Preston to Lands End for the 1997 JOgle about 400miles in my RP saloon

I also did the Lowestoft to LE in 2009 in another RP but 2 days for me as my wife was navigating.

However the highlight of this thread is that it features a 7 that I owned after Jim Holyoake. I purchased AYN 912 around 1969 from a guy called Spradbrow for £100. By then it was green and had all the teeth on the crownwheel and pinion together with a reasonable hood. Viewing prior to purchase, I noticed a pool of oil on the garage floor and enquired if the engine had an oil leak to which the reply came "no it was just that it had had a recent careless oil change". It didn't take long to discover that a spare gallon can of oil was required to complete any journey over 20 miles! I then sold it and purchased a Riley RMA

David

Location: The foothills of the Surrey Alps

In the mid 1960s I was a mechanical engineering student at Dundee
University and used Austin Sevens as my transport. I lived near Cambridge
so regularly did the 400 mile trip up and down. Mostly these were fairly
uneventful and usually took 12 or 14 hours. In winter an early start with a
well charged battery was needed. By dawn the lights were dimming but the
battery revived during daylight but was dimming again by journey's end.

Some trips do however stick in the memory.

Initially I had a 1930 fabric saloon which lasted me a year and served
me well until the body disintegrated as so often happens with these, I
kept the remains for a long time and the car - UR 7179 - is still on the
lists but as a chummy.
I then had a Mk 2 Ruby, BVE 18 with an engine I'd made up out of bits
and pieces and was one of the liveliest and smoothest I've had. The car
was indecently quick. However the hard driving and Dundee cobbles were
too much for it. The axle split on the king-pin eye and several crankcase
studs pulled out.
I then met a wonderful eccentric named Walter Vogelsanger who had a shop
on the Hawkhill from which he restored and sold bubble cars to the sound of
pianolas powered by cylinder vacuum cleaners. He collected things and had
a large shed near Dundee which was a real Aladin's cave. There were two
hearses, one being horse-drawn, all the instruments from a failed brass
band and all sorts of other stuff including two Austin Sevens. One was a
1934 4-seater tourer AUN 912 with a tooth missing from its crown wheel and
a MK1 Ruby RG 6968 which seemed pretty sound. I bought them both for £35.
I sold the Ruby on to an unsuspecting fellow student but revived the
tourer after a real struggle to get the brakes to do anything noticeable
and it was a very lax MoT inspector who eventually passed it. It had a
badly worn Bowdenex conversion which never worked properly.

At Dundee I met a number of like-minded people with interesting cars.
My friend Dudley had a very nice 1933 MG J2 and had previously been a
Ruby owner. George had a 1948 Hillman Minx which was pretty dire with
totally unpredictable Bendix brakes. If all 4 worked they were excellent.
Unfortunately this was by no means guaranteed. Sometimes one brake would
do nothing which was not too bad if it was on the back. If the front very
scarey! Occasionally nothing whatsoever happened which once caused us to
shoot across the A92/Riverside Avenue roundabout at Invergowrie at near
terminal velocity. Fortunately nothing was coming. Alarming.
Dudley and I then worked on George and persuaded him to buy a 1934 Box
Saloon, SR 9106, from near Auchterhouse by Dundee. He still has it and
very nice it is too.


The really memorable journeys were in the 1934 tourer.

The first in December 1966 on what turned out to be the coldest night of
the winter.
I'd hauled the tourer out of the shed and revived it but the hood had
disintegrated in storage. I came upon one from a 4-seat Morris 8, but it
only fitted where it touched and was very draughty. I wore everything I
could and drove the A1 on hand throttle trying to keep my feet from freezing
by putting them on the gearbox.

Undoubtedly the longest journey was on Friday 6th January 1967.

Dudley had driven up from Surrey and George from Peckham to my home
at Barley near Cambridge the day before, ready for an early start.
George's car was untaxed as he'd left the log book behind in Dundee. He'd
already been stopped and reminded by the police in Sidcup. He told them
the tax was in the post and then hastily applied for a new disc by post
and said the log book was lost. Thus a duplicate was waiting in Dundee
with the tax disc. Things were more accommodating then.

