Topic: SOLVED: Djetset 815a - Austin FX3 Shooting Break by Grice of Norton

[Djetset]

For a point, correctly name the car and the coach builder that built this example.

[Djetset]

Creaking along to the next stage...

[sixtee5cuda]

Don't lock it, if this is a close, incomplete answer.  There are many pictures of this car online, but I have never seen mention of a coachbuilder.

1952 Austin FX3 Shooting Brake.  I believe it was purchased by Bright Steels Ltd.

[Djetset]

Don't lock it, if this is a close, incomplete answer.  There are many pictures of this car online, but I have never seen mention of a coachbuilder.

1952 Austin FX3 Shooting Brake.  I believe it was purchased by Bright Steels Ltd.

I'll award you a point sixtee5cuda for correctly identifying the Austin FX3 base vehicle (more familiar with taxi bodywork), but as the coachbuilder of this shooting brake is quite obscure, I'll move this straight up to the Pros, but still open to everyone to respond.

[nicanary]

John Jackson & Sons, of Dunfermline?

[Djetset]

John Jackson & Sons, of Dunfermline?

No.

[Wendax]

Whitacres of Stoke-on-Trent did a FX3 shooting brake, but I think that was a different car.

[oko94]

Papworth ?

[Djetset]

None of the above so far.

[sixtee5cuda]

(After more research)

Some people describe this car as a unique example.  There is an image of this Woodie out there, with the following text:

This FX3 cab is claimed to be one of only six converted to shooting brakes for use on game reserves in Scotland.

The image was scanned from an unspecified magazine.

I'm not sure how this connects to Bright Steels.

Random question: Was this Shooting Brake constructed by a coachbuilder from Scotland?

[Djetset]

(After more research)

Some people describe this car as a unique example.  There is an image of this Woodie out there, with the following text:

This FX3 cab is claimed to be one of only six converted to shooting brakes for use on game reserves in Scotland.

The image was scanned from an unspecified magazine.

I'm not sure how this connects to Bright Steels.

Random question: Was this Shooting Brake constructed by a coachbuilder from Scotland?

I spoke to the owners of this Austin when I took the photo and can confirm that it wasn't built in Scotland, nor was it used there for hunting. I don't know about the Bright Steels connection though.

[Carnut]

Was it built by Gordon Armstrong?

[Djetset]

Was it built by Gordon Armstrong?

No.

[Carnut]

How about Robert B. Massey?

[Djetset]

How about Robert B. Massey?

No.

[Carnut]

The car is pictured on a couple of picture websites but they tend to have unreliable information (or none at all!).

This is all it says:

QUOTE
1952 Austin FX3 shooting brake

Delivered new to Bright Steels Ltd. of Norton, North Yorkshire, this has an FX3 taxi commercial chassis supplied by Austin of Longbridge with a coachbuilt body including a 6ft. x 4ft. 6in load platform for carrying goods. Under part of the platform there are two folding seats for carrying business customers.
UNQUOTE

It's a bit ambiguous but it could mean the body was actually built by Austin rather than an outside coachbuilder..
Alternatively there was a coachbuilder in Malton called Balmforth but I don't know if they actually bodied cars like this.
The other possibility is that it was built by a company more known for building buses or coaches?

[Djetset]

Good detective work Carnut, as the coach builder was based in Yorkshire (in one of the town's you've mentioned, so it was not an Austin body.  So, any ideas...?

[Carnut]

I can't find much about any coachbuilders in Malton or Norton (they are actually pretty much the same place - they are two separate towns but once you enter Norton you don't know where it ends and Malton begins; neither are very big at all..)
How about Anfield's?

[Djetset]

To help narrow down the choices, the FX3's coachbuilder was based in Norton (I said they were obscure!), but it was not Anfields.

To add to the mystery, I have put the coach builder's name into the main search engines, and nothing is found at all!

[Carnut]

Thanks.
I've tracked down a couple of coachbuilders there but none of them look awfully likely..
I'll give you three names on the assumption it's none of them, then I can get on with looking further!:

James Bull
Samuel Richardson
Robert Wilson

The drawing board is looking a bit bare after that...!

[Djetset]

That's a lot of names for a single answer, but ad none of them are correct I'll let it pass 

[Carnut]

Yes, I was indulging in a little rule-bending to save time...

George Stevenson of Norton?

[Djetset]

Sorry, but not them.

[Carnut]

Joseph Todd?

[Djetset]

Joseph Todd?

No.