Stamford enthusiast Peter Jibb shares his passion for Austin cars

A car enthusiast says the British weather was responsible for sparking his 50-year passion.

Back in the 1970s Peter Jibb was fed up of riding home from work in the rain on his Honda Camion moped.

Luckily for Peter a colleague was selling their car so during a particularly wet week, Peter decided to upgrade to four wheels to get himself out of the rain.

The car in question was a 57 Austin A35 and Peter could instantly see its potential.

He wasn’t wrong and he’s still driving it today.

Peter, who lives in Stamford, said: “At the time I began to think ‘well, hang on a minute, this is worth saving’. I wasn’t necessarily thinking I would keep it for a long time.”

But all these years later, the car is still serving Peter well.

“I will never let that one go,” he said. “I would be a bit lost without it. I don’t want to spend all my time gardening, I like to be able to do things with the car.”

The 79-year-old first fell in love with cars as a teenager and by the time he bought the Austin, he had gained experience of working on them so set about restoring the car.

“I put two new wings on the front because at the time you could still get them, although they are wings from the A35 van. The old wings weren’t actually that bad so I repaired them, sold them and it financed buying the sun visor.”

Once the car was back on the road Peter drove it daily with his wife Pat and children Richard and Alison. He’d also become part of a motoring community.

“When you join the owners club you meet people, you make friends, you go out and get together and it becomes an enjoyment, meeting people with the same vehicles,” he said.

“I’m a guy who likes to be doing something. I’m not really one to be sitting watching TV all that much, and I find that the car is an interest.”

Proud of his hard work, Peter has taken the car to many rallies and shows, including the Stamford Car Show, with plenty of success.

​​“I’ve had lots of wins with the car. I’ve got that many cups upstairs I don’t know what to do with them,” he said. “And I know every mile I’ve done with the car, and everywhere I’ve been – it’s all written down in a notebook.”

The Jibb family have travelled 66,000 miles in the car, mostly without issues, but about 10 years ago the engine stopped working - something which Peter claims is down to a neighbour.

“Every so often I used to open the garage door and keep it running because you can’t just leave it standing idle, and a neighbour complained about the fumes.

“At the time I was changing the antifreeze and I was running it up to get all the air bubbles out of the system. I should have told her to go away but, trying to be a good neighbour, I switched it off.

“Half an hour or so later she had disappeared, so I took it up the road. I hadn’t got all the air out of it and I blew the head gasket. I took the cylinder head off and there was a hole in one of the pistons.

“I had to drop the sump and put another piston in, but it was always a little slower after that.”

Peter later took on a second restoration job when he bought an Austin A35 pickup. The vehicle is so rare there are fewer than 50 on the roads today.

Both Austins are incredibly precious to Peter, and he has proudly shared his passion for them on a Forever Cars blog hosted online by Adrian Flux Insurance Services.

“I still try to get to the national rally. The last one I went to was at Beverley in Yorkshire where the pickup came away with a first prize,” Peter said.

“I’m still in the owners club but we are getting a bit thin on the ground now because we have lost quite a few members over the years, and there are fewer events than there used to be.

“But the cars are both still used regularly and when we’re out people will come and have a look, smile and ask questions.

“There are times I think I’ll let the pickup go, and some people would sell it to get the money back, but money doesn’t matter. It’s what I’ve done, and I enjoy it.

“It’s nice to look at them and when you get both of them in the garage parked facing the same way and you see both grilles, they look fantastic together.”

Peter hopes one say to pass the cars on to his son.

“He was very interested in the beginning and he doesn’t show it but I think he’s a bit attached to them,” he said.