Vintage Vehicle Club

of Australia (1919-1930) Inc.

1928 Essex Sedan Restoration

by the owner

ACQUIRING AND RESTORING A VINTAGE CAR

Early in 1976 we decided that we should buy a car to restore. Regular readings of the Sydney Morning Herald proved interesting reading.  It was a 1929 Chevrolet sedan which had 4 new tyres, a large number of new parts but the seller said it was used as a taxi after the war ( not a good selling point).  Fearing that everything would be completely worn out,  and we felt that the asking price was $1000 was too much , we declined the car. 

The second car was an MGTF (yes I realise that not a vintage car) It was sitting under a tree in Ryde for many years!  It had a price tag of $800 which seemed reasonable at the time. However it had disc wheels and I thought only MGTD had disc wheels. While we trying to decide whether to buy or not to buy, somebody else came along and gave a deposit and it was gone. Further research  prove that disc wheels were standard in England but most TF’s in Australia have wire wheels.

A week before Easter 1976 we saw an Essex Sedan (never heard of that brand before) in the SMH . It seemed to be the right car ie it had 4 wheeled  brakes, it was a sedan it had a large number of spare parts and it was not a Ford. The advert said “it only needs assembly” and was $500. At the time it seemed a good idea. All the hard work of pulling it apart was done. What a silly idea. In reality it was a giant jig saw puzzle. We spoke to the mother of the 22 year old owner who was overseas. We decided on  $450 and we picked it up on Good Friday 1976.  I hired a trailer  and one of my mates pulled the chassis and the body, while I had the box filled to capacity on the back of the modern car.

When we got it home the car and very soon, the garage smelt of soap. This smell did not go away for at least a year. The following week my wife played tennis with some ladies and the Essex came up in conversation. One of the other ladies had a 1929 96A Whippet and belonged to another club.

Back to the Essex. Where did all the parts go, how many things were missing, who had an Essex that I could look at?  Many questions  but few answers. I decided to start on the body first as this would take the most time, take the least amount of money. But how did it go together?

The mate who helped me bring the car home did a piece of welding in the tub and the sills. That cost me a far bit of money so I thought to myself, I can do this myself . I enquire at Tech and they were short on numbers so I enrolled in welding.

The problems in working in a double garage with a modern car  and a parts of a vintage car were ridiculous. We decided that it was necessary to have a bigger garage ( or a new one) but the back yard was not big enough. We decide to build it out the front but it would not be big enough. We had to take the lounge room ….so we added another storey to the house.

The roof came off the house the same day my wife went into hospital to have our daughter in March 1977. In the mean time I enrolled in Tech to do panel beating at Tech. By late 1977 I was doing the mudguards myself. A great satisfaction!  I spent most weekends on the house and the Essex was progressing very slowly.

We decided to go on another spending spree and buy a 1928 Chevrolet Tourer which was going and fully registered. Can any body remember the bright yellow car that towed the tiny aluminium trailer all over the place (25000 miles) with three kids on board?  In 1980 – 1981 I enrolled at Tech to do spray painting. Work on the Essex stopped while I painted the Chev two toned green.

Gradually the Essex was taking shape. The panels were finished and they fitted together. The real hard parts to find were the door handles,  the tail light and the interior light. What did they look like? I still had not seen another car like it to copy from.

(It was a few years later when I saw another advertisement for a 28 Essex . I had to go and have look at it. As it turned out it was a totally original car and I took many photographs of it and then told the seller I didn’t want it. I found out later that one of our club members bought it and took it on a number of tours. It has since been sold and made into a hot rod.)

A neighbour told me that he had seen parts he believed to be a 1928 Essex. Sure enough, there were 4 doors (with all the handle including the locking one) brand new valance panels. Friends of ours were going to America and I asked them to get pistons, rings, valves, valve guides, timing chain from Egges when they were coming back.

In 1982-1983 it was time to enrol in motor trimming. I found this course particularly fascinating.  I had never used a sewing machine before and I amazed myself with what I was turning out. By the end of the course I had trimmed all the seats and the interior of the Essex.

I had the machining of the engine  and somebody else did the balancing down to 1 gram.  I built the engine and the gearbox and with the help, I built up the diff.  The making of the wet clutch using corks was an interesting,  but fairly easy job.

Anzac Day of 1984 was a big day. ie the marrying of the chassis and the body together . Being an all steel body it was going to be a very heavy job. So I lined up 6 people to do the job. The week before this was very wet but the weather fined up that morning and the body went on without a problem. That afternoon it poured. For once I was lucky.

But not so at the chrome platers.  I always work on the idea that if you have four things to get done you give them two and do the other two later. This particular time I gave him the locking handle plus one other plain handle. When I went back to pick them up they said look at your handle (note singular). It was eaten through. Where is the other one?  “It must be in the bottom of the acid tank”  15 minutes later it was found and it was totally useless as well. I finally got all the plating done fairly well.

The school holidays in August 1985 were spent putting the finishing touches to the trimming on the roof .  The next 9 months were  spent finishing off an endless array of little things. It was finished off in May 1986, 10 years after buying a stack of pieces.

P.S.  My Mother-in- law asked “ me why did you buy that heap of rubbish? You will never get it on the road. I had to prove her wrong.

If you would like to contact the owner of this vehicle. please email to address shown on our Contact Us page, and include this vehicle reference esx28sed4452 in your message.

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