Hi Martin
There is more information that can be gleaned from the article and page 234 of the Source Book that gives some answers to your questions:

Yes, the chassis is 1927, engine number M32888. Records show that it was originally exported via Bilbao 2nd April 1927. It was discovered in the 1960s in Palma, Majorca by Hans Bolle and eventually brought back to the UK by him.

Both the article and Source Book give B167 as the Body Number rather than Car Number. Would need to check the original Gaydon records to sort this one out? If it is a Car Number, the body could have been built in September 1929 as a prototype steel body a few months before the short scuttle steel construction cars went into production? If it is a Body Number, then these are, more often than not, puzzling.

B-Type Coupe production carried on into 1931 - though there are no known survivors later than Chassis Number 111818, first registered in June 1930.

The story from the owner before Martin was that needed a new body having been crashed when a racing car, presumably in 1929 or 1930 - the chassis is still somewhat twisted.

Having seen the body prior to the restoration when all the inside frame was exposed, it has all the features of an Austin body of the time - so it is seems highly likely that it was built at Longbridge. This car has a standard rear seat in the back, whereas it is shallower in the usual Coupes. Why the owner went to the trouble of ordering the body from England is unknown and why it was removed from its original chassis is also unknown - but perhaps Longridge wanted to put a standard saloon body on its original chassis so they could sell it on? Selling this body off to Spain would get it out of the way no questions asked?

The hubs were changed/converted (?) to take 4 stud FIAT Topilino wheels by Senor Mir Mas in Majorca in the early 1960s after the car had covered a vast mileage with its previous owner, Senor Rotger, a gas and electricity inspector, during the 1950s.

Hopefully someone will taken it on who will preserve it rather than destroy it...
Regards
Colin

Hi Colin.

Thanks very much.

Without seeing the car it's very difficult to comment, but it would take a lot to convince me that this body was an Austin prototype. In 1930, I should have thought that all efforts would have been directed to the imminent launch of the much more up-to-date RL and its derivatives, rather than trying to play around with an obsolete model that hadn't sold well anyway.

If the story is true, then the wings would appear to have survived the 1929 crash - they're right for a 1927 car, but not a 1930 model.

Another feature that struck me was the shape of the door windows - square cornered at the bottom, round cornered at the top. This is something that I've never seen on any Longbridge product, but have on other Spanish-built bodies.

I wonder whether the extra 6" in the body length is accounted for by this body having been built to fit a standard saloon floorpan.

I don't think that it should be offered for sale as a 1930 B-type, because it isn't. However, I'd certainly agree with you that it should be preserved. It's a unique car and it undoubtedly has an interesting history, but I suspect a different one!

Location: Herefordshire, with an "E", not a "T"!

This highlights the problems of using body numbers as reference! My 1929 coupe was (still is, I suppose) Car Number B270, and the same identity was stamped on the transmission tunnel where Body Numbers usually appear. However, I believe that the body stamping was the Car Number, not a Body Number - it would have been a remarkable coincidence if Car Number B270 also just happened to be the 270th B-Type coupe!
I believe (but have no evidence to support it) that the Spanish Coupe was probably fitted with an original alloy-bodied B-Type body which was later modified to a full 4-seater and re=panelled in steel. I don't believe the body left Longbridge as a steel body, either in 1929 or at a later date; there are just too many anomalies for the published story to ring true - sorry!

If the buyer wants top money for the car, he needs to publish some decent pictures!

That sounds a lot more plausible, Mike.

Location: Herefordshire, with an "E", not a "T"!

Having looked at the Source Book, I see that when it returned to the UK the car was configured as a full saloon, with rear quarter windows, looking distinctly continental albeit owing a lot to B Coupe design.

Location: Herefordshire, with an "E", not a "T"!

All very intriguing. Martin - your quote "I wonder whether the extra 6" in the body length is accounted for by this body having been built to fit a standard saloon floorpan" would be spot on, as that's roughly the difference between the length of a saloon rear floor and a standard coupe one. So was the body built on a saloon floor in the first place? If so, how come it's called a coupe? The whole subject is certainly open to a million guesses, and some of the alleged history clouds the issue somewhat. Cheers, Bill in Oz

Location: Victoria, AUS.

