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Welcome Austin seven Friends
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Re: Fitting into a Austin Seven

Elvis lives !

Location: Melbourne. Victoria, Australia.

Re: Fitting into a Austin Seven

Excellent footwear...I suppose the only problem with these is that they tangle with the wiring under the dash, particularly if you have an 8-Track fitted!

Re: Fitting into a Austin Seven

I'm just under 6' tall and can fit into most Austin 7s with one notable exception, Tom Abernethy's fantastic and I think I'm right in saying first recreation of a Brooklands Gordon England. My then brother in law Alec who is the same height as me could and that brings me to Leg to Trunk(Chest + Abdomen) length. I've a friend who is exactly the same height as me but has longer legs who cannot get into let alone drive my M2 Swallow Saloon admittedly that has Chummy style seats. With the correct ones I don't think I would find it possible and I have distant memories of trying a 'correct' one many years ago and regarding it as a 'no-go' model ! I agree with comments about 'narrow shoes' a prerequisite to driving both Swallow and Gordon England Cup models. All LWB standard production cars are fine and from this point alone, were a logical step forward although I still prefer SWB ones !

Location: Ferring, West Sussex

Re: Fitting into a Austin Seven

Dear all,
Have you noticed no contributions from we PORGs (persons of restricted growth)? I fit comfortably in Ulsters, Chummies,Box Saloons,Rubies etc. without any problem, although I declined a drive in my mate's MG PA because I can't see over the steering wheel. Anyone got a cast-off Swallow saloon they have grown out of? I will take it off your hands for a small fee.
Cheers,
Dave.

Location: Sheffield

Re: Fitting into a Austin Seven

He's not wrong. First time I met him he was standing at the top of his drive and I stopped for directions to The Strines (it's a pub out in Derbyshire)- and all he said was:
"Follow the yellow brick road..."

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

Re: Fitting into a Austin Seven

Obviously none of you tall guys have tried getting in or out of a Speedy. That is a challenge. Absolutely impossible to bump start on your own as you have to wrap legs around steering column on entry.
Did save me arguments about performance of brakes in MOT times - my MOT tester couldn't get in and his rolling road was too wide. So he just asked me how are the brakes!

Location: Beautiful North Hampshire

Re: Fitting into a Austin Seven

Older NZ VAR mags carry photos of owners and girlfriends/wives in the 40s and 50s. As with my parents photos, most persons (even Americans) were of more moderate size then.

The curvature of Seven bucket seats intrigues; the great majority of us now are of non compatible radius.

With a bit more lateral freedom long trips on wavy roads may be less tiring, but at least do not have to use the wheel for support, which with the ultra quick steering, would be recipe for disaster.
After my Seven, on my bench seat Javelin I used to lower the centre armrest and pack a cushion between the door before attempting the same cornering antics.

Although six feet I covered 350 miles in a day on several occasions in my RP with no particular discomfort. Seat an inch or two back. The panel alongside pedal removed years before.

Clarkson did several “tributes” to various cars of the past. Based on treatment of Ladas etc, fortunately for Sevens generally, and particularly the car he may have acquired, he missed a great opportunity and did not get to a Swallow.

Location: Auckland, NZ

Re: Fitting into a Austin Seven

Just in case you might want a pair like mine in the pic above to enable you to drive your A7, those winklepickers were 1962 DENSON 'extra poynters' in antiqued alligator skin with three buckles and Cuban block heels bought from ' Cole's' shoe shop Regent Street Kingswood near Bristol.
This shop was run by two very elderly ladies who would put a bible script in the box with each pair of shoes you bought, it always seemed strange that they would stock such 'way out' shoes in a shop full of elderly clientele who would give a disparaging glance as you walked in with greasey drainpipes and Brylcreemed hair.
The left point soon took on a turned up appearance because it touched the bulkhead when pushing in the clutch! Those shoes would have been a fair chunk of my weekly pay packet. How many of you remember ramming newspaper into the toes with a screwdriver to straighten them up before a night out? Happy days apart from the Brylcreem! Ian

Location: Bristol

Re: Fitting into a Austin Seven

Utterly ace!

Re: Fitting into a Austin Seven

Hi Ian

It is a grand period photo on several levels. I hope the Getty picks it up for posterity, so in a thousand years they will have a clear picture of life in ... 1958?

Ingrained habits from youth die hard. It quite recently dawned that it is no longer necessary to remove socks to enable trousers to come off.

I am bemused to see my aware son and his business colleagues in trousers trending back to that style.

I am an advocate for rims picked out with a thin silver band, but was not sufficiently bold for whitewalls. Very sheikh.

Location: Auckland, NZ