Welcome to the Austin Seven Friends web site and forum

As announced earlier, this forum with it's respective web address will go offline within the next days!
Please follow the link to our new forum

http://www.austinsevenfriends.co.uk/forum

and make sure, you readjust your link button to the new address!

Welcome Austin seven Friends
This Forum is Locked
1 2
Author
Comment
View Entire Thread
Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Location: Cambridge

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Sunday, 14th April 1975. Me, aged 17 years and 14 days, practising for my (successful) driving test in the RP three days later. The car is still my daily driver.

 photo Sunday13thApril1975_zps1bfbc8f9.jpg

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

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Martin Prior
Sunday, 14th April 1975. Me, aged 17 years and 14 days, practising for my (successful) driving test in the RP three days later. The car is still my daily driver.

 photo Sunday13thApril1975_zps1bfbc8f9.jpg


A year earlier, in April 1974, I was half-way through the car's first restoration:

 photo VJ 4985 and Martin April 1974_zpslbarrzki.jpg

Earlier still, in late 1971, a 13-year-old me with my first car, a £25 1955 A30 Seven (so it counts!). I still have this one, too.

 photo 10Martinaged13withthenewly-acquiredA30_zps57f6cdac.jpg

Another family stalwart, now my daughter Charlotte's transport, was the 1934 PD two-seater bought by my brother Stephen in 1974, seen here blasting across a field with a nervous-looking cousin in the passenger seat! Ah, the happy days when spotty schoolkids could afford a running Austin 7!

 photo Dandruff 1974 9_zps3i34diut.jpg

Same car, 42 years later, with my son David at the wheel. Maybe he can us this to revive this thread in a few decades!

 photo IMG_0681_zpse9054d9f.jpg





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

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Just thought I'd revive this thread before it completely loses momentum, as it's a super topic. As I didn't take any of the photos that have appeared of what I suspect is Beaulieu 1965 I cannot provide any clues to anyone's identity but perhaps someone 'out there' can. The chap in the beret in the 2nd photo is particularly intriguing.

 photo beau1203_zpsyzsyxxfq.jpg

 photo 68401 800x483_zpsnlmb027n.jpg

Location: Ferring, West Sussex.

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

[in a bid to keep things going here]:-

1968 – older brother & me pictured, "on test", on the front drive of the long-suffering parents.

This was the first incarnation of OK 7095 – a collection of un-related, miscellaneous [ie scrap] bits which (or at least, the registration) has since become not one, but several ‘’genuine original works racers” [allegedly] - odd that, really.

The precise means through which we obtained [quite legally & properly at that time] the OK 7095 registration is an entertaining story in itself – but quite possibly one left untold

Nice tyres - and no, we never did get the gravity petrol system to work properly with that carb set up... (!!)

 photo a7_zpsbsocxjyi.jpg

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Ok, not strictly the first Austin 7 I owned (it belonged to Mr Pratchett I think), but I definitely regularly drove this car with Danny (Champion of the world) in my imagination!

 photo _3-4_zpsdshrw5to.jpeg

The younger me cut his teeth on A30s and A35s. Photos are available, but I'm ashamed of my 80s hairstyle!

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Three more from Ian Moorcraft:

Hi R, one to help keep the thread going if you don't mind.
This was in 1964 or maybe 65 on the way to Beaulieu, a stop in Salisbury Square.
OW 2310 my Box with Sylvia in the passenger side,Tony Russell in the blazer with his coupe parked next to me.Not sure who the other couple were. Might have been Roger Jones Van. All the best Ian


 photo IMG_0918_zps54qmgltm.jpg

As Bill Sheehan said at the beginning of this thread, it's the people as much as the cars that make the Austin Seven a part of social history and should be preserved for the future.
This is Sylvia on the tow path beneath the Clifton Suspension Bridge in 1964.



 photo FullSizeRender-8_zpsggwqhgpp.jpg

Me and OW 1963, great hair don't you think!


 photo IMG_0920_zpshfd2fx7q.jpg

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Here's the younger me and my father's Austin Seven!



