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Re: Sevens on TV

Hi everyone,
Reading all about Sevens on TV must have awoken the last workiong brain cell as if I recall did not a box get blown up in an episode of Foyles War? Before you all get too excited one camera shot looking through the bonnet side grills showed clear air through the radiatior, so no mechanicals then. The poor thing looked very much like a sad looking rolling shell and that's before it exploded!
James May of Top Gear extolled that it was the humble Austin Seven that introduced the now accepted standard three pedal layout (right throttle) on a production car, if true fame indeed.
Peter

Location: Not so sunny Cornwall today

Re: Sevens on TV

Good morning all. I believe the Ruby was made road worthy and is in the care of one of Practical Classics writers. The box was turned into a special but it hasn't been featured for some time.
Regards
Stuart

Location: Staffordshire, the creative county.

Re: Sevens on TV

Just checked on-line - Wheeler Dealers, Car SOS and Classic Car Rescue haven't tackled a Seven in any of their episodes. It would perhaps be good to see something unusual from the Seven world from the wide range available - there are so many possibilities from an early Chummy onward - and plenty of cars out there that need work? Though the format of the various programmes leaves a lot to be desired, they do at least have the potential to raise the profile of a featured car in people's minds, which is helpful in the long run? For example, the bit on Top Gear showing the prescient pedal layout proved positive Austin press.

Colin

Location: Cheshire

Re: Sevens on TV

One of the items in the History of the World in 100 Objects

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/4BZXGAaiRASAqQNuvQ6DdA]

Location: Ripon

Re: Sevens on TV

In one episode of Foyle's War they blew up an RN saloon.

Re: Sevens on TV

peter burton

... James May of Top Gear extolled that it was the humble Austin Seven that introduced the now accepted standard three pedal layout (right throttle) on a production car, if true fame indeed.
Peter


Not true, of course! Certainly the Austin Twelve had the same pedal layout, and pre-dates the Seven by a year, maybe the 1919 Twenty did too? But I have no reason to believe that any Austin was the first (I think James claimed that the Seven was the first to have both a centre-change gear as well as the 'standard' pedal layout, which probably means an American car was the first...)

Re: Sevens on TV

The episode in question was a Top Gear episode in which Clarkson and May looked for the first car with the conventional control layout used today. They did not conclude that the Seven introduced it, but instead as such a cheap, popular vehicle in the UK, that it was the car which made the three pedal layout the accepted standard.

A reasonable assumption I think, given the number of Seven's sold, and the sheer number who learned to drive in one.

Location: Penrith

Re: Sevens on TV

Re the reference above of the Box being blown up, I didn't recall seeing that - until the other night by co-incidence one of the repeats Of Foyle's War was shown. So if not seen before, at least a lot of Ozzies have now seen it. Cheers, Bill

Location: Euroa,Australia

Re: Sevens on TV

There was a series on ITV called "Home Fires" which was cancelled in 2016 after only two series. There was a box saloon possibly a RN which was often in the background driving around the village. Must have been driven by someone with plenty of ration tokens.

Location: Piddle Valley

Re: Sevens on TV

I'd forgotten the one in Home fires just tantalisingly clear to view without being able to see it's number.