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Re: Ruby front axle

Indeed it is.
I was due to attend in my RP, but the weather was so apaling on the Friday, that I gave the whole thing a miss.
The Ruby is for sale once fixed, he thinks he's too big for it! He is rather large for a little Austin & more suited to his V8 Pilot

Location: Wrexham

Re: Ruby front axle

Some years ago in the local VAR mag I recounted the tale from about 1962 of a colleague with a Ruby of sorts. The story may bemuse others.
Ross was a teenage mechanic apprentice and lived a few doors from me. As we both ran Sevens which were then rare we naturally discussed “motoring”. As with many old cars of the time his was in no mean state; inconceivable with current rules. Ross decided to holiday with a relative in a country town about 200 miles away. He picked up a young hitchhiker who, by a colossal chance, happened to be going to the same street in the same town. They had some hub trouble and called into my fathers home to adjust. My father was somewhat of a mechanical perfectionist. The hub was so damaged Ross had a lot of trouble balancing the axle key in place so he could replace the hub! My father was incredulous. Anyway they got to the destination but setting out a few days later a back axle not unnaturally broke. Ross returned , managed to acquire an axle, and many dirty handprints later departed again. The handling deteriorated severely, until any braking threatened control. The long and steep motorway descent into Wellington was done in 1st gear, not something one could do today and live. The handling was so bad a cop car questioned their meanderings . They resorted to parking the car downtown , which you then could. They decided it was projecting too far into the roadway so pushed it forward. The car subsided to the ground with a broken front axle. They took the tram home.
The car had been driven flat out much of the way.
The hitchhiker did not think it was funny.
I am still in contact with Ross. He has owned and driven a myriad vehicls in many countries without accident, a feat he attributes to his trainng.

Location: Auckland, NZ