UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay.

Here’s a rare Austin Gipsy with left hand drive.  The seller provides some good information and history.

“At auction, at NO Reserve and with free shipping to Southern California, is our beautiful, 1960 Austin Gipsy. For those of you who are fans of older Jeeps, this vehicle may be a really pleasant alternative, and the sort of 4X4 you can enjoy and then sell later at no loss, as I’m taking the largest loss with this sale!

The Austin Gipsy was a competitor to Jeep, and most notably Land Rover, and Gipsy’s were built by the British Motor Corporation from 1958 to 1968. In 1968 the British Motor Corporation was involved with a merger with Leyland, and Leyland built Land Rovers. The Austin Gipsy fell victim to this corporate merger, but remains a respected competitor to early four wheel drive trucks and SUVs. All of the above 4X4 short wheel base vehicles were used in military applications, but this particular Austin Gipsy was built for the civilian market, and with rare Left Hand Drive.

We bought this truck beautifully restored, and had in mind shipping it to Colorado to use at our summer cabin. We have enjoyed the truck here in Hawaii, but in the end we really needed a small truck with the capability of a roof rack. I could not find a really good hardtop for the Gipsy that would support a roof rack, so we ended up with an other type of vehicle in Colorado. The Gipsy comes with a three ring binder that includes a photo documentation of the restoration, receipts, and an original Austin Gipsy Service Manual. It also comes with the functional hand crank, tire tool, and jack.

I’m  a serious collector of British vehicles, and this Austin Gipsy is a very nice example. I’m told it was built for an American serviceman stationed in Germany as his personal vehicle, so it’s a fairly rare left hand drive version of the Gipsy. The truck still has the German license plates, plus a vanity “GIPSY” plate from Hawaii that comes with the sale. The Gipsy appears to have been owned by people who obviously took relatively good care of the car, since it shows little evidence of rust. During the restoration, the floor panels at the foot wells were replaced, but aside from that I can find little evidence that this car was ever rusty. The relative lack of rust evidence is rare in this type of truck. I’ve included pictures of the undercarriage to show the excellent condition of the frame for a truck of this age.

For those unfamiliar with the Austin Gipsy, the truck has an Austin engine, 2199 cc, four cylinder, fuel thrifty and producing about 62 horsepower (made famous for reliability by the Austin A70). The unique suspension system is the patented “Flexitor” suspension, with independent trailing arm suspension on all four wheels. The Gipsy was designed as a rugged, cross-country machine. It has a steel rounded box-section chassis with a wheelbase of 90 inches. This Gipsy has a hinged tail gate, a trailer hitch, and the front bumper is equipped with two hitch balls for a tow bar adapter or other useful, off road purposes. Parts are readily available from a variety of sources, both here in the USA and overseas, as the British Motor Corporation built vehicles whose parts were often interchangeable.

The Austin engine starts first time every time for me, and can be easily started with the hand crank too (usually, the first rotation of the hand crank starts the vehicle). The engine does not smoke or use oil–it does have a few drips as is characteristic of most of these types of vehicles. It has a four speed gear box with reverse, and the transfer case allows the truck to either be in two wheel drive, neutral, or four wheel drive. The dash and gauges appear to be original, and I upgraded the windshield wiper arms with Rolls-Royce wiper arms. The windshield glasses are not scratched or delaminated. The Lucas wiper motors tend to be fickle, so that’s one item you may want to sort out for better reliability. The Hartz cloth top and plastic window material “Isinglass” are in excellent condition. The top and bow system comes off, and the windshield folds down on the bonnet, so you can drive the car completely open. With the top up as pictured, the truck has terrific visibility with the large, plastic windows fitted into the Hartz cloth top.

The tires on the ground are slightly taller and more aggressive than the standard Gipsy tire. The spare tire is more an original size, and can be mounted either externally on the back of the truck, or inside the truck on the bulkhead. There are four, nifty storage compartments built into the wheel well inner fenders, and the compartments under the seats access the gas tank on the driver’s side, and the battery on the passenger’s side. I’m particular about brakes, so the truck has all new brake cylinders installed in preparation for this sale.

According to records that come with the vehicle, this Gipsy was restored in Salt Lake City in 2006. The Gipsy comes with a photo history of the restoration, receipts, time sheets, and an original Austin Gipsy Service Manual. It won a “People’s Choice” award at a California Car Show in 2009, but please buy this car as a driver, and not a show car. It is really lovely, wonderful example of a well kept, nicely restored “orphan” marque, but it’s not a Pebble Beach quality car. I do own some #1 blue chip cars, and I would characterize this car as a solid driver, dependable with nothing to be ashamed of and a very good example of a marque that most people have never seen before. The odometer shows 9835 miles, but I know these can’t be actual miles, and suspect the real mileage is higher (perhaps the odometer was reset at the time of restoration, I really don’t know). Interestingly, the Safety Check Station in Hawaii determines actual miles versus a mileage category they call “Miles In Excess of Mechanical Limits”, and in the case of this Austin Gipsy the Safety Check Station, as reflected on the clear, Hawaii title, determined the 9835 actual miles to be correct for the purposes of mileage shown on the title. This will be the official mileage shown on the title when you transfer the truck at your DMV. Again, just be aware that I’ve never heard of such a complete restoration done on a truck with less than 10,000 miles, so the actual mileage is very likely higher, although the presentation of the truck would make a low mileage vehicle possible, consistent with normal patina and age.

The truck is being sold “as is, where is” and I invite anyone serious about the vehicle to come see and drive the vehicle. You are also welcome to hire your own mechanic to inspect the car for you prior to bidding. The truck is being sold at “No Reserve” at a value that represents far less than my investment in the vehicle. The truck is for sale through other venues, so I may end the auction early. Bottom line is I will entertain offers, but you must contact me through the eBay system or call me during the time the car is being offered on eBay. Your eBay bid represents a commitment to purchase the vehicle if you are the winning bid, so please bid as a serious buyer.

I have a favorite collector car shipping company for ocean shipping, and that firm is Pasha Hawaii Transport Lines (www.pashahawaii.com). If you are the winner of this auction, I will ship the Gipsy to either San Diego or Covina, California, at no charge to the buyer. This represents almost an $1100 savings to the buyer. Pasha lets me drive my vehicles on to their ship, the Jean Anne, and this will assure the Gipsy is safe and secure when it leaves the Port of Hilo, Hawaii. The next sailing date for Pasha from Hilo to San Diego is June 9, and I will book the Gipsy on this sailing as soon as I receive payment in full. If you need some storage time to ship the car at a later date, I’ll store the Gipsy in my collector car garage for free, and I’ll maintain my insurance on the car until it gets to California and in your possession or with your truck/trailer shipper. I can also ship the car safely from Hilo to either Oakland, California, or Seattle/Tacoma, Washington, in an enclosed container on Horizon Lines (www.horizonlines.com). Write me if you would like the car shipped on Horizon Lines, because I can arrange the Gipsy to leave Hilo and arrive at your mainland destination without ever leaving its original container if I have time to work on such arrangements with Horizon Lines. There may be extra charges to ship on Horizon Lines, so please write or call me if you want the Gipsy to go to Seattle/Tacoma, WA, or Oakland, CA.

Payment must be made by bank wire transfer (with the exception of the PayPal good faith deposit), and I will supply you with my bank wire transfer instructions at the time of sale. The Gipsy has a clear title, and I can also supply a Bill of Sale, if required. It will also come to you with a current State of Hawaii Safety Inspection, and current Hawaii Registration, along with the Hawaii “GIPSY” vanity license plates. I can FAX you copies of the title or other significant documents, at your request”