The photo was taken in early 1947, and I am just visible on my mother's lap with my head next to the steering wheel!
At that time the Opal was supercharged, which my father claimed made a dramatic improvement to the fuel economy. He fitted an ex-Spitfire cabin blower, mounted on the cylinder head and belt driven from the camshaft; running at atmospheric pressure, he claimed that the otherwise standard 3-bearing engine would cruise at 60mph and return better than 60mpg! unfortunately he declared the modification to the insurance company, who promptly upped the premium to an unrealistic level, so the experiment was abandoned.

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

From Charlie Carpenter:

 photo IMG_1925_zpsaddv2ohg.jpg

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

From Ian Moorcraft:

Hi Ruairidh here is the pic of your dad I promised.

This was taken in longleat rally in 1975. I organised the exhibition tent with some unrestored cars, this one was loaned on the proviso that we didn't disturb any of the cobwebs or detritus in any way. Can't remember who it was that owned it, wonder if it ever got restored.


 photo IMG_0966-2_zpsoqnepp2j.jpg

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Well Ian, from what I can see of the registration it would appear to be FB 8163 - if so then it is on the DVLA database as 'Not taxed for on road use' in a green box, so presumably it's been off the road since at least before the introduction of SORN in January 1998, possibly a lot longer. It is on the chassis register with notes: 2013-Sep-Ex BA7C / 2005-Dec-The Automobile Mag - Barn Find.

Described as a Blue RK saloon, first registered 04/03/1930.

Jeff.

Location: Almost but not quite, the far North East of England

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Interesting to see FB 8163 still has the wartime lamp shields in place that would suggest it was taken of the road during the war as these would have been removed after 1945.

Location: Pembrokeshire

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Hi Ru and Charlie, where was the photo of the Maroon Ruby taken ? There is a similar backdrop to the Campsie Fells just around the corner from my old home in Strathblane but obviously...Scotland is a mountainous place with probably lots of similar looking hills/mountains. Great photo anyway.

Location: Ferring, West Sussex.

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Hi it was in 1972 outside the Kirkhouse Inn in Strathblane. I still have the car which I bought in 1971.

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Ruairidh Dunford
From Ian Moorcraft:

Hi Ruairidh here is the pic of your dad I promised.


 photo IMG_0966-2_zpsoqnepp2j.jpg


My word, that "Ruby" tow job must have had ''interesting'' handling characteristics...

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Thanks for the confirmation Charlie, a little further along the road to Lennoxtown lies Broadgate House (on the left) and four years before your photo in the Kirkhouse car park was taken, the following sights and sounds could probably be heard. The Austin 7 Chummy in embryonic form firstly zooming about the back garden

 photo P1070095_zpsyxs0tbi5.jpg

The next photo was taken from the back door of the same house, revealing the same car and a dog called Sam a doberman pinscher. Looming up in the background are the same hills the Campsie Fells cloaked in snow, not a bad view from a back door ! Sadly, all of this apart from the Hills is gone, the car seems to have got 'lost', Sam, fractured his leg and shortly afterwards died and the garage made entirely of bark (apart from its doors) was demolished by the new owners.

 photo P1070073_zps9b20lrna.jpg

Location: Ferring, West Sussex.

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

I too frequented the Kirkhouse 50 years ago when I lived in Milton of Campsie( further along the Fells past Lennoxtown.

Although I had the rusty remains of a Nippy, dig out from a cottage at Crinan, I never rebuilt it as I had a hard enough job keeping a succession of Morris 8's on the road , due to the introduction of the 10 year test.

I did know the Abernethy's as I worked beside Ronnie, Tom's brother and also Alex Mitchell as we along helped make periscopes for the British Navy at Barr & Strouds. Alex used his Chummy to work and he lived a stones throw from the Kirkhouse. I was most impressed when he raised the entire roof of his bungalow with car jacks, an ENTIRE storey to make it a 2 storey house!

Shen my Cup Repolca is finished I will take to the Kirkhouse Inn!

