Thread: Austin Champ.
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Old 27th August 2009, 19:39
G-CPTN G-CPTN is offline  
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Austin Champ.

As a result of following URLs about Austin Sheerlines, I have had a misconception 'destroyed'. I always thought that the Rolls Royce engine fitted to the Van den Plas 4-litre R was also the engine fitted to the Austin Champ.
In fact that is not true. Although the Champ engine (at least in the military versions) was, indeed, designed (and originally built) by Rolls Royce, this was a mere 2.8 litre capacity and was only four cylinders whereas the car engine was six cylinders.
True that the basic B-series engine design was common, but the 4-litre engine was cast in aluminium (and, is, apparently, a fine engine - if meticulously maintained) and had altered stroke:-
http://www.redlemon.co.za/vandenplasprincess/rolls.html

However, the purpose of this thread is to expand knowledge of the Champ (after all, this forum is dedicated to trucks and buses rather than passenger cars).
I'll start with the Wiki entry:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Champ
and invite others to contribute links to photographs or text articles.

You might want to search for the Wolseley Mudlark . . .

http://enc.slq.qld.gov.au/slq/neg/pr...00/116058p.jpg

If there is little (or no) response, then I might have to contribute myself.

Oh - and if you have already read the above Wiki link, you will know that most of the civilian Champs were fitted with the 2.66 litre Austin Atlantic engine . . .

Then there was the Austin Gipsy.

Last edited by G-CPTN; 27th August 2009 at 19:51.
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