It started badly at 3:00 am. I bump started the car down the drive to
save the battery and was amazed when the sidelights flood-lit the garden
then went out, while the ignition warning light lit up the interior with an
eerie red light.
This initiated me into the mysteries of 3 brush dynamos. It took me ages
to discover the problem. One cell of the battery had failed and gone open
circuit causing the dynamo to drive the voltage up and blow the sidelight
bulbs.
I shorted out the dead cell with a length of wire and searched the
garage for sidelight bulbs. I found 2, one for the front, one for the back.
There was an old 6-volt pretty dead battery that didn't fit the battery
box which I put on the floor below my knees.

Eventually off we went at 7am on a cold grey dawn. I was running on 4 volts
with a very dubious old 6volt battery as reserve.
When daylight came, at the now disappeared Norman Cross roundabout on the
A1. I connected the second battery on the floor under my knees using wire
wrapped round the posts to charge it during daylight.
The run to Scotch Corner was uneventful, although Dudley felt a bit
frustrated as his J2 was far faster than the sevens - especially Georges.
We took petrol at Scotch Corner at 4pm just as a freezing red sun was
setting and we headed for the A68, Carter Bar and Edinburgh. Between there
and Edinburgh we encountered everything in the way of weather apart from
thunder & lightning. Rain, snow, ice, fog . . .

In the dark Dudley lead in the MG with its 12 volt lights, I was in the
middle as I only had 2 sidelight bulbs and a very dead battery. I drove on
sidelights with gaze fixed on the MG's lights ahead. George brought up the
rear with a full complement of lights.

As we climbed over the A68 it started to rain. I noticed that the MG
was driving very erratically which seemed odd. I operated the wiper
manually to conserve power. The rain got heavier and I was forced to turn
the wiper on. Somewhere near Ridsdale a car coming the other way with
headlights full on dazzled me on a bend. I had to brake hard and the wire
fell off the battery and the engine, lights & wiper cut out. I think I'd
locked the back wheels with the brakes. The front brakes were pretty useless
on this car with it's very poor Bowdenex conversion. I lost sight of the MG
in front and was left scrabbling for wires on the battery under my knees.
Once the panic was over and things had returned to 'normal' I had to turn
on headlights to see what was happening. To my amazement the road was white.
That rain was actually snow and the MG was struggling with lack of grip and,
it turned out later, a seized king-pin making the steering very notchy. It
also explained how I'd managed to lock the back wheels and stall the engine.
Also proved that Austins out-perform MGs on snow!

At Edinburgh we parted company with Dudley as he had the speed. George
was really knackered. Worse still his Seven's lights were beginning to fade
as the battery ran down. I didn't really have any.
Crossing Fife heading for the then recently opened Tay Road Bridge George
seemed to upset some road works as he remembers seeing some red oil lamps
flying past the passenger side window! I never saw them at all.

We arrived in Dundee at about 10:30pm and collapsed in our rooms in
Belmont Hall.
We couldn't even be bothered to visit Greasy Pete's across the Hawkhill
for a fish supper.

A very long drive that seemed much more than 400 miles.

We had fun as students in the '60s!

Location: Melrose, Scottish Borders

A Side to Side is my longest single journey/one day drive. 451 miles in 12 hours. Here is an abridged version of an article that appeared in the 750MC Bulletin after the event.



Left to right: Ken & Eileen Cooke, Janet Edroff & Gill Davies, Robert & Fenella Leigh, Nick Salmon

Lowestoft to Lands End Side to Side Run. April 11th 2009

The run was to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the 750 Motor Club and 40th anniversary of the Austin Seven Clubs Association.

Saturday dawned misty and damp and at 6.45am Ness Point looked even more bleak and gloomy than the day before, being a nondescript bit of concrete promenade sandwiched between a gasometer and a huge wind turbine in the industrial area of the town. Biz Bissell from the Norfolk Centre of the 750MC had already set up the start and Ken & Eileen Cooke and I took the opportunity to drive our cars down to the circular marker that declares the location to be the easternmost point of the UK.

Photographs completed we drove back up the slope to the starting point and I was just sorting last minute bits and pieces when Biz said ‘Do you want to go?’ As I wanted to get as much daylight as possible I said ‘Yes’ without hesitation and on the stroke of 7am I set forth, the first car away.

