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History of my car

Hiya.

Has anyone got any history on my black & blue RP Saloon?
Registration number GX2980
She's an RP Saloon but registered in 1932 not '33.
GX signifies London & I know she's been in the North of England from the couple of MOT's I have from the 1980's, she also wears a GWR tax disc holder, so could have lived along that railway route too.
When I found her in Shropshire, she was a but of a mess, but she's in rely good shape now & I use her regularly.
I named her Penny, because I found some under the carpet.
I'd love to know more about her if possible.

Regards Ed

Location: Wrexham/Chester

Re: History of my car


Ed, your car's entry on the A7CA register gives the date of first registration as 14/06/33, not 1932. My RP, with a chassis number 10,000 or so lower than yours was absolutely definitely registered on 01/02/33.

I may be wrong, but I think that very few London records survive.

Just hope that the registration rings some bells with someone.

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

Re: History of my car

Definitely march '32 on the v5 & Iv spoken to someone, although I can't remember what Austin database he was from, soon after buying her & he also confirmed the '32 date.
Yes, the blitz put pay to the London records

Location: Wrexham/Chester

Re: History of my car

Edmund. Many years ago (as most of my stories begin) I bought a 2nd hand MGA 1600 which was claimed to have very low mileage. I found a heap of things left in the car, including a watch in the door-pocket lining and seventeen blouse buttons, mixed, under the carpets. So the claim was probably correct - the owner wouldn't have had much time to drive it. Your title Penny makes me wonder what I could have called the MG, but most possibilities would not be nice in mixed company! Cheers, Bill in Oz

Location: Euroa Australia

Re: History of my car

Cheers Bill

Location: Wrexham/Chester

Re: History of my car

Iv just checked the paperwork I have & the chassis & engine numbers are completely different from those listed on the a7ca site.
176015 is actually BS9788
229012 is actually M157625
& date of registration reads 16/06/32

I had got the dates wrong myself, my mother is older than the car by a month & not the other way around

Location: Wrexham/Chester

Re: History of my car


Some more research is needed, but it looks as though you have an RN, not an RP.

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

Re: History of my car

Edmund Quayle
Iv just checked the paperwork I have & the chassis & engine numbers are completely different from those listed on the a7ca site.
176015 is actually BS9788
229012 is actually M157625
& date of registration reads 16/06/32

I had got the dates wrong myself, my mother is older than the car by a month & not the other way around



Ed, BS9788 should read B5-9788 and is the Car Number, not the chassis number. It would be about right for June '32. It's not uncommon for this to be confused on the log book.

The chassis number should be around 1565xx and your engine number fits well with this.

The RP wasn't introduced until September '32.

See if you can find the body number on the top of the transmission tunnel, behind the handbrake cover plate. I would expect this to read RN 11xxx.

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

Re: History of my car

She's definitely an RP. Consealed body joins at the rear % long square doors the number is covered with lashings of underseal & paint im afraid

Location: Wrexham/Chester

Re: History of my car

Edmund Quayle
She's definitely an RP. Consealed body joins at the rear % long square doors the number is covered with lashings of underseal & paint im afraid



Hmmm.....In that case, I think that we may be looking at a body swap at some point in the past - not that uncommon. Hopefully nothing more sinister.

Knowing the body number would be very helpful.

Are the chassis number and car number plates still fixed to the nearside of the bulkhead?

Have you located the chassis number stamped into the top of the nearside chassis rail, a couple of inches behind the rear engine mounting?

An RP should have a rear petrol tank, but engine number M157625 should not have any provision for a fuel pump as it would have been gravity-fed from a scuttle-mounted tank. How is petrol supplied to the engine? Is the actual engine number as stated in the V5?

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

Re: History of my car

The alloy plaque is present Iv not looked for one stamped on the chassis, but will do & the tank is on the scuttle, but it's funny you should mention the pump, as I fitted one of those Chineese copies from the 7 workshop but the rubber kept failing & causing major fuel leaks, so I found a genuine one on eBay, had it serviced, fitted it & nothing happened! I'm going for a 6v electric pump next. There was a blanking plate over the mechanical pump mount, so I unbolted it & just fitted the pump straight on.
I have pictures of her, but can't post them to the thread for you all to see

Location: Wrexham/Chester

Re: History of my car


Very interesting. The scuttle mounted tank is definitely RN, not RP.

There are a few "transitional" RN/RP cars around, but I think that yours is a few months too early to be one of these.

Is the gearbox 3 or 4 speed? Is the diff casing of "banjo" or "D" type?

