Austin Seven one of the UKs top first cars

[David Stepney]

My first Seven wasn't my first car. That was a 1935 Wolseley New Fourteen bought for the princely sum of £12.10s from an advert seen in a newsagents in Llampeter. I bought the car almost as soon as I had passed my test in August 1967 and used it until the following February, when, going to college in Cardigan one snowy morning, I was in collision with a Crosville bus travelling in the opposite direction at Ffos-y-Ffin which skidded and sandwiched me between itself and a wall. I was quite upset at the time, as the Wolseley was quite a civilised car.

Crosville were self-insuring at the time and it took until the following August for them to finally pay up, during which time I was back to my trusty BSA Bantam which I had bought when first starting work in 1966. If I remember correctly, Crosville gave me £20 in settlement a tenner of which I spent on a 1934 RP saloon which a friend found in Birmingham and I dutifully went up by train and drove the car back. It had virtually no brakes and the kingpins had seized and were turning in the axle eyes. I was lodging with my first boss and, when he saw the car said " You're not driving that 'till we've fixed it!" So we did. In a fortnight of evenings and weekends, the car gained brakes, steering, a repaint in back and oxford blue and was ready for me to start college in the September.

And yes, although it grieves me to admit now, I was cruel to that little car, driving it more like a Lotus Seven than an Austin Seven with the result that the engine was quite often in bits after some mechanical mishap or another. Apart from running into the back of a Mini-Cooper and some traffic lights (his brakes were better than mine) and leaving two dents in his rear bumper corresponding to the Seven's front wheels, the only accident I had was in the New Forest whilst on a camping trip with friends, when chasing a friend's Rover 12 I managed to turn the car over on it's side, fortunately without major damage. (Yes PedigreeChummy and Ruairidh i could be a d*ckhead too!).

On another camping trip I managed to lose the luggage rack and petrol tank, due, no doubt to the fact that I had handsomely exceeded the 40 lbs luggage weight whilst on holiday in Cornwall. A local blacksmith put it all back together again for 30 bob.

I sold the car to a lad who was going to restore it and I am happy to say that it is now in the capable hands of Hedd Jones.

Needless to say, I am much kinder to my cars these days..........

[Mike Costigan]

Bruce, I do love the way it seemed you were able to haggle down a price by a sizeable chunk based on the fact of "having no more cash" back in those days.

Seems an alien concept in this cash-wary (because of terrorism/money laundering etc. etc. don't you know.... yeah right), HP driven world of credit extensions and lease agreements....

My last two cars (my Seven and a Singer Chamois) have been bought in exactly this manner; I decided before viewing what my maximum price was, and ensured I took exactly that amount of cash and no more. It's surprising how persuasive a large wad of notes is!

[Bruce Nicholls]

I didn't even have the cash with me and "borrowed" the £5 deposit I paid off my uncle who I had persuaded to transport me from Walsall to Birmingham to view the car as my parents were away. I remember that the car was in Senneleys Park Road, Northfield. Not that far from where it was made.

[Greig Smith]

I too was born into Classic & Vintage cars & actually learned how to drive on a '30 A7 special at the tender age of 9. I could drive a 3 speed crash box before I ever shifted cogs in a modern syncro box. 

Like Ruairidh I was fortunate enough to be blessed with a father who wholeheartedly encouraged me to participate in his hobby, even if that meant having to rebuild the motor in the 65 after the oil pump swallowed the valve cotter pin I'd dropped into the sump while learning how to grind in valves, or fixing the body when I inadvertently let it roll back into a tree because I didn't apply the hand brake properly when parking it. 

We're still playing with 7's & cars in general

Aye
Greig

[Steve kay]

Perhaps the economy of France is a bit more modern than South Wales. A "classic" Trollhattan product has recently been purchased for the dear lady wife, and that transaction involved the handing over of an envelope. As we are doing reminiscence, I did not pass my first driving test, in the Minor Traveller bought by my father. Having told dad that I'd failed the emergency stop, he pondered this, and then said that we would look at the rear brakes. Thus the test failure taught me how to change the oil seals on the Minor back axle. Replacing the brake shoes marinated in oil with new ones allowed the pass at second attempt. Maybe Hedd and I could swap stories about doing an emergency stop on the footplate of a roller in order to get a group G licence.

[Malcolm Parker]

My first car was a 1936 Mk 1 Ruby reg. no. CRA 212 which I purchased from Ken Brockway, a prominent member of the PWA7C in Nottingham. I went down to pick it up with my Dad in his Peugeot estate, as there was apparently 'a few spares' with the car.
I had agreed to buy it just before the A7 Isle of Man Tour 1975? but Ken was taking part so I was to pick it up afterwards. The crankshaft broke just before the IOM tour so it had a different engine when I picked it up.
Arriving at Kens house in Bulwell, Nottingham, we loaded the spares into Dad's Peugeot. The spares filled most of a garden shed so the Peugeot was loaded to the gunnels. I proceeded to drive back up the A1 to Yeadon, near Leeds. You wouldn't do that now!
CRA 212 was an interesting car. There were bed irons under the running boards and rear wings, and the whole body seemed to have at least 1/4" of filler on it, the sunroof had