Classic Cars July 2016 .......B24 Thornley Kelham restoration article.

[Parisien]

A very nice 7 page article on the above, anyone seen it in the flesh?

Noting a comment supposedly made by the previous owner of the B24  -

 " He said most cars didn't last 50,000km when they were new. The engines were simply changed rather than rebuilt - he remembered visiting a Lancia showroom and seeing a pile of 30 dead Aurelia engines out back. To be fair, most owners weren't used to to looking after high-revving aluminium engines and Lancia didn't fit a water temperature gauge until later in the model run"

Can any one recall if this was actually the case or urban myth or part truth?


P

[Niels Jonassen]

This sounds strange. I have no knowledge of the fate of Aurelia engines during the 'fifties, but I can tell a case story. I have succeeded in tracing all previous owners of my 3rd series B20, and two of them have used the car extensively. The last owner drove about 50.000 km per year for ten years. The engine had only been maintained during all these years from 1953 till it was put into a barn about 1970. When I took the engine apart the white metal bearings fell out in pieces, and the cylinders had been worn past first oversize. The camshaft was also badly worn. Did so many owners really neglect their engine in those days?

[DavidLaver]

Perhaps to ask it the other way round - what would it take to wear one out in 50,000km?

David