Regards
Bill G

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Sometime later Bill, Tom Abernethy , with some assistance from Alec did the same thing at his but an'ben in Gartmore.
It's now almost impossible to believe it to be the same house.

Location: Bristol

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Bill gardner
I was most impressed when he raised the entire roof of his bungalow with car jacks, an ENTIRE storey to make it a 2 storey house!


It made the front page of the Herald...

 photo Alec and Mhairi_zpsj3zlpir5.jpg

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

James Anderson
There is a similar backdrop to the Campsie Fells just around the corner from my old home in Strathblane but obviously...


Well spotted James!

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

I remember helping Alec 'raise his roof' under an inch at a time with hydraulic rams then screwing up manual ones, then starting the whole process over and over again and praying that there wasn't a strong wind at some critical phase. Have got some photos somewhere of the event, but failed to get the 'rising from death' image that I wanted as Alec and my sister Mairi's house was next to Strathblane's Kirk and cemetery !

 photo P1070091_zps5vpppi5e.jpg

However, talk of 'rising from the death' is relevant in another way as some of the photos I've posted were only returned to me recently after 'missing' for 50 years. They were in a primitive book I wrote at the time of my pretty abysmal restoration and turned up thanks to a fellow in my university year who works in Canada finding it along with some other books in his late father's basement in Glasgow ! The other car in the photo was Alec's Chummy.

Location: Ferring, West Sussex.

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Yet another strange body which did not appear in 'The Source Book.'

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

YC4818 with late 1928 nickel rad but scuttle headlamps. My AD tourer YC5012 is registered feb 1929 and has Lucas R47 headlamps. Curious to know if scuttle headlamps were correct.
Dave.

Location: Sheffield

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Not sure what body you're referring to Tom, but maybe the following photo would cheer it up a bit ! While I was a wine waiter and hall porter at a fancy hotel at Coldstream (escaping my father with the anticipated results of my A Levels!) I went out with this super girl, who was one of the waitresses who loved the wee car. While I was there I also remember the clutch slipped on accelerating and I could see the flywheel moving forward a tad. Stripped it down with what few tools were available, cut out a 2mm thick piece of card the same profile of flywheel clutch fibre and went down to local garage and asked mechanic to rivet it on behind it. 'No way I'm going to do that sir !' was his curt reply. It's for an Austin 7, I said, 'It'll be ready for you this afternoon'! Got me back to Glasgow (for some odd reason, still have the piece of card)! In reply to Dave's post, it is easier to point out what was wrong with YC4818 than right with it, so it was by no means a 'reference work'. Even one of the hood locking mechanisms was missing and that side was tied to the wing with string and the chrome mirror was bolted on utilising both ends of an open-ended spanner ! Happy Days before what was happening in the real World became apparent !

 photo P1040569_zpszcbbjuld.jpg

Location: Ferring, West Sussex.

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Bill Sheehan writes:

1977 - I've always regarded members of the Bristol A7 club as rather a hairy lot (no mention of the ladies here), but am wondering now if they also have a semi-naked fetish? Ian Dunford at the Roach farm pre Bailleau, dressed similarly as in the recent posting with Ruby & trailer. (The blonde was my wife (the same brunette in the '25 Chummy in an earlier photo!)

 photo Bill top hat jpeg_zpse5xjvwtv.jpg



Next Dave Collins using his bathroom at the Isle of Man, same uniform.

 photo Bill Dave  Collins jpeg_zpsvllxf3ln.jpg


Early 1980s - Many Forum members will remember Tom Duxbury and his Pearl. He and his female entourage dropped in on me as I was leaving to navigate in a Day Trial with the VSCC in the old Roller. Piled them into the back for a scenic tour, including over our West Gate bridge which gives an overview of Melbourne's city buildings.

