VH-AJP  Auster J/5B Autocar           (c/n  2951)
   
                     

                         In 1949, following the success of the earlier Autocrat, Auster designed a 4-seater with similar
                         specifications and named it the Autocar.  Approximately 80 were built at Rearsby and several
                         of them wound up on the Australian civil register.  The above machine first came on the register
                         as the second VH-ADU (the third was the Proctor, q.v.) in 1952 and was re-registered in 1954
                         as (the second) VH-AJP (the first was an Avro Anson).  Anyway, in 1959 it assumed its third
                         identity. becoming VH-TMD, and a year after that it changed again to become VH-CDS
                         (why does Australia allow this?)   In May of 2006 I received an email from a Mr. Peter
                         Sargent of Adelaide, South Australia indicating that he had purchased this machine (albeit
                         in bits and pieces).  Appended below is a shot of the biggest piece!   Mr. Sargent intended
                         to restore it to its former glory, but I have not  heard from him since and don't know the status
                        of this rebuild.