I had reckoned on taking about 14 hours but it soon became clear that the roads were very quiet and once out of Lowestoft I was able to press on at a reasonable cruising speed. I’d intended as Plan A to take the A12 down through Ipswich to the M25 and then round to the M3 before joining the A303 but on the spur of the moment decided to follow a route I had mapped out some weeks before and written out as a set of directions for each major turning.

I’d decided not to stop for anything other than petrol and pee breaks and to sustain myself on the packed lunch the Harbour Light’s landlady had given me instead of the ‘full english’ that was part of the b&b deal. Thanks goodness she did as otherwise I would have expired from malnutrition and dehydration somewhere around Exeter...

The run itself was totally uneventful. Just a steady drive at comfortable speeds, not pushing the car, or the driver, too hard. I was glad of the earplugs I had thought to bring as they dulled the rattle and roar of the mechanicals and got rid of the repetitive swish of modern cars hurrying by. The only holdups were at Stonehenge where the traffic queued for several miles in each direction, and on the M5 where there had been a multiple collision and the traffic was crawling by the scene.

It was about 4pm when it occurred to me that I might be able to crack the journey in under 12 hours and with that thought in mind I put in a fast average for the hour, of 42 mph. As anyone who has driven to Cornwall knows, you get to Exeter and think you don’t have a lot further to go – whereas the reality is that there are miles and miles ahead of you. It also feels as if every hill around Exeter only goes one way - up.

The sun was lowering in the sky as I came over Bodmin Moor, magnificently rugged, bare, and desolate. Not a place you’d want to breakdown. To welcome me to Cornwall the ignition light came on, meaning something amiss with the dynamo, but I chose to ignore it on the basis that I shouldn’t be needing the headlights if all went according to plan. Turned out to be a dirty commutator (must remember to wash behind my commutator in future!) which was soon put right at journey’s end.

On past Redruth and the familiar Cornish signature began to appear – the ruined chimneys and stone buildings of long-abandoned tin mines. There are unbelievable numbers of them; monuments to a great industrial past. Just after 6.30pm I skirted Penzance and lunged into the last 10 miles, praying that I wouldn’t get stuck behind someone out for a leisurely evening drive.

The roads had narrowed and stone walls lay in wait if enthusiasm outweighed care on the twisty switchback of these last miles but all was well and at 6.55pm I pulled into the driveway to the Lands End complex. A queue of cars lay ahead of me waiting to pay their entrance charge but I zipped round them and buzzed down the coaches lane, studiously ignoring the staff at the pay booth.

Then, horror. Where was the finish??? I ran into the complex (ran is an exaggeration, after that length of time in the driving seat I hobbled) but couldn’t see anyone, so a quick phone call to Andrew Jarmin, the marshal from the Cornwall Austin Seven Club, elicited they were ‘round the corner’.

I quickly drove there and was greeted by Andrew and his wife and friends as the ‘first one home’ with a finish time of 7pm. Exactly 12 hours from start to finish. Having left in murk I arrived on a stunningly beautiful evening with not a breath of wind, a calm sea, blue skies and the sun dipping to the horizon. It was a perfect end to the day – made all the more perfect when I was presented with a bottle of brandy for being the first to arrive and invited to join the Cornish team for a very welcome dinner.

Yes, I got the odd bit of numb bum and aching leg but in general the Ruby is remarkably comfortable. The fact that it covered that distance without any major malfunction is also pretty remarkable and I reckon Sir Herbert would be mighty proud of his ‘Dependable Austin’ 73 years on from the day it was first put on the road.

Stats:
Hour Distance Covered

1 37
2 41
3 40
4 31
5 43
6 41
7 26
8 35
9 40
10 42
11 37
12 38

451 miles in 12 hours. Avg speed 37.58 mph.

Approx 10 gallons of fuel - £38.47. 45.1 miles per gallon. Approx 4 pints oil used.

Route:
Lowestoft, A146 to Norwich, A11 to Newmarket, A14 to Cambridge, A428 to St Neots, A421 to Bedford/Milton Keynes/Buckingham, A4421 to Bicester, A41/A34 to Oxford/Newbury/Whitchurch, A303 to Andover/Honiton, A30 to Exeter, M5 round Exeter, rejoin A30 to Lands End.

Location: North Herts

Great stories, please keep sharing.

Peter can you tell us more about Fearless Fred please?

I very much enjoy this post. Incidentally I'd like more shots of the Leigh's car I find lovely if there are any somewhere?
Thanks!
Renaud

Location: Sunny Brittany again!

Good to see a picture of Bob Leigh. I bought my fabric saloon (mentioned above) from him. The fount of Austin Seven knowledge in Cambridge and great tea drinker acted as agent in the deal.
I went all over the highlands in the car.
Here it is on Drumochter Pass just before its last journey South.



The body was well on the way out. The wheel-arches had collapsed and the driver's door had to be tied shut. Entry & exit via passenger side. It had lost its starting handle, I blame Dundee cobbles! It also had a failed dynamo so it did this final tour after exams were done and the whole 400 miles to Cambridge running off the battery with no charging.
I ran out of petrol just short of home and coasted into a petrol station in Arrington. That was the first time in over 500 miles the starter failed to turn it over. 6 volts works pretty well really!

Location: Melrose, Scottish Borders

Looking at a Route Planner on the net, it's approx., 512 miles, each way.
This was in Oct 1967, I drove by myself from Winchester up to Inverkeilor (twixt Arbroath and Montrose), leaving early Friday morning, arrived after midnight and I slept under a hedge in my Gran's garden.. Drove back on the Sunday, again leaving (very) early morning, to be back for work on Monday morning. DON'T ask me why I did this, I don't know why, like a lot of things I did in the 60's.

I drove up the east coast way, so must have involved the M1, certainly went through Jedburgh, etc., coming back I recall Motherwell around 5am as the tab on the outside of the dizzy earthed itself to the metal casing.
e.g I stopped.. it took a little time to resolve with a weak torch...
I think part of the M5 was involved, which stopped at the M50, thus down to Cheltenham and on down through Cirencester etc.,

I got back to Winchester about 11pm, and I remember stopping* at a pub at the top of a hill south of the now M4 near Chisledon, and a pint going straight down , not touching the sides of the throat, another pint ordered within seconds... * Actually the car only just got up the hill due to a burnt out valve.

My family in Scotland still talk about me turning up, un-anounced and that the area in Gran's garden were I slept was over he cess pit.....

THIS IS THE 6TH attempt with the code...

Location: The very edge of Europe - West.

Not very long, but approx., 200 miles each way, Winchester to Sheffield and back over a number of week (also weak) end....
Then common sense and something more local took over.......

Again in the mid 1960's, I knew, including the biblical sense, a nurse in Sheffield, so would pop up there.

I can certainly remember feeling the heat from the steel works through the car windows as I left Sheffield around 4 am to get back to Winchester for work Monday morning.

Both these entries were in my bog standard '34 RP, CG 7241.

Location: The very edge of Europe - West.

I missed out the name of the agent in my deal for UR 7179 with Bob Leigh. It was Ray Walker who had his famous Austin Seven establishment in Perowne Street for very many years. He was the cause of a very high A7 population in Cambridge. A great character.

Location: Melrose, Scottish Borders

Uhmn, ready R's OP, with details, I have written the trips up somewhere else, so will have to locate them.....
Yes, also the JoGLE, solo in under 24 hours, but that also included an hour's sleep at Exeter, so I can only claim 750 miles as a single journey, though I did stop approx., every 3 hours, 120 miles, for taking on and letting out liquids, etc.,

Location: The very edge of Europe - West.

Jim, it was Ray Walker who had my 'CG 7241' in his barn for many years, 1976 - 1999, I found my old car through a Probate notice on the web, 3 weeks after the auction, it took me 4 years to track it down through 4 further, short term, owners before I bought it back again - it's long tale of it's disappearance in the early 70's.

Location: The very edge of Europe - West.

Why did your Gran make you sleep under a hedge on top of a cesspit Sandy?

Location: Wessex

WOW! That brings back memories!
Ray liked to use XK Jaguars which were then very cheap and usually rusty. I went with him viewing various cars in the one in the 2nd picture.
Apart from the yard and the row of garages as in the picture he had a range of barns full of interesting stuff. I was tempted by a 4-seater Arrow in about 1985 but ended up with Nippy ARB 912 from Norfolk.
One day, when I was there with a friend, he went and got a big aluminium cast engine side plate and asked us to guess what it was. He then took us into another shed where he had a huge 37.2HP Hispano-Suiza.
Happy days!

Location: Melrose, Scottish Borders

I'm sure we could start an entire thread just about Ray. A real character and, as has already been said here, almost entirely responsible for the hot spot of Austin 7 ownership in Cambridge. I still have my first Austin 7, purchased in 1970 and 'brokered' by Ray...

Location: Cambridge

Having just put my tea break to good use, I was interested to see the current status of some of the cars in Ray Walker's yard.

Of the six with legible number plates, The AB tourer OR 2996 and the '29 AE tourers UW 815 and UW 3791 are all on the A7CA register.

The '26 tourer YB 7720 is on the DVLA database, but not on the Register.

Of RP saloon JR 2213 and ARR Ruby BNG 51 I can find no trace. They may of course still be around, though defunct for long enough not to appear on DVLA records. I have a feeling that I may have seen the Ruby on Ebay a while ago. At least the registrations don't appear to have been pillaged for use on a modern.

Location: Herefordshire, with an E not a T

I misquoted my Nippy registration it was ARB 428. I sold it about 1997/8 in Weston-Super Mare and it isn't on any list I've seen.
I also got my Ruby BVE 18 from Ray. I dismantled it having rolled it into a field on a dark night and it having a load of other problems too. The chassis was a trailer for a long time.

Location: Melrose, Scottish Borders

Location: Herefordshire, with an E not a T

I will try to load a few pictures of the Ulsteroid. It goes to mainland Europe quite regularly, usually to participate in something, particularly the Fougeres Rally, Chanteloup-les-Vignes Hillclimb and the Vintage Revival at Montlhery. It has also been to Italy and Scandinavia, driven round the old Mille Miglia course in 2004, and done the Gardesloppet in Stockholm twice. It was trailered to Italy, but under its own steam for other events.
Now to try and load some pictures!
Sorry, it'll have to wait; it seems I need a photobucket album whatever that is. If someone gives me some instructions I can understand in words of one syllable it may be possible.

Robert Leigh

Location: Cottenham, Cambridge

Robert,

If you email me your photos I will be very happy to upload them here for you.

It's great to know you are still interested in Sevens. I thought of you when I went to Barley recently in our Riley Lynx. We still have three Sevens, a Ruby I bought in 1976, a 1928 mag engine Chummy and the Ulsteroid pictured in the side to side picture from Nick Salmon. Incidentally we did the trip a little faster than Nick despite the mistake of using the North Circular round London (shan't do that again!). I seem to remember Ray Walker telling me that I had put the pistons in the fabric saloon the wrong way round; sorry about that. I think it was a kitchen table job after a few pints!
Incidentally it's time for the Ruby to go to a new home; we have less garaging since moving 2 years ago. But to get back to the subject of this thread we did 875 miles in 24 hours on the Jogle in 1982. I got married 3 weeks earlier and told everyone including Fenella that I planned to do the trip in 36 hours. I thought she would not help with the driving if I mentioned 24 hours. We had reached Exeter when she asked where I planned to put the tent up; it was only then that I said we had made such good time that we must carry on and do it in 24 hours. She said if that was my intention I could do the rest myself, which I did. This included going though Plymouth to avoid Bodmin Moor, because someone said to me that they would not drive a Ruby over that route. We returned over the Moor and wondered why we had worried!
Clarice, the Ruby, has also been to Andorra and Berlin as well as many other continental trips.
Incidentally YB7720 is on the Association Register, and owned by Mary Walker, being driven by her in her nineties at our recent Car of the Year show and driving tests.

Robert Leigh

Location: Cottenham, Cambridge

Good to hear from you Robert. I seem to remember changing a couple of pistons because the skirt was breaking up around the split! Very pleased to hear Mary is still driving her Seven around Cambridge. I used to see it about from time to time before I moved away 4 years ago.

Location: Melrose, Scottish Borders

Location: Herefordshire, with an E not a T

A lot of nice things coming out of this thread.

Robert's pictures:

I just looked on the Register: YB7720 is there, YB7220 is not; maybe things have been corrected recently.

Location: Cottenham, Cambridge

Ian, Gran didn't make me sleep under the hedge, it was very late and I didn't want to wake anybody - plus I just dropped down asleep - It was only in the morning I found out the bit under the hedge was also over the cess pit....
I had lived in Gran's house in the early 1950's too.

I had a much wider view of the sheds, from the Probate sale, but it seems to have disappeared...
This is CG 7241 ready for sale - a week after the sale it had passed it's MoT and the Reg. Number sold on, it very quickly reverted back to this state a month later when it was sold on again as WSJ 455.

CG 7241 was (and is) my first car from 1961, it is now back with me.

Location: Very edge of Europe, west of just about everybody.

Location: Herefordshire, with an E not a T

Location: Very edge of Europe, west of just about everybody.

I have advised Jim, so the anomaly should disappear soon.

Location: Cottenham, Cambridge

Hi Ruairidh,

One of the longest trips I did in my Box saloon was with Ray Walker in 1978 or 79. I had been working at his garage all day one Saturday and we had retired to the Six Bells for a few pints where it was decided that we would attend the rally at Berkley Castle the following day. Making sure we had enough fags for the trip, we set off late in the evening driving through the night. Ray spent quite alot of the journey fast asleep against the passenger's door and I remember worrying that if the catch gave way he would have fallen out! When we arrived at Berkley Castle in the early hours, I was absolutely knackered even though I was only 18 at the time.
I might add that Ray's wife Mary was driving another Box which we were following and thought nothing of it, making us all breakfast when we arrived.

Driving the same car now, I find that after fifty miles or so my bum is completely numb and when I get out of the car my toes point inwards!!

Here is a photo of my sister and me at the 1978 Berkley Castle Rally beside the family Pearl in usual workhorse mode...

It's so reassuring to see properly brought up children.

following this thread I am reminded of a popular rally our club would run to the state boundary, or a little beyond, over the weekend.
It was always begun Friday at midnight with great fanfare. The supporters and participants would sqirt each other with fire hoses and flour bombs, and we'd be off in a cloud of blue smoke. Then it's flat out into the dark, you know I mean dark. Many of you must have experienced a semi coming up behind at twice your speed, lights on high beam, single lane highway. It's like entering a black hole isn't it? Bear in mind some of us (me) hadn't slept for 2 days 'cause we were tinkering with our steed to ensure it made the journey.
It's the journey, not the destination. Everybody had their own tale to tell, we'd arrive about lunchtime on Saturday and those lucky enough not to be fixing their Austins would crash in the Motel. Up Sunday early but not so bright, wipe the frost off the steed and head for Melbourne and home.
Because of this thread I was curious to check up on the mileage after our 12hour stint in the saddle. Pathetic really, really pathetic. We must have been spending all our time eating burgers at the truck stops. Well I wasn't, they were often on their 2nd by the time I pulled up. Enough of this you want to know the mileage, 280. cheers Russell

Location: oz

Location: The very edge of Europe - West.

Squeak,

Location: oz

Some pics of Robert Leigh's Ulsteroid at 750 Beaulieu

Location: On the way to the VSCC goodwood sprint

A trip to the village of Hope in the Hope Valley,Derbyshire from Colchester. Mileage of about 190 miles with no problems. Did the trip with my wife and son in the late 80's. My wife thinks we left at 5am and arrived there at about 11am. Stayed with my wife's parents and also attended the Chatsworth A7 rally with the Ruby.

Stephen

Location: Colchester

Nothing to compare with some of the epics listed here but, my regular "longest trip" is Shropshire to Portsmouth -190miles, 6 hrs on the ferry to Caen, then 90 miles to our French destination. 280 miles total but with a welcome 6hrs break on the ferry.

Ian Mc.

Location: Shropshire

I maybe should have added that we organise the crossings so that it's always at the French end that we are driving in darkness - much easier on almost empty French country roads than in the UK. This means that we cross to France on the afternoon boat and return on the morning boat. A recommended process to anyone contemplating a similar trip. Those with a longer journey at the UK end would benefit from taking the night boat on the return leg but, this is rather more expensive.

Ian Mc.

Location: Shropshire

The longest and most "exciting" journey in my Austin 7 was from Aberdeen Scotland to Crowborough in Sussex.

It was in the winter of 1980. I was working for an American company and was assigned to Houston Texas so i left Aberdeen to go to my house in Sussex. the beginning of the rip was OK but as I approached Sheffield it began to snow heavily. The temperature had been dropping and so i stopped and put on more cloths and a pair of women's tights. ( a trick I learnt on the oil rigs in the North Sea)
After a while on the M1 I noticed no other cars and the A7 was beginning to have trouble with traction in the snow. I stopped and put ropes on the rear wheels (like chains) and carried on.
South of Sheffield I was stopped by a police Land Rover. They were amazed I was still going. They let me carry on. Apparently the M1 had been shut down but I guess I did not "get the memo". Driving in these conditions was slow going. I remember doing around 30 MPH on the M1

Anyhow I finally arrived in Sussex at about 2 in the morning for a total of 19 hours

Good story Pat

Location: oz

Talking with Bill Sheehan about long journeys in an Austin Seven reminded him of a trip in the mid 70's to South Australia for a national rally.
In his 1925 Chummy he did the 800 miles round trip in a weekend, then repeated this the following weekend for another Adelaide event. He found the Chummy bucket seats more comfortable than seats in his then 'modern'.
Isn't there a story about the fellow who designed the bucket seats for the Austin Healey basing them of the seats in his Chummy??

Tony.

Location: Malvern, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Funny - I've only just remembered another epic. 1974, my then g/f and I in the company of Sue and Gerald Walker, holidayed in the hamlet of Tomich near Drumnadrochit, just south of Inverness, both couples in 1933 Box Saloons. We had traveled up over a couple of days, stopping at the end of day 1 at a BnB in Jedburgh. We had a delightful holiday in a rather basic little cottage which we rented in a rather remote spot. The whole place was so far back in time, the local Post Office still had a poster up encouraging you to buy War Bonds with an image of MV San Demitrio on it (if you don't know, look it up)

Anyway, quite why now escapes me, but we did the return journey in one hit, leaving the Cottage at 8am and eventually getting back to Cambridge at around 3 the following morning - a journey of about 530 miles. I can remember that my feet seemed to have become slightly detached from my legs and felt as if they were pointing inwards by the time we got home..

Location: Cambridge

I had a similar experience to Pat in a snow storm in about 1979, having been down to Cornwall in the Ruby and returning to my home in Somerset. I managed to get as far as Honiton on the A30 but the road was closed by the drifts, and I ended up spending the night in a Roman Catholic seminary which had opened its doors to freezing waifs and strays.
The next morning the roads were still closed but I managed to make it back to the deserted M5 at Exeter and having wrapped the cables from my jump leads around the rear wheels, set off. I too was stopped by the police and given 'appropriate advice' and told I was the only car that had made it that far. I was allowed to continue the few miles to the Taunton junction where I turned off and continued, slipping and sliding all the way homewards through Langport and Somerton. I got to within a mile of home before being brought to a halt and walked the rest of the way, returning to collect the car when the thaw began.
My longest ever journey was a weekend trip up to Glasgow from Somerset to visit my cousin, the late Iain Banks, in about 1976. For some reason I went up the M1, which seemed a reasonable thing to do in those days... On the way back it took me 12 hours, stopping only for pees and petrol - the Ruby behaved faultlessly all the way but broke its crank a week later on my way to work.
I recall getting lost in Glasgow and stopping in the Gorbals to ask directions (nothing like living dangerously), ending up with a gang of half a dozen kids in and on the Ruby showing me the way!

Alastair, even further south these days but still east of Sandy, Roger, Brian & co

Location: Port Isaac, Cornwall

Alastair,

Whilst driving thro' Glasgow in the Chummy in 1973 I was approached at traffic lights by a "wee scallywag" who enquired"are you the original owner Mister?"
I hadn't realised that you were related to Iain Banks by the way,I have all his books on the shelves at here Dunford Towers ,my absolute favourites.

Hugh,whilst at Tomich I wonder if you met my elderly relatives,Alice and Willie MacDonald?
That's a lovely part of the world.

Location: Wessex

Longest journey for me so far - 10 miles. And the carb jet only blocked up once :)

This weekends job, remove and flush fuel tank and fit a filter.

Next week I might get brave and go for 12!

Simon

Location: Auckland

Talking of long journeys I have just been given a PDF of the report in an Australian newspaper from 1938 covering the story of an Australian and a Canadian, Cameron and Kidd, who travelled 17000 miles in six months from England to Australia driving an 1937 Austin Seven Tourer.
Not heard of this trip before- I don't think I can post a PDF here, but if anyone is interested I will send a copy.

Tony.

Location: Malvern, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Yes please.