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[quote=ascort;42450]If I am going to provide an overview I may as well go the whole hog.  There is very little on the net about the Ascort and there is a deal of mis-information there as well.  The details below have been gathered during my search for parts and also from documents written by the designer Mirek Craney in 1961 and in 1978.  I am not an expert on VW or Porsche so feel free to clarify details or challenge if you can assist. 

The Ascort was a low production car and so it borrowed components from other more common vehicles to keep costs down.  Here is a bit of a list of what was used.

[IMG]https://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/ascort_tsv/Ascortengine800x574400x287.jpg[/IMG]
[u][b]Engine[/b][/u] - The engine used was a 1200cc 36hp VW engine with an Okrasa TSV modification kit that increased capacity to 1300cc and power output to 54hp. 
This gave the Ascort its full name of “Ascort TSV 1300”.

[u][b]Floor/chassis [/b][/u]– Stock VW 59 – 61.  Koni adjustable rear shocks fitted and rear camber reduced.  A front sway bar was also fitted. 
[u][b]Brakes[/b][/u] – VW seems to have been standard, but some cars have Porsche 356 finned drums. 

[u][b]Body[/b][/u] - The body of the Ascort is a glass fibre reinforced plastic (GRP) construction, which used the latest fibreglass spraying technology in its construction, rather than the traditional hand laying of chopped strand mat or cloth.  This resulted in much faster manufacture of the bodies and also a high ratio of glass to resin, which is most desirable in a GRP structure  The Ascort is known for having one of the best GRP bodies that have been built for a low production car.  It is not a particularly light fibreglass body, but it is extremely strong thanks to features such as double panelling, steel door pillars, an incorporated steel roll bar in the windscreen surround, and a number of GRP boxed section in areas such as the sills, bumper bars, front air vents and ducts and rear air chamber, which provided added strength.
[u][b]Bumper bars [/b][/u]– Fibreglass box section integral with the body.

[u][b]Wheels [/b][/u]– VW with Porsche moon caps and dress trims.

[u][b]Windscreen[/b][/u] – Peugeot 403 windscreen.
[u][b]Rear windscreen[/b][/u] – Austin A95
[u][b]Side windows[/b][/u] – Custom made for the car.
[IMG]https://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/ascort_tsv/BLordwinder2600x450.jpg[/IMG]
[u][b]Window regulator[/b][/u] – Can anybody recognize this ?  Help please!
[u][b]Door locks[/b][/u] – VW
[u][b]Door handles[/b][/u] – Vanguard or Morris Isis
[u][b]Front bonnet lock assembly[/b][/u] – Holden FE.
[u][b]Front bonnet Hinges[/b][/u] – Ford Consul
[u][b]Rear bonnet lock[/b][/u] – VW
[b][u]Rear bonnet hinges[/u][/b] – Ford Consul
[u][b]Fuel tanks[/b][/u] - 2 x Ford 105E Angia fuel tanks.  One mounted each side ahead of the rear wheel. The fuel filler and fuel gauge were fitted to the left tank. One vent and one fuel cross feed line connected the two tanks. The tanks were held in place by a strap that wrapped around the tank, with a turnbuckle for tensioning.
[u][b]Rear air vents [/b][/u]– VW pre 58 speaker grills.  Most cars had the grills narrowed by 2 bars, but some cars used the standard item.

[IMG]https://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/ascort_tsv/Ascort_FrontBadges600x373.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]https://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/ascort_tsv/Ascortscript3300x201.jpg[/IMG]
[u][b]Emblems[/b][/u] – Custom made for the car.

[u][b]Headlights[/b][/u] – 1959 VW or Porsche 356 - Bosch 6 Volt. 
[u][b]Driving Lights[/b][/u] – Renrade Sealed beam 6 Volt
[u][b]Front indicators[/b][/u] – Lucas as used on the Morris Minor.
[u][b]Tail Lights[/b][/u] – Lucas – Part L348 – As used on Humber Hawk Mk VI.  
[u][b]Number Plate Light[/b][/u] – There are some differences between cars with the number plate light.  Most cars use a recessed proprietary light of unknown origin.  At least one two early cars had a light which had been fabricated from angle stainless steel.
[u][b]Windscreen Wipers[/b][/u] – Jaguar MkVII converted to 6 Volt.
[u][b]Windscreen Washers[/b][/u] – RVB
[u][b]Horns[/b][/u] – RVB
[u][b]Switches[/b][/u] – VW
[u][b]Indicator switch[/b][/u] – VW mounted on the left of the steering colums.
[u][b]Headlight dipper[/b][/u] – Steering column mount on the right of the column, make uncertain.  Has a light on the end of the stalk.

[u][b]Front Seat[/b][/u] – Based on Porsche 356 A series.  Outer pivot mounted further forward than inner side pivot.  This caused the seat to fold toward the centre to allow easier rear seat access.
[u][b]Rear Seats[/b][/u] – Moulded into the body with a removable centre armrest.