 photo Bill RR_zpscm4uirsx.jpg


1982 Close shave - Picture a Ruby, my only transport, only 3 owners, never restored, cracked leather seats, paint mostly rubbed through to undercoat, car which I refused to "restore", parked on kerb. A drunk driver got out of control at a roundabout up the hill, came down wrong side of road, mounted kerb & nature strip, demolished a 6' high brick wall. Photo may show panels touching, but there was in fact a gap of 2" between pick-up & Ruby wing. Ruby lived for other days.

 photo Bill crash jpeg_zpsvvuhmzsn.jpg

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

As an update to the first of Bill's photos, here is the same car last week in Newtonmore with my daughters and their friends:

 photo _DSC6106_1-2_zpszdip3q46.jpg

 photo DSC_0748_zps7oatm9w4.jpg


Also a picture of me a few months back impersonating my father - my wife now insists I sleep on the sofa for some reason??


 photo R ian looky_zpsn2lyzv1j.jpg

Charlie Carpenter is hoping to recreate the 1972 photo of him, his brother and the car shown above soon

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

No need for a DNA test, Ruairidh!

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Ian giving the saloon a wash:

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Mike/Ian - 1 - would that be Dan Burt in the foreground? Is he still around?
2 - re-reading my previous post, I hope no-one got the impression that the Rolls Royce was mine - it used to reside near Tony Press' house (may still do). My only RR possession has been a Wedgewood saucer, a specially limited-production with the RR logo - and I won it in a raffle!
Cheers, Bill

Location: Euroa, Australia

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Dan Burt is verry much still around Bill, I am in regular contact with him.

He lives in Adelaide and has recently required his original Chummy back - it now resides in Oz with him. I will try and alert him to this thread as the story is a good one!

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Hi Bill. Ruairidh has just alerted me to this thread. I know Euroa and used to come through every year. I am planning to head your way this December. We must get in touch. I'm about to post in A7 friends with my story. Cheers!

Location: Aldgate, Adelaide, South Australia.

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Thanks, Ruairidh for alerting me to this thread. Here is my story (from my FB page)of the younger me with Krystal. She now sits in my shed, and will be taken for a run next Sunday with the A7 Club of SA for Sir Herbert Austin's 150th Birthday bash. She is about to have a complete overhaul and tidy up. Hopefully some photos later. Can someone tell me how to upload pics to this site?

"My 'new' car - 1929 Austin 7 KR1079
How often do you get the chance to buy your first car back, some 40 years later? I drove her whilst in England recently, and Tony Hursey, the current owner and an old friend, has kindly offered her to me - the 'original and rightful' owner. [She had done little driving in some 30 years with the new Bristol owner and sat in a shed for most of that time, then Tony bought her about 10 years ago and got her mobile again] So I'm now arranging shipping, and she should arrive in about 8 - 10 weeks time.

I'd bought her in 1965 as a wreck when I was 16 from a back garden in Portishead (near Bristol, England) for 2 pounds 10s ('Are you sure you want it?') and pushed her back to Clapton Farm a mile away. After the first restoration (I did it again later) I drove her to school when I was 17 once I'd got my licence. Meanwhile I'd joined the Bristol Austin 7 Club and had some wonderful adventures. Runs and tours of England, Ireland, France etc. Great days, great people, great Club. I'm about to join again! [Indeed I have, with my original membership number!] Paul Verney sold her for me in 1975 when I'd decided to stay in Australia.

She is virtually the same as when I left her some 40 years ago. Same hood, seats etc which I'd made in the late 1960s. Body and paint the same with just a few marks. Same SU (non-original) carb. I drove her while in England recently - still goes like a rocket, but Tony has improved the decoupled brakes a lot! I understand she has done no more than 500 miles since I sold her.
She still has the stainless exhaust system I'd made at Rolls Royce (Aero) while an apprentice, and nickle plating done there for a packet of fags - the currency of the day!"

She arrived in Oz last February - a great thrill for me, and has the same Kent number plate here - KR 1079. When I look at the work I'd done I say to myself: 'Not too shabby!' Virtually everything is the same as I'd left her: I'd done all mechanicals, made the hood, seats, sidescreens, painted, electrics etc etc.

