Another Austin Seven turned up in sunny Pembrokeshire this week, a 1936 Ruby saloon reg No OW 9439 chassis No 246372, It came from Southampton many years ago minus its roof! and has sat in a yard under a tarpaulin, and has been slowly but surely dissolving ever since. My friend Ray who has just bought it and I went to pay the man for it and pick up all the loose bits and pieces before getting a trailer pick it up the rest, although maybe a dustpan and brush might be more appropriate. The poor thing is in really bad condition, their is not a usable panel anywhere, but the inner rear wheel arches seem to be good!He is hoping the chassis is OK, but the engine,steering and brakes are all seized up solid, I doubt if this car will be returning to the road as a Ruby unless a really good complete body turns up for the right price and as there are no documents with it and it does not seem to appear on any data bases a special will be hard to register, a trials special might be the answer and a bit of fun too. Ray rather fancy's the special option as he has almost completed a 1924 Citroen B12 special, this car was used on a French farm as a tractor since before WW2 and was also in quite a state when he purchased it, but nowhere near as bad as the Ruby, once we have stripped the remaining bits of body of the chassis we will be able to assess whats usable and the the fate of this old girl.

Location: Pembrokeshire

We picked up the Ruby remains today,we had to change the wheels, free up the brakes and steering just to get it onto the trailer, then we left for home leaving a trail of rust behind us, what was left of the body was removed with the help of an angle grinder, the rear chassis extensions snapped off when we tried to lift the chassis but the main rails and x members are in good condition. The engine being seized, we removed the cylinder head to cheek the bores and found them to be in good condition with hardly any carbon build up on the pistons or head, with just a very slight sign of surface rust in No2.The engine would not turn over on the handle or with a push whilst in gear, we sprayed some WD40 into the bores, removed the dynamo in case that was the problem, then removed the flywheel cover and put a small screwdriver into the holes in the flywheel and with a little wiggle back and forth with very little force the engine freed up immediately and turned over nicely by rotating the flywheel but when we tried it on the handle the handle still would not move, we later discovered the handle was not actually engaging with the starter dog but sticking inside its housing, when given a little extra push inwards it would engage and turn the engine, next we took out the engine and box for a strip down and clean up on the bench, not a bad afternoons work. Lots of work and sorting out to be done on this one but another chassis saved.
As for the body there was not one single panel to be saved, the roof had been removed many years ago, the rear end was only held on by a couple of inches of prop tunnel,no rear floor at all, the bulkhead and battery box, grill, bonnet,doors,running boards, front wings seats, floor, dashboard, fuel tank spare wheel cover and luggage rack all rusted out. The rear inner wheel arches seem to look alright and may salvageable as are the front wing supports all the windows and window mechanisms and the fuel filler pipe and cap, but that's about it.

Location: Pembrokeshire

I bought a ruby from Guernsey sight unseen.It had languished in a wooden shed for at least 20 years until the shed fell around it,although the body didn't look that bad even the glove box was rotted out.
The engine however wasn't seized and with rigging up a coil and spraying easy start into the carb after about 20 minutes work the engine ran briefly,Amazing.