Driving over to Epsom last weekend reminded me of when we lived there in the mid 60's and my first Austin Sevens .It was still possible then to find them dumped by the road or in carparks usually with the number plate removed.A few come to mind;-
A SWB saloon at college that I stripped of axles and upholstery.
A 1931 Saloon in Tolworth Police Station car park,I was put in touch with the owner who let me take it away
A 1933/34 Saloon at the Airport Bowl wheels and front axle from this,engine already gone.
A 1927 Saloon in Rushett Lane Chessington without seats and engine but when I came back to tow it away someone else had had the same idea and it was gone.
A 1927 chummy body on Leith Hill subsequently built up into a car.
A couple of Rubies on the lanes around the Hospitals at Epsom wheels and nuts and bolts only from these.
One of the last finds was a Type 65 with a very poor body that was stripped of the front axle, steering col
and other sports parts.
Anyone else have any rememberances of these times?

Whilst living near Epsom in the 60's I had no less than eight assorted Austins, including a type 65, vandalised shortly after leaving them for a while at the roadside or in car parks after a break down. I used to remove the number plates to remind me of which car was which! I've often wanted to meet the bounder who was responsible! MF

Dear David, as so much time has passed under the bridge since my early Austins were vandalised in and around Epsom, I would like to make known that upon the return of all said parts I would seriously reconsider whether to take legal action for the recovery of such said parts. Should these be refurbished or should they now constitute part of a vehicle I may well consider waiving the need to strip them and would most likely accept the whole vehicle in atonement! Perhaps you might consider my generous offer and send your reply.......Preferably in more than two words. Yours, MF.

I recall my very first association with an 7 back in 1967 or so. My elder Brother purchased a nice little box from a local pedal bike retailer just up the road from my parents house. Cost him the princely sum of 3
pounds, purchased and brought home it was never to run again sadly. We could'nt get it to start ever again and our Father insisted that we return said 7 to the fella that had ripped us off!!

I was probably a guilty party in being an A7 dumper - the cars were not worth anything apart as a cheap method of transport for students such as myself - the breakers yards were full of them and in any case would not give you any money for taking a car to them .
Of my 3 A7's during the early 60's , a box saloon sheared its half shaft on the A4 near Osterley and was left at the road side - number plates removed.
A fabric saloon which followed , eventually statred to fall apart and was dumped in a local gravel pit.
A late Ruby which I had used for standard car trials was eventually left in a lane in Wraysbury ( next a friends Morris 8 tourer )complete with a couple of spare engines, gear box , wheels and numerous spares , as the nearest scrap yard in Colnbrook was not interested .
The only thing I feel guilty about is not having kept the buff log books .

I also dumped parts too.When we moved from Epsom in 1967 a lot of the bulky bits went over the fence at the bottom of the garden behind some lock up garages.I went back a year or so later and retrieved a chassis and front axle.

I forgot to add two Chummys - one was from memory quite a nice little car - brown with black wings and scuttle lights - this was completely scrapped apart from the chassis , rear springs and log book and built into a Ford 1172 engined trials special.
The other was a poor all black example which expired
on me one Saturday morning in Buckingham Avenue , Slough Trading Estate.
An ideal place to leave a car - less number plates.
Thanks to dumpers and scrappers like me fewer A7s exist which have pushed up the values unrealistically - apart from genuine sports models .

Working as a spare lock-keeper on Thames Conservancy work, I remember several cars and a few A7 chassis' on the lighters after dredger operations. They were digging out a marina. One complete fabric saloon that was flattened like a road-kill hedgehog made for several ribald comments as it passed going downstream. I suspect these just went to the Thames Estuary with everything else.
In the lane to one of these locks was a row of mainly Austins actually forming the hedge with trees growing through the remains. Anything loose had already been removed. I think Wraysbury was walking distance, too!That was the year the Trident crashed nearby on leaving Heathrow.

Oh Dear this is all too depressing!
An old pal of mine served in the Royal Navy aboard an aircraft carrier, apparently they used to test the steam catapult by launching Austin Sevens off the flight deck!
I'm going to lie down in a darkened room.

But there were a few honest Joes about..

I went for an interview in Norwich in late Oct. 1967, driving up from Winchester in my RP (CG 7241) but it came to a halt about 14 miles outside Norwich. A junior moment assesed the situation - the interview was important, collect the car later!!! So I left the car in a layby between Attleborough and Wymondham and caught a bus to Norwich, got the job and for some long forgotten reason caught the train(s) home to Winchester. I went back up there a week later to find the car, intact, all the tools there, in fact everything as I had left it - The doors had no locks either. It took about two hours to sort the problem, ignition if I recall rightly, but lots of other unrelated things were also tried, in the windy rain, etc etc.

Once going, it was then back home to Winchester. Then back up to Norwich in the A7 to start work begining of Dec. and the rest is history/hysterical.

I'm still amazed that nobody had taken anything from the car, let alone it was still there. The 4 houses opposite the lay-by did not look that promising either. TIC - I would have been OK in Central London, but Norfolk...

