Value of Bradford Flat Twin engine and gearbox

[ab4875]

I visited a guy in the Blue Mountains (Australia) today to look at some old Ford Sidevalve V8 engines. He has a few sheds full of stuff. In one of his racks he has a Bradford V Twin with gearbox. What would one of these be worth if it is running order?

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[Keith Clements]

Hopefully it is a Flat Twin not a V

Regarding value .. the only way to judge that is to advertise it with extensive pictures and history. If it is a barn find of unknown condition then generally the transport cost outweighs its value. So then you are left with someone local thinking they want a project. There are a few Jowett owners in NSW so you might be onto a winner.

If you are thinking of restoring it yourself, (and to answer your question) a good one should fetch at least $Aus 15000. But prices are difficult to judge as not many Bradfords come up for auction especially in Australia.

If you do not get a response soon in the forum, then I will send a note to Australian Bradford owners, many of whom travel all over the country in them!

We are restoring one at present as you can see on this forum.

[ab4875]

Hi Keith,I added some photos. It is only the engine and gearbox,i.e not a complete vehicle. I've edited the subject line to clarify that.

Yes, flat twin not V twin. I think I've got V's on the brain .

[Keith Clements]

How do you want to proceed?

We can advertise on here and in the Aus club magazine inviting offers, but it would be best if that was done with the owner's permission and through direct contact with the owner.

Unless you are thinking of making a prospective purchase.

The value of the engine would totally depend on what the purchaser thought the condition of its parts was. Perhaps $800 in good condition less transport costs, maybe, but that is a complete guess. Without verification of condition it has little value.

[ab4875]

Hi Keith,

I'm not sure if I'll buy it myself. It looks interesting but I've already got quite a few projects.

I spoke to Neil in the local club just now and he gave me a current price guide. If I don't buy it I'll pass the details to Neil.

Andrew

[PAUL BEAUMONT]

It is an early (probably 1947) CB unit. In the UK - assuming it is not mechanically damaged or seized it would probably fetch between 100 and 200 GBP

[Tony Fearn]

it would probably fetch between 100 and 200 GBP

I'm going to be at odds with Paul here. (but in the nicest possible way!)

A single item, for example a re-produced aluminium pre-war inlet manifold by JCS Ltd. was around the £200 mark in the recent past. That's for only one, albeit essential, part of an engine, not a complete one with gearbox attached.

New old stock pistons are now very hard to come by for any of our Jowetts, and are expensive. Gearboxes for Bradfords may be available at the moment, but as we are realising in the pre-war world, and more so in the vintage Jowett scenario, many spares are no longer readily available, and those that are attract a premium cost.

I feel that the era of 'give us 20 Woodbines for it' has long gone.

Tony.

P.S. Did you like the Woodbine reference George??

[Jack]

I'd agree with you, Tony, that remanufactured parts are expensive, but if we look at the parts hoardes that have come up for sale the prices of secondhand spares doesn't seem to have gone up to the kind of level we might expect based on that. The market decides the price, and because of the comparative rarity of prewar cars vs Bradfords (being the most numerous Jowett manufactured) there are l comparatively loads of engines, gearboxes and other mechanical parts sitting in sheds and garages across the UK.

Only a few months ago (before the current Bradford project was even a speck in our eye) we gave away Bradford gearboxes, panels, and various other mechanical bits and bobs that we had no use for, to JCS. These were kept with a large number of Javelin and even some Jupiter spares that we picked up - I don't think there was hardly any money involved at all, a garage needed clearing and its owner was a Jowett enthusiast at some stage!

A complete but untested engine is probably priced as Paul says, largely because it is complete and untested - it may turn, but if there is a crack in a critical part, or if liners are heavily scored, and the whole thing needs rebuilding the cost of rebuild often dwarfs the cost of buying an unknown unit in the first place. Indeed with engines it seems to be that you need to buy two or three to get the parts together to build one really good one.

Jack.