Hi
This Coupe has the standard Coupe longer scuttle, lower roof line, the lower dash with the cut out in the centre, and lowered seats. Originally there were no rear windows, these were added whilst the car was in Majorca, and were removed during the recent restoration work. As mentioned previously, this car has a standard saloon depth rear seat - the one on my car was 6" shallower.
Regards
Colin

The problem with a good story is that it gets passed verbally from generation to generation (or owner to owner), gradually acquiring improvements and embellishments along the way. This is what mythology is all about.

Eventually, it gets published and re-published, at which point it becomes "fact" - I read it, so it must be true.

I don't know what the truth is in this particular case. As far as I can make out, there was one original source for the story. I have no idea whether there is any first-hand documentary evidence to support it.

The Gaydon information quoted would seem to cast doubt on the story, rather than confirm it.

It wouldn't matter if a large amount of money wasn't involved. If the car is all that it's claimed to be then it could well be worth the asking price.

If it's a "bitser", assembled from a wrecked 1927 car, with some original and some B coupe body parts all brought together by the efforts and imagination of a Spanish coachbuilder, along with mechanical parts from a Fiat Topolino, it would struggle to be worth a third of that price.

We discussed another Spanish import a year or so ago with an equally-exciting history. This claimed to be a 1929 A7 van, a unique collaboration between Austin and Rosengart that had seen service in the Spanish Civil War. In reality, it appeared to be a Morris Minor chassis, fitted an Austin Seven engine and a post-war Spanish-built body.

Caveat emptor!

Location: Herefordshire, with an "E", not a "T"!

This is precisely the reason that I will only buy a car if I like it and can afford the asking price.

I could not give a monkeys if the Earl of March farted in it or if it the only model in existence, inflated values through provenance claims are for the greedy.

If you like it, buy it.

Never buy it without inspecting it personally.

I am not a gambler so buying to invest holds no interest to me either.

Location: Herefordshire, with an "E", not a "T"!

Hi
It seems there is some real detective work to do on this one, then. Would be interesting. How hard is it to differentiate between 1930s British and Spanish steels? The steel plate used and fabrication methods could be compared with that of a UK car.

The value remains a separate issue - it is up to any potential buyer to decide what they are willing to offer for it having seen it and in the light of all the available information.
Regards
Colin

"in the light of all the available information"

I would think that this is the problem !

The fact that it appears in that compendium of often doubtful information The Source Book should give pause for thought, let alone the other very strange claims to 'fame' !!

Tony

Hi
The usual rules apply here - as any academic knows: There are primary sources - information created at the time that you can rely on - like the Gaydon records and other original documentation - and then there are other sources where varying degrees of judgement are required. Makes it interesting.
Regards
Colin

I had a long conversation a couple of days ago with the owner of this car, who has had it for around forty years.

He stands by the car's history as previously outlined. He has original documentation pertaining to its import to Spain in 1927, but this gives nothing away as to the type of body then fitted.

He then has a couple of letters written by two previous Spanish owners in the 'seventies, containing their recollections of the car going back to the immediate post-war period.

Unfortunately, there is nothing first-hand covering the period around 1930 when the present body was fitted.

The wings currently fitted apparently date from the 'seventies or 'eighties, so are not of any help.

The square lower corners in the door windows were reputedly made by the Spanish coachbuilder when he cut out the similarly-shaped rear quarter windows (now filled in).

The number B-167 that was mentioned does not in fact have a "B" prefix and is the body number stamped into the top of the transmission tunnel.

The Source Book information and photo probably originate from contact between the current owner and Mr Purves in the 'seventies, when restoration of the car was discussed and so is unlikely to come from an independent source.

The owner has pointed out that the "Profile Publication - The Austin Seven" contains a drawing (probably C1970) showing a stretched coupe; this is indeed the case. He argues that as the proportions are very similar to those of his car and that the drawing may have been based on a period photo of it.

Location: Herefordshire, with an "E", not a "T"!

Dave Martin's article in the latest (2016B) Association Magazine provides some interesting snippets of information. From the Weekly Despatch Ledgers it seems pretty clear (well, to me anyway!) that B-Type coupe production ceased in September 1930. The last despatches were three cars on 27th September; the column allocated to the coupe has then been amended to read AVD Van and there are no more coupe entries... except there was a lone coupe despatched between January and May 1931.

Could this be the Spanish car? It seems odd that a 1927 car would be returned to the Works and be re-bodied with a non-standard item and then be recorded in the Despatch Ledger, but who knows?I have no doubt that the car has some coupe origins - the lower seating and steering arrangement are pure B-Type, but it seems a most ungainly look to it and doesn't fit at all with the current (1931) Austin style ...