Positive IDs of all numbers are going to be the only way of sorting this out, I think. Pictures of the dashboard, body mouldings on the scuttle/windscreen pillars, door window mouldings and sunroof if fitted would be very useful. Feel free to email them to me and I'll see if I can put them up here later.

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

Re: History of my car

Right, I'll do that thankyou.
She's a 4 speed regards the dashboard & body mouldings, they're all RP.
The diff I'm unsure of It's a round dome at the back from memory.
I'll try to take pictures later on after work & send them to you

Location: Wrexham/Chester

Re: History of my car

All I can add is that the GX registrations were indeed issued in London starting with GX 1 in March 1932, so your registration date of June 1932 would equate to roughly 500 GX registrations per month to reach 2980 by the 16th June '32. As you're already aware all London records were unfortunately destroyed.
As Martin has said, I'd have a look for the chassis number stamped into the top chassis rail. The link below should assist with its location.

The chassis number given on the A7CA Chassis Register would have been a build date of around April 1933 and therefore an RP, however that doesn't tally with your date of first registration. The engine number 229012 would date to roughly June 1935 - however engines did get swapped around over the years.

http://a7ca.org/downloads/QuoteThisNumber.pdf

Jeff.

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

Re: History of my car

Thanks Jeff

Location: Wrexham/Chester

Re: History of my car

Martin, if you email me I can send you a picture that I have here now. Iv just tried, but the link 'email' is just my address

Location: Wrexham/Chester

Re: History of my car

Jeff, My R.N. IS DATED 13th March, and is GWxxxx

Re: History of my car

Hi Jon,

As you're probably aware, the GW registrations were also issued in London, however GW 1 was first issued in December 1931. As mentioned above, the GX allocation began with GX 1 in March 1932.

Jeff.

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

Re: History of my car

Late RNs had the RP type dashboard and concealed seams on the back of the body, but they retained the doors which are thicker than RP type at the bottom. They were mechanically similar to early RPs, with rear tank, petrol pump and four speed gearbox. I used to have one (OD3565), not registered until Oct 1932 if I remember correctly.

Location: just north of Cambridge

Re: History of my car

Now that's interesting. Confuses the matter still further, but interesting

Location: Wrexham/Chester

Re: History of my car

Until you find the chassis number stamped into the nearside chassis rail rearwards of the back engine mount AND the body number (not car number) we are all fishing in the dark. The body number is stamped into upper surface of the transmission tunnel just rearwards of the prop-shaft to gearbox access cover (which may need to be removed to find it).

The Car number could be either B5 or B8. If the body is that of an RP then a B8 series should date it to mid 1933.

Some photos might be useful - in particular of the scuttle moulding on the A pillar which is different between an RN and a RP. The doors (which can be interchanged) are as said earlier slightly different. The RP side moulding is wider in the centre whereas the RN is parallel.

Send photos!

Location: Gard, France 30960. Used to be Languedoc-Roussillon but now it's Occitanie

Re: History of my car

I have loads of photos & can take more tonight, but I cant post them to this thread, even after following the instructions on the site. I can email them directly to members though

Location: Wrexham/Chester

Re: History of my car

Edmund,

Just out of interest, Surrey County Archives have some contemporary photographs on file (not available to view via the net as far as I can tell) showing six new Dennis refuse lorries supplied to the London Borough of Lambeth in 1932, these bore the registrations GX 9428 to GX 9433 - this might suggest that your car was similarly first registered in the Lambeth district of South London - it narrows it down a little bit !

Both Martin and I will post the photos to the site for you - just email them to either of us. To post them to this thread yourself you'd need a Photobucket, Flickr or similar image sharing account to host the photos.

Jeff.

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

Re: History of my car


Jeff, you're obviously a fellow Autonumerologist. Do you know whether the system of issuing blocks of new registrations to car dealerships was operating in 1932? It's often struck me when looking at the A7CA Register that dates of first registration for a particular authority don't run tidily in the same order as the registrations, but (obvious errors aside) tend to jump about by a couple of months either way, possibly indicating the rates of sales of different dealerships.

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

Re: History of my car

I'd need your email address, if I click on the emails link at the end of each reply, it sends them to my email.

Interesting little fact about the lambeth connection though

Location: Wrexham/Chester

Re: History of my car

I've just sent you an email.

Jeff.

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

Re: History of my car

Edmund Quayle
I'd need your email address, if I click on the emails link at the end of each reply, it sends them to my email.




