I'm a fifty year old guy who has tinkled the ivories for most of my life, based in rural Devon UK.
I play entirely by ear (lessons didn't really do it for me as a kid despite getting grades 1 and 2).
I can't bear transposing and always have to play in the original key.
Elton John has been by far my greatest influence from day one and there aren't many of his songs I cannot play. The problem with playing entirely by ear is that I cannot even remember so much of my repertoire until I hear a song or am asked for it.
I also do a bit of teaching and play with old cars in my spare time.
Thanks for dropping in. New videos will be added, eventually.
If only they hadn't rusted overnight, BMC had a world beater. ISTR on the automatics the gear selector lever used to snap at the base if handled roughly , welded up a couple
Beautiful restoration! I owned a 1967 Austin 1100 that was in rougher state than yours for several years. I spent quite a bit of time working under the bonnet. You brought back a lot of memories, mostly good ones.
My gran, in South Africa, had the Austin 11/55 Automatic. I learned to drive in that car, on my own, when I was about 7 or 8 years old. It remains one of the cars with happiest memories in my life - what a great little car!
Very nice! I have the van den Plas 1300 and l just realised something in your car that mine is missing, the suction cup to stabilise the rear view mirror, mines missing, where could l find one of those l wonder?
One of the absolute worst cars ever turned out in England!! They would already be rusting under the fenders before you bought them! NO rust protection whatsoever - and the door sills would rust through in an extremely short time. It was so blatant and was an accurate reflection of the ultra-militant union work environment at the factories. The Austin A40, 1100, Morris 1100 and several derivative models - all the same. No change when the Marina and the Austin/Morris 1800 came along either. These cars were the beginning of the richly-deserved death of British Leyland. I will never forget one day in South Wales, where I was stationed with the RAF, my Scottish friend. We were out on out motrobikes - mine a Greeves 250 and his a Honda 250 twin and we saw a very unusual car in a local showroom. We stopped and looked it over thoroughly. It was weird-looking, to our eyes, with an uo-turned rear bumper and seemingly odd aesthetics generally but it was an axe in the head for British family cars. It was called the Toyoto Celica and its build quality showed up British Leyland cars for what they were - absolute rubbish. That Toyota was one of the very first 70's cars to arrive in Britain from Japan and was followed by many more Japanese cars providing truly stunning performance, build quality and reliability. They put Austin, MG, Morris and many, many more to shame. The same can be said of Japanese motorbikes and the effect they had on their owners. My friend's Honda 250 twin was a stunning bike. It would rev to 6000rpm. If I tried that with the Villiers engine in my Greeves it would have blown up.
Thank you for your in depth comment. Worst car or not, it is now 56 years old and still going strong - I wonder if my German modern cars will have the same longevity?
Still driving my Austin 1300 fifty five years after manufacture. Not a speck of rust on it since it has always been in a state that does not lace its streets with toxic corrosive salt all winter.
Did you know these engines are "cooper" rated? this was to compensate for the losses in automatic transmission. I fitted one of these engines to a Mini estate.
@@johnquilter7620 You mean at 55 miles per hour.? But I suppose if your MG 1100 was in collision with a Buick, then there would not be much of it left. I was thinking of European manufacturers, and the wretched Japanese. But the Jaguar Mk 10 should have prospered in the USA - its intended market. As far I know, sales were disappointing.
@@paulsutton5896 Yes the Mark 10 was not a big seller here in the USA. Priced more than a Cadillac and like many Jaguars had a spotty warranty record but its performance was quite capable for US highways. Mark 2 and S Type sold better as sport sedans. Anglophiles and those looking for something different and unique went for Jaguars and especially the Mark 10. John Quilter, 32 year career employee of BL and Jaguar Land Rover North America, owner of two Morris Minors, one Austin 1300 (America) a 1965 S Type, and an MGTD. All for 12 to 60+ years. Oh and I forgot, one 1990 XJ6.
Sorry I may have put that wrong. You have done an excellent job of the renovation of your car looks lovely. Sadly mind was an old banger and totally useless. Didn't intend to insult your hard work.
One interesting ability of the automatic was ‘wheel creep’ this meant on could slowly progress in the very worst icy weather. I remember once creeping past many 4x4s in ditches having slid off the road on black ice.
I went to Oxford to the factory on a BMC training course on the 1100 and Mini automatic in 1970. Very good course , the auto boxes we worked on had been dismantled that many times they almost fell apart . Came back to the garage on the following Monday and first job was a strip down of an auto box on an 1100 . Repaired it , think it was a warranty job , never worked on another. Left the garage ( a BMC distributor) and spent the next 20 years lecturing motor vehicle students at a technical college.
An interesting anecdote. I just admit to being quite scared of the auto 'box. All is well at the moment, though I do have a good low mileage manual power unit just in case (but would rather stay original).
Interesting little car .. A Wolverhampton Reegistration plate .. DA, JW, and UK were the Wolves Registration plates .. Is there a family connection to the Midlands I wonder :)
The car was supplied by Bradburn and Wedge, a BMC dealer in Wolverhampton. It still has the original tax disc holder and key fob from the dealer. No family connection to the area that we know of.
@@DevonPianist Good old Bradburn and Wedge,, B&W alongside Charles Clark were the big BMC dealers at that time in Wolves. B&W if I remember correctly handled the "More exotic" marques, MG, Riley, Wolseley. ..in later years they became a Nissan dealer, Dad bought a Micra off them.. Not sure but they may still be in business in some way... A well known Wolverhampton name.
We hired a car in Scotland and it turned out to be a 1100 automatic (Austin I think). At the sight of a hill (and there are a few in Scotland) it almost came to a stop. Very underpowered.
Great example of this lovely car, you’ve done your grandfather proud. A friend of mine has a similar one, sage green /cream, which needs a light restoration, this video may inspire him, trouble is, he has numerous other classics that require attention. I’ve always liked these cars, an ex gf had an 1100 , GT lookalike, I always enjoyed borrowing it.
You have made a superb job and it is a credit to you. You will come across a rear heated window eventually, I'm sure, I remember driving one of these in Old English White in 1967, going over a small hump-back bridge at night pitch black and I lost all the lights momentarily, a bit disconcerting.
The special order will have resulted in the single carb instead of usual twin carbs - my grandmother tried to order a new MG 1100 automatic in 1967 (having had 2 previous manual ones, but now with a bad left knee) and was told can't be done due to twin carbs, would have to be 'special order' as single carb and take ages & ages to get (in other words, we can't be bothered to do it!) The dealer directed her to a brand new Morris 1100 mk2 automatic literally just available and just delivered to the showroom (intended as a demonstrator). She went for it and was quite happy overall - quick sale and money in the bank for the dealer - who would just order another demonstrator - job done! 😁
The single SU HS4 1.5" carb was standard spec on all ADO16 and Mini automatics (up until the Mini got fuel injection, of course). Deemed to be more suitable as the twin HS2s of the manual would be more prone to going out of tune, which would not be ideal given that the idle speed is more crucial on the automatic.
@@DevonPianist I have an issue of Autocar of Motor (I don't remember which at the moment but it's 1967 or 1968) in which an MG1300 automatic is tested and it has twin carbs!
@@philtucker1224The 1098 cc engine with 12G295 head is great, about 1970 I fitted my 1962 Mini with one. still have the car. Stupidly, a few years ago I gave away my 1300 Vanden Plas Princess.
@@philtucker1224I don't know! I still have my late Dad's 1969 Riley Elf Automatic and Vanden Plas Metro Automatic. my daily driver for the last 15 years has been a 1989 Volvo 340 1.4. ULEZ will put that to an end shortly. In the Mini with the 1100 engine I changed the final drive to a 3.44 : 1, so 100 MPH was possible without over revving the engine. A Duplex timing gear set was also fitted.
You people are really hard work. The gear box seized up making the car immovable, couldn’t be driven or towed. Was put on a breakdown truck and taken to a scrap yard. The gearbox falling out is an expression only. It was f**ked . Nothing to be done.
I take my hat off to all and everyone who gives their time and money to honour that from the past. A gorgeous machine if I may say so and whilst my first car at 17 years of age was an Riley Elf Mk 3 the rear wings and dash on that beauty reminds me of it and feeds to my nostaligia of rusty suspension tops and a rotting sub frame that enabled you to literally watch the world go by via a hole in the floor with little or no effort. :)