[u][b]Front ashtray[/b][/u] – Front dash ashtray from FE or FC Holden.
[u][b]Rear ashtray[/b][/u] - Rear FJ Holden ashtray mounted at the front of the rear armrest.

[u][b]Rear vision mirror[/b][/u] - Early Porsche 356
[u][b]Sunvisors[/b][/u] – Early Porsche 356 – Acrylic type

[IMG]https://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/ascort_tsv/Ascortside400x281.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]https://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m595/ascort_tsv/Interior317x400.jpg[/IMG]
[u][b]Steering Wheel [/b][/u]– This is a Petri banjo 2 spoke steering wheel.
[u][b]Steering Column[/b][/u] - VW
[u][b]Steering Wheel Lock[/b][/u] – A lock was fitted. VW or aftermarket?
[u][b]Guages[/b][/u] – VDO clock adjacent to glove box.  Centre binnacle – VDO tacho, Motometer 3 in 1 gauge (amps, fuel and oil temp), VDO 100mph speedo. Right of binnacle – VDO oil pressure and Smiths vacuum. 

I am sure that I have missed some things, but I am also sure that PRE67VW is the first to get such a comprehensive detailing.[/quote]

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A few weeks ago I received an email on the www.ascort-tsv-1300.com web site. It was from a person who had been reading the page and came across references to BXL-022. He was emailing to say that he had owned the car in 1963/64.

This was very exciting for me as I knew nothing of the car's history in this time period. Part of my motivation for setting up the web page had been to hopefully make contact with past owners, but I never really believed that I would make contact with an owner of my own car from 50 years ago.

John Stone was the past owner and he said that I should use his name in case it prompts someone else's memory. John has also sent a few photos of the car taken when he owned it.

While John owned the car it was repainted and re-registered DJT-008.

:thumbup: :roll: :smile:

In my post above I mentioned the fact that BXL-022 had been repaired from a crash that had occurred in 1959.

This is the accident damage that the car had sustained when it hit a tree.

:omg:

In my restoration efforts I find myself doing repairs to sections which are required as a result of this accident 55 years ago.

This is the sonic hull which has been found in Sydney. The hull is in very good condition, but some repairs are required to the timber transom.

Hopefully the Sonic will be restored in the future.:drool:

Hope you can put up a photo. Then you need a shot of it being towed behind one of the cars. That would make a lovely photo.

Andy W

Originally Posted by: AW

Sorry about the delay Andy. For quite some time I just could not log into Pre67VW and then I stopped trying. I am back up and working again now.

Here is a copy of a sonic being towed by an Ascort registered BXL-022 which is the car that I am now restoring. This must have been sometime around 1960-63 after the car was repaired from its crash. It would have been painted light metallic green at the time.

It is interesting to see that the car has a 4 tip muffler fitted. I guess that this gives me permission to use one in my restoration.

I will find a photo of the found Sonic and post that later.

Hope you can put up a photo. Then you need a shot of it being towed behind one of the cars. That would make a lovely photo.

Andy W

One little bit of the Ascort story that I was not certain about was where the Ascort Sonic boat fitted into the picture. Was it built in parallel, or was it built after the car construction ended?

I was recently provided some more scans of negatives from the Craney family and it shows the workshop with both cars and boats under construction.

Originally Posted by: ascort

Well today has been just a little exciting on the Ascort front, although it is not car related.

Today I was sent a link to a fairly recent photo of an Ascort sonic. As the photo was on a photo sharing web site I was able to get a name and thanks to Mr Google I was able to locate an email address.

Contact has now been made!

It is now known that as well as 13 cars, at least one Ascort Sonic boat survives. I am yet to get the full details.

:smile:

It always interested me how the Ascort came to be developed. I had heard that Mirek Craney had built a model of the car that he intended to build, but the only photo that I had seen of this was in a Photo of Mr & Mrs Craney sitting on a chair holding the model. Almost no detail could be seen of the model though.

a few weeks back I was sent the following photo of the model. The original scan was in poor shape, so I have had to do a fair amount of photoshop work, but fortunately the car did not need much touching up.

The shape is quite different to the final Ascort shape, as this looks more like a 2 seat coupe, rather than the 2+2 that went into production.

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The Ascort was originally to be called the "Escort" and in some 1958 press articles it was referred to as this.

In 1959 Mirek Craney was given a stand at the 1959 Melbourne Motor Show to display the car, but it was realised that Ford already had a car called the Escort. This was not the popular small sedan of the 1970s, but a small 2 door van based on the Ford 100E Prefect. A name change was needed, so it was decided to change to Ascort.

One of the photos that recently surfaced is of the prototype Ascort with a rear emblem showing "Escort"

This photo is a scan off an old negative and it required quite a bit of cleaning up. The car looks lovely in the photo, but I think that the colours are all wrong and that the car should actually be dark blue.

img004 - Copy (640x400).jpg You have insufficient rights to see the content.

Great picture Mark

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