The Email thing looks like a link, but isn't. If you hold the cursor on it, the actual email address should appear in the bottom left corner of your screen.

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

Re: History of my car

Edmund's photos of his rather smart RP / RN - GX 2980







Uploaded by Jeff.

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

Re: History of my car

Thanks Jeff.

She didn't look that smart when I found her im afraid

Location: Wrexham/Chester

Re: History of my car


Very nice, and definitely an RP body, but six months too early for that to be possible based on the paperwork.

It's all going to come down to finding the original numbers.

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

Re: History of my car

Nice RP saloon which it appears to have acquired the identity of an RN at some time in it's past, not an unusual occurrence I'm afraid. Back in the 1960s my mate had a road legal Ruby saloon which had seen better days, he then acquired a very tidy 4 seat tourer of the same year which had no tax or MOT needless to say tourer acquired the ruby's identity and it's still around today with the Ruby's number. If you do that you have to do it sensibly, one gentleman in Stockport merely bolted the new numberplate on top of the original on his Morris and an eagle eyed member of the constabulary spotted it. Those were the days when if you didn't want a policeman there was always one there and when you wanted one, none was to be found.

Re: History of my car

Well I'm on my way home now to look, so will hopefully be able to get that information on here later on

Location: Wrexham/Chester

Re: History of my car

Ok. Iv bombarded Jeff with emails containing pictures, some won't send, some will, My apologies to Jeff

What I have found from various parts of the car are as follows.

Number on transmission tunnel is
RP6525
Car number on near side scuttle under side of fuel tank. BS 9788 (definitely BS, not B8 or B5)
Engine number (stamped on block ) M178849.
Chassis number 176015, this is on an aluminium plate figured to the chassis just before the rear nearside engine mount & may be covering one stamped on the chassis itself.

Hope this helps & many thanks for all your help so far, an amazing resource this site.

Location: Wrexham/Chester

Re: History of my car

More from Edmund, more to follow ...............













Uploaded by Jeff.

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

Re: History of my car


Ed, I think that any further discussion should be private.

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

Re: History of my car

Final few from Edmund .......







Uploaded by Jeff.

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

Re: History of my car

Just my comment- all ID plates pop riveted on should be treated with caution as with rounded corner ID plates.

Cheers, Tony.

Location: Melbourne. Victoria, Australia.

Re: History of my car

Edmund - you may be disappointed for a while with the info you've received, but I'm sure you'll be enthused with what was/will be a lovely-looking car when you're mobile in it. Your great photos will also be a great help to many restoring their cars in future. Good Luck with it, Cheers, Bill

Location: Euroa, Australia.

Re: History of my car

Thankyou Bill

I greatly enjoy driving her & she always gets a great reception from other road users & members of the public at shows, or when I nip into town in her & park her by the curb.
Someone always has a memory to share with me, or a question to ask about her

Location: Wrexham/Chester

Re: History of my car

Email sent.

Location: Gard, France 30960. Used to be Languedoc-Roussillon but now it's Occitanie

Re: History of my car

What I'd really like to know is who's owned her, where's she been & what she's been up to over the years

I supposed what I was looking for was"oh that's uncle George's old car, he found it in a hedge, fixed it up & drove it all around the North West"

Location: Wrexham/Chester

Re: History of my car

I could make something up for you if that helps - I'm quite good at telling fibs...



As per my e-mail.

Location: Gard, France 30960. Used to be Languedoc-Roussillon but now it's Occitanie

Re: History of my car

Ha ha 😃

I'm really happy with all the response Iv had actually, this forum is a fantastic resource for we Austineers

Location: Wrexham/Chester

Re: History of my car

It's easy to fit a RN tank to a RP and it's less prone to rot which may be why your car has a RN tank, however where is the outlet? Most RN tanks I've seen have a tap on the nearside bottom corner, or is yours off a van with a petrol gauge sender on offside? I can't remember where the van tank outlet is.

Re: History of my car

I have both, tap under glove box & a fuel gauge.
The tank looks fairly new. There was a lot of rot in the rear when I got her, this had very very crude repairs over the years, but I suppose these repairs at least kept her going.
I knew she was an RP with a tank that had been fitted in the front at some time & that the registration dated from 1932, but these sort of things were done to keep what were at one time, just old bangers.

Three friends of mine in my car club have 'box of bits cars' an Ulster, an MG J2 with a supercharger an an SS100.
None with any history, all worth a fortune.

I'm just going to keep on motoring & having fun 😀

Location: Wrexham/Chester