Location: Aldgate, Adelaide, South Australia.

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Dan - email me the photos and I will post them for you.

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

And no-one has answered my question yet - was it Dan in the photo? I'm sure we wouldn't recognise each other nowadays anyway. I thought I remembered him being in Oz once, but presumed he was back in Old Blighty and wasn't sure he was still vertical! Cheers, Bill

Location: Euroa, Australia

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

I didn't because I couldn't Bill - my guess would be that it is not Dan but as I wasn't born when the photo was taken I am not best qualified to make such assumptions :)

Here are Dan's photos:

At 17

 photo 01-A7-Dan01-KR1079-Age17_zpseideeolt.jpg

 photo 01-A7-Dans A7-KR1079-01_zpsqoipzged.jpg


Racing in Ireland

 photo 01-A7-Dans A7-KR1079-01-Ireland_zpskywquujc.jpg

 photo 01-Dan-UK-A7-Ireland04-KR1079_zpsr4ddgh07.jpg

 photo 01-A7-Dans A7-KR1079-02-Ireland_zpsehawepcq.jpg

Pulling Krystal up the dunes in Wales (?)

 photo 01-Dan-UK-A7-KR1079-MM-Sand Dunes02_zps1zyyudze.jpg

Brittany

 photo 01-A7-KR1079-Brittany-03-Sands_zps9foydwji.jpg

Now - reunited

 photo 10-A7-KR1079-14Mar2016-Prospect Hill 009_zpsmdt5qzcg.jpg

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Thanks for uploading these pics, Ruairidh. I have to say I love your pics above - wonderful happy kids, and your impression of Ian - so lifelike!!! Cheers, Dan.

Location: Aldgate, SA Australia

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Hi Dan

Great to see you are still Sevening and in your old Chummy!!
The photographs of the 1971 or was it 1972? Irish holiday bring back super memories.
The sand racing on the beach organised by the locals instead of their regular horse racing was brilliant. Even the bit where we had to drive in and out of a stream halfway down the beach before turning round a wellie and heading back.
The centre photo may have been taken when we went off piste and you started the peat fight at the top of the track. I remember you being floored by a well aimed clump of peat delivered by Dave Blessley.
The picture of the Chummy loaded with wood ready for our final evenings BBQ on the beach. I seem to remember the main component of the bonfire being a large tree dragged down to the beach by a tractor!!

Enjoy the Chummy
Gordon

Location: North Hampshire

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

From Dave Mann:

Hi Ruairidh
Please can you post the attached photo on the Austin Seven Friends forum. Does anybody recognise this RN which was at Beaulieu in 1968? Regards Dave Mann


 photo Beaulieu 1968 copy_zpsg3poms7u.jpg

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Ruairidh Dunford
Bill Sheehan writes:

1977 - I've always regarded members of the Bristol A7 club as rather a hairy lot (no mention of the ladies here), but am wondering now if they also have a semi-naked fetish?



Next Dave Collins using his bathroom at the Isle of Man, same uniform.

 photo Bill Dave  Collins jpeg_zpsvllxf3ln.jpg





Wow, a picture from the 1977 Silver Jubilee TT rally. That bought back some memories. This is me on the Druidale cross country event there.



The second photographer waited a moment longer.....



Apart from getting soaked, the Druidale event was made memorable for the fact that I came across a Sheep standing in the middle of the road when I came round a blind bend at some speed, so I had to take to the grass verge -it really was a cross country event at that moment!

Location: N W Kent

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Stuart - Great shots of No.40, particularly the second one. Being in the borrowed Dunford Cabby (now with Ruairidh) I was much more sedate at the same spot, but must admit I have a photo somewhere showing the Cabby 3-wheeling around the hairpin on the T.T. Course! Do you still have the same Special? If not, is it still alive? Cheers, Bill

Location: Euroa, Australia

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Hi Bill,
Can appreciate that having an A7 "going tricycle" on a corner must have been even more "interesting" when it was a borrowed car!

I do still have the same special; of course, like all the best specials, it's never really been finished -I can always find something else to modify or fiddle with. Here's a pic of the the car and I taken on a rally in the south of France a couple of years ago - I suppose this photo would only count as the very slightly younger me and my A7

Location: N W Kent

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

I think the chap standing behind Tony Russell in your photo in Salisbury Ian ,
may be Steve Kincaid.
Drove his Box Saloon to the North Cape in the early 60s.
Removed and repaired a broken rear spring on the journey.

Location: Bristol

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Thought I'd try and revive this excellent thread with the following photo from the same period as most of my previous ones (1965). Funnily enough, it follows on from the previous entry as it features Ian Dunford and Tom Abernethy on the far right of the photo outside an indecipherable pub/hotel but I've little idea who those in the foreground are. I was still at school at the time and the man behind the camera was no doubt Alec Mitchell.
Some of the cars may be of interest too. Where are they now ?

 photo 691102_zpsihxa8wtm.jpg

Location: Worthing

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

I think this is almost certainly The Crown Inn Saltford on the A4 between Bristol and Bath.
The central character is Paul Hatch and on his left John Harper not sure of the third person but you have correctly identified the two reprobates lurking at the back

Location: Bristol

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Hello James, great photo, a few years later than 65. The fellow with the long hair is Paul Hatch still in the BA7c and still has the same hair but now white!
I am sure Ian D will be along soon to tell us who the others are.
Pub is the Crown at Saltford near Keynsham it was our home(BA7c)for many years. Cheers Ian M

Location: Bristol

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

The Chummy to Tom's right is Alex Mitchell's and the RK behind is mine.The very first car we ever owned,and still own.
The Ruby is John's and the RK Paul's
I think the ORT was owned by the late Gwen Lewis.

Location: Bristol

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Hi Ian, I looked and looked and thought how the h*ll can he see ORT on one of those plates? Penny dropped Open Road Tourer. Bet you did that on purpose,well and truly caught Ian M

Location: Bristol

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

blimey -now its 13729 views

and 146 replies...

wot have I started?

I do hope there is more to come ? :)

 photo van4_zpspgsedgsg.jpg

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Sorry Ian.
Couldn't remember the correct numerical designation for the ORT.
Decades ago we had an effort to rename them "Diamonds"but it didn't catch on as half the owners had no idea what we were talking about.

Location: Bristol

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Great memories, Gordon. That Irish holiday really was a trip that sticks in my mind. I vaguely recall the peat fight with Dave Blesseley and still have memories of drinking huge quantities of Guinness and Paddy's Irish whiskey, being almost abducted by an old fisherman ('no better man') who wanted to take me to sea (!) and John Fitch falling off a cliff outside the pub. Those were the days! However, I am much more mature now and can't wait to do it all again some day!!!

Location: Aldgate, Adelaide, South Australia

Re: The younger me and my Austin 7

Well Paul, you started this thread, so if you haven't seen enough of that van and your hair style, here you are again (right) with your 1st Seven and your brother peeping over the van, with his 1st Seven too, the 1930 Mulliner and also the current Mrs Mike Tebbett. He keeps threatening to restore her, the Mulliner; please have a word with him will you. On the road to Beaulieu I think.
 photo Misc A7s_zpswhuainpy.jpg

Here's my own 1st Seven, an extremely tatty Top Hat, suffering from the Trials for which it was converted. Went, handled and stopped well but gradually fell apart around me. Shown in 1965 in a suitably derelict area of Coventry where my college course had 2 portacabins on a bombsite.
Other photo shows its final resting place in my private scrap yard. The other curious car was found in a suburban green house, its chassis went to Terry McGrath, at 10/-, for his racer, with the body from the Tebbett recreation of OK 7095. Gordon Phillips rebuilt the Top Hat body for his own car. Recycling at its best.

target="_blank"> photo Misc A7s - Copy - Copy 3_zpsoxerihzh.jpg



 photo Misc A7s - Copy - Copy 2_zpsntzfo8zi.jpg

1 2