Sandy Croall

At Mayfield College in East Sussex, in the 1960's, there was a very attractive two-seater A7 that the sixth formers were allowed to drive at hair raising speeds in the grounds. In about 1970 it mechanically expired and was unceremoniously dumped into the tip at the back of the art room. Soon after my pal Will Dexter and I left in 1972 we approached the headmaster to ask if we could salvage it - which we did. I can't recall what happened to the ally bodywork but we stripped it all down, primered the chassis and tubular frame and got the engine running. The months rolled by, we did no more with it, and eventually Will's mum got fed up of the clutter in their summer house so we were ordered to get shot. We sold it for about £50 and I have often wondered where it ended up. Anyone remember buying a dismantled 7 from Broad Oak, Sussex in about 1973/74?

In the early 60's, I had just passed my test and was on the look out for a 'runner', so went to the local garage that specialised in Sevens.
Nothing suitably priced on the forecourt, but was told to have a look round the back - There were about a dozen Sevens there, all in various stages of disrepair but all priced at £10 and under. I must have spent about 2 hours trying to start them and giving those that did fire up a run down the road.
Should it be this one, that one ........ Decisions, decisions. No MOT in those days of course, so no idea of their real condition.
Finally, as it grew dark, I went back to the office and put £9 on the desk ......... "I'll take the 1934 Morris 8" I said. It ran pretty well, and despite not having any running boards or headlining, it did have 4 doors and with lots of friends needing transport that seemed important to me.
Alas, it lasted only a few months. On a trip out the bracket on the flat cylinder head sheared, sending the dynamo straight through the radiator and halfway outside. Still, I managed to get £18 for the car so not too bad a deal !!!

Quote Nick salmon ...At Mayfield College in East Sussex, in the 1960's, there was a very attractive two-seater A7".

First I'm reminded of my school days, then "...there was a very attractive ...." opened my eyes until I got to A7.....

Meanwhile, the first part, I had drifted over (rather than forgotten) the fact that as a 'founder' pupal at Kynaston Comprehensive School in St Johns Wood, the metal work master had a A7 in the workshop for us to practise on - can't remember what it was we practised though, but we did get it running around the school yard. That must have been around 1955. The Cornwall Club have held their annual Club rally at Polwhele for a few years (2001 - 2008) and the school had a A7 saloon there which the young lads honed their technical skills on - The car is now a pride and joy and back on the road.

OK, not dumped cars, but A7's that did find an educational use, much like my CG 7241 and the birds & bees..........

Sandy Croall

PW,

Being a '36 Morris 8 Tourer owner, I can confirm that the dynamo bracket on the 1934 pre-series Eight was a known weak spot, with many suffering fracture leading to the consequences you faced. Morris quickly redesigned the bracket, strengthening it and adding a return to the offside edge, these were subsequently fitted sometime during early 1935 - this time the design was totally successful.

Jeff.

Sandy - If it helps your interest level -

At Mayfield College in East Sussex, in the 1960's, there was a very attractive... human-biology teacher who caused great consternation among us hormone-laden boys by daring to regularly wear the shortest of mini-skirts and a very tight top. My mate Martin deliberately failed the O level three times just to be able to continue to attend her classes... Ah, happy days.

OY26, box saloon, my present car, was Dumped in Dering Road at South croydon In 1957. I saw it from A bus as I went to college . I got off and started to knock on doors . It turned out to be owned by a Greek gentleman with a Very large wife who assured me They used it regularly to go to SouthEnd on sea. It was a complete wreck ,but I was in love so I brought it for £6. my Dad was appalled. As students were always looking for them. We found one at the side of the road in Wallington south London. It turned out to have been abandoned because it had hit the curb and bent the front radius arm. we nicked It and drove until the front tyre was through to the canvas and left at the side of the road in waddon. The most Bizarre was when I was driving in Addington, through a wooded area, and came round a corner to a roundabout, there was a box saloon on its roof. slowly revolving round abd round . not a soul to be seen. What sticks in my memory most was the battery was swinging down by one of the leads inside the car and the fuel ,oil and water was making a huge pool round it.

Not an Austin Seven and not strictly speaking dumped,but whilst at college in the mid 60's three friends and I toured the south of Eire in a couple of chummies stopping at every small village garage we came across seeking spares.we quickly filled the back of both cars.In one small town we were told of an old car at a nearby farm.We followed our imformant some way to a fairly down at heel farm and were introduced to the owner who took us to a barn.Insde was a C type MG which we were told had been raced by his brother at Pheonix Park pre war It still had white roundals either side and an exquisite supercharged engine .The radiator had the distinctive Eldridge cowl and the car was painted green.However it had not been run since before the war.Did we want it for a very small sum of money? We discussed it and came to the conclusion that it would be just too difficult to get home.He then asked us if there were any parts we wanted from it .We took the headlights!!
I discuussed this car with a long time C type owner at the Brooklands Centenary and he recalled one of the existing C types did come originally from Eire so someone did buy it in the end.