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1938 Austin 7 History and restoration - 1938austin7 - 20-08-2017
1938 Austin 7 Geoff Hall
This 1938 Austin 7 started its working life being registered to Wilbur Walker, at the Police Station in Dimboola Victoria. I’m not sure if it was the pursuit vehicle, or just his mode of transport to get to and from work, but I like the idea of it being used in high speed (35-40mph) chases through the country roads of Victoria.
In 1951, it made its way to Melbourne where it spent some time in Bentleigh, Caulfield, Black rock and Thornbury, before my father took it on as his first car in Ivanhoe Victoria.
He drove around in it with his mates who also had Austin 7’s in similar states of disrepair, but they all had great fun. Especially with the windscreen folded down for less wind resistance.
One day the car almost fell over but my Dad’s sailing friend new which way to lean, and with the suicide door popping open, and pirouetting the car, they managed to stay the right way up.
On another adventure, the front wheels got stuck in the tram lines and the car steered itself into a nearby depot.
During this time, Dad also bought a spare Austin 7, but after a couple of years, he upgraded to a Ford Cortina and the Austins started resting at my grandparent’s house.
As the car was taking up too much space, it was dismantled for easier storage, with a view to restore it. One day my father found out that his ‘spare’ Austin 7 had been taken to the tip, so he hurried over to pick up the good one before my grandfather disposed of it.
Dad shifted the car in a double horse float to his friend Otto’s farm. The car sat in a hay shed for a few years before moving again.
The car then followed dad to his new family home in Canterbury, where under the house, the floor pan, steering wheel and other parts became a playground for his young sons and daughter.
That’s when we started talking about restoring the Austin 7. When I was 5 I brought one of the wheels to school for show and tell...and later, Dad said “Maybe when you’re 14 we can start restoring it”.
That didn’t happen, but all of the parts went to a new family home in Belgrave, when I was 19, so the dream of restoring the car was still alive, though the reality seemed a long way off.
I picked the car up from Dad in 2005. A friend helped me unload the bits and pieces and could not believe I was going to turn them into a car.
I joined the Melbourne Austin 7 club and the Canberra Antique and Classic Motor club where I met up with some Austin 7 owners.
I didn’t do much for the first few years, - Children came along, and house renovations but I kept at it and 8 years later got it registered.
I did a lot of it myself welding, rust repairs, new woodwork, and some painting. Most of the mechanical parts were sourced from a half restored Austin 7 that I bought along the way.
Eight years later, and a lot of late nights in the garage, the car was registered just as it reached a couple of milestones, it had just turned 75, and in December 2013, it was 50 years since my father took ownership of it.
Not long after it was on the road, a brother of the original owner came across the car's story on the internet via my club website, and by pure chance, another brother was in Canberra so dad and I took the car to show him and take him for a ride.
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RE: 1938 Austin 7 History and restoration - Steve Bryant - 20-08-2017
Nice . Good to see it was saved.
Stephen
RE: 1938 Austin 7 History and restoration - Reckless Rat - 20-08-2017
Nice car. However I'm sure the story about the car "getting stuck in tram lines" is a myth - It has a front track of 3'4" and a rear track of 3'7" - most tramways use standard gauge track width which is 4'8 1/2" so not likely. Even assuming the tram lines were on-street grooved rails the tyre width on a late model Austin seven is 4.00 ( 4") and the groove is much narrower than that:
![[Image: 150px-Szyny_G%C5%82ogowska_RB2.JPG]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Szyny_G%C5%82ogowska_RB2.JPG/150px-Szyny_G%C5%82ogowska_RB2.JPG)
Not trying to be pedantic, just saying...
I don't doubt that the car's stability may be affected by driving over tram lines, but being taken prisoner? Nah.
RE: 1938 Austin 7 History and restoration - Martin Prior - 20-08-2017
Reckless, I can support the tramline story from first-hand experience.
Years ago, I took the RP to France and while finding my way through the docks at Le Havre I dropped a wheel into a grooved rail. It probably wasn't truly stuck, but followed the rail for some time until we reached a set of points. At that - er - point, the groove became much wider and deeper and the car lurched violently to the left. As I hauled it back into a straight line, there was a distinct bang, but after a quick inspection we could find nothing wrong.
Shortly afterward, we started to cross the Seine by the Pont de Tancarville - the best part of a mile long and reminiscent of the older Severn Bridge. We'd reached a point of no return when there was a loud "Ping!". A hundred yards further on, there was another, then another. By the time that we reached the far side, by now at crawling speed, the "Pings" were coming every few seconds and the handling was becoming interesting. We pulled over at the first available lay-by and found 17 broken spokes in one wheel.
I have treated tramlines with respect ever since!
RE: 1938 Austin 7 History and restoration - Mike Costigan - 20-08-2017
I agree with Reckless; until last year I was running this 1914 Saxon, which had a track of 4' 8", and therefor was a perfect fit for a standard gauge tram track. I experimented by driving on wet tracks, and even with 2½" tyres the car would not follow the lines. The steering was certainly unstable, with the car slipping and sliding around, but it was easy to steer off the tracks and regain control. Maybe on an early motorcycle or pushbike things would be different, but I think from my experience one is more likely to fall off than follow the tracks!
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edit:Having seen Martin's reply, it's obvious I didn't try hard enough!
RE: 1938 Austin 7 History and restoration - Reckless Rat - 20-08-2017
(20-08-2017, 04:07 PM)Martin Prior Wrote: Reckless, I can support the tramline story from first-hand experience.
Years ago, I took the RP to France and while finding my way through the docks at Le Havre I dropped a wheel into a grooved rail. It probably wasn't truly stuck, but followed the rail for some time until we reached a set of points. At that - er - point, the groove became much wider and deeper and the car lurched violently to the left. As I hauled it back into a straight line, there was a distinct bang, but after a quick inspection we could find nothing wrong.
Shortly afterward, we started to cross the Seine by the Pont de Tancarville - the best part of a mile long and reminiscent of the older Severn Bridge. We'd reached a point of no return when there was a loud "Ping!". A hundred yards further on, there was another, then another. By the time that we reached the far side, by now at crawling speed, the "Pings" were coming every few seconds and the handling was becoming interesting. We pulled over at the first available lay-by and found 17 broken spokes in one wheel.
I have treated tramlines with respect ever since!
Strangely enough the grooved rails used for Sheffield's Tramway came from France as at the time (and probably still) there was no facility in the UK to roll grooved light rail. The rails are usually set in a pre-cast concrete slab and held in place by a flexible rubber like material. The main rail should normally be set level to the surrounding road surface but there are certain height tolerances (usually +/- 10mm). The upper edge of the inner grooved part of the rail sits slightly lower to allow for wear on the main rail. There is no doubt that light cars motorcyles and pedal cycles are not best suited to close proximity with on-street sections of tramway and many a motorist has had unfortunate experiences with them, particularly in the wet. However it's not as though they are invisible but they can and do catch out the unprepared or unwary. Crossing them should always be done at an angle (the wider the better), and running with them on street is best done at a straddle. The narrower tyres on an RP saloon will render the car more suscpetible to "tramlining" than a Ruby with wider section tyres.
Docklands rails are probably heavy rail, not light rail and yes they do have a bigger groove, and are probably not set to the same tolerances as street running tramways. Glad to hear you escaped, despite the broken wheel.
RE: 1938 Austin 7 History and restoration - Mike Costigan - 20-08-2017
No doubt the tolerances required for modern track laying are as a result of past problems!
RE: 1938 Austin 7 History and restoration - 1938austin7 - 23-08-2017
Thanks for the replies.
I think the problem my dad had was the tram lines were lower than the bitumen so one side of the car got caught he decided to keep going rather than stop in the middle of the road and proceeded to see how far he could go.
I'm looking forward to getting it back on the road since I pulled the engine apart a few weeks ago.
The engine I used was rebuilt by someone else but never run in properly so was billowing smoke.
Cheers
Geoff