Ihad an Austin Champ when I was a teenager, a car that my friend David Riches and I just bodged together, got roadworthy and used over a couple of summers. We had plenty of adventures until that car died. I didn't think any more about it for 40 years, until somebody I knew said he had a couple of Champs, one that he'd started work on plus another for spares, and was I interested in them?
They were being sold because he was losing his storage. I'd always said I would like to do one up properly, so I took them on. I didn't inspect them properly or anything, I just bought them. This would have been some time around 2015. I dragged them back to the workshop, but they then stood outside under covers for maybe a year before I decided that I'd better get on with it and do one of them up.
Although I own a body repair shop, I am a trained mechanic so the mechanical complexity of the Champ did not worry me. There is a lot of information out there anyway if you know where to look, from the Owners Club and places like that. Most parts are available too – at a price of course – although there are a few items that are more difficult to get, such as some of the rubber components. Believe it or not, you can even buy panels for them.
