R14 65 TYRES

BODY/INTERIOR STD APART FROM RACING WING MIRRORS,
REV COUNTER AND SWITCH FOR ELECTRIC FAN

OOPS! I think I did it again.....

There I was, just minding my own business, thinking about replacing the Rover 216 Vitesse that I was using as an every day vehicle, when all of a sudden a message appears on the Avenger & Sunbeam Owners Club discussion forum. "Avenger estate for sale - 1972 (tax exempt!) 1600 Sunbeam ti engine + 5 speed Capri gearbox fitted - solid car - handpainted in smoothrite blue! - loads of spares". After at least five minutes of managing to resist I thought "well.... It wouldn't hurt to make inquires, would it?"

To cut a long story short, a few days later I was on my way down the Motorway with a van and trailer, en route to Hertfordshire to meet a bloke called Chris Sibley and exchange cash for car + spares. First impressions, on arrival at Chris' place were of a fairly straight, solid car, let down by the handpainting (which in all fairness had probably kept the tinworms and ironmites out, saving the panels from rusting) and a tatty interior. A deal was struck, stories were swapped (as is usual when two or more Avenger drivers meet), cash was handed over and the loading of spares and car began....in the rain! After Chris had taken a photo of the Avenger on the trailer, coupled up to the van which was now crammed full of all manner of spares, I very carefully began my journey back up to North Wales and home.

I'd never towed a trailer with a car on it before so I was a bit nervous. Fortunately for me the trailer was big enough (could have got another transit on there, never mind an Avenger estate!) for me to see in the mirrors that all was well. Regular checks in the mirrors, combined with a nice steady pace of about 50 - 55 mph (officer) helped my confidence. In fact the only problem was BUSES! Let me tell you they are complete b######s! They storm down the middle lane at about warp factor 9, pushing a bow wave that tries to knock your poor little van and trailer onto the hard shoulder! At least the HGV drivers seem to treat you with a bit more respect - probably helped by there not being such a difference in speed...

I got home in one piece and unloaded the car, uncoupled the trailer, parked everything up and went to bed, knackered! Next morning I unloaded the van and tried to find homes for all the spares, then took the van and trailer back to their respective owners. Now the hard work really began....

My parents had gone down to Devon for a week so I had space to make a mess, but a limited timetable to get it cleaned up again! The first job was to change the handpainted doors, bonnet and tailgate for a set from the spares. These were from a V reg Talbot Avenger, and were metallic maroon. That only left half the car to respray! I stripped the dash out and replaced the faulty heater unit, before tidying the dash as best I could and refitting it. The rest of the week was taken up with sanding the brush marks out of the remaining blue panels and spraying them maroon (or white, in the case of the roof, when I ran out of maroon!).

I managed to get it all fairly tidy in time and, to be fair, Mum and Dad seemed to take the discovery of another old banger on their drive in quite good spirit!! I'm still working on the estate, trying to finish of all of the annoying little jobs that seem to take forever. Mum liked it so much she kindly agreed to re-upholster the vinly dash for me, which made a huge improvement to the interior. Plus, I've managed to get my hands on some interior trim from a Daimler Sovereign, (thanks to my uncle "two jags" Howard) which should add some interest!!!