British Motor Museum Volunteers

British Motor Museum Volunteers

Tuesday 18 February 2014

Part 3: 1960 Standard Ensign

Dismantling Starts

As reported in my first blog, three stuck exhaust valves, scuppered any chances of getting the Ensign’s 1670cc engine to start up. So, one of the first dismantling jobs was to remove the dynamo, distributor, coil, starter motor, water pump, exhaust downpipe and silencer, manifolds and propshaft. The engine itself however would have to remain in situ until HMC’s workshop manager returned from holiday when proper lifting gear could be made available. 

Lots of items awaiting removal                 Exhaust and manifold removed



Next time – engine out and the doors come off.

Tuesday 4 February 2014

Part 2: 1960 Standard Ensign

Standard Ensign - a closer inspection.

My previous blog introduced our 1960 Standard Ensign, the volunteer’s first full restoration project. I should perhaps mention now that this project actually started at the end of July last year, so I have a bank of six months’ photography and progress on which to reflect.


In the first blog I briefly described our vehicle survey scoring system, mentioning the Ensign scored 3.67 out of 5, where 5 is Poor. The reasoning behind this was to give the museum’s Curator a rough idea of the state of all the vehicles in the Trust’s collection. However, our inspection of the underside of all vehicles was very much limited as we had to rely on the slimmest among us crawling underneath with a torch. Putting the Ensign on a proper ramp and having a really close inspection and poke with a screwdriver quickly revealed that we might have a real challenge on our hands. The dreaded four letter word feared by all restorers - RUST – was clearly widespread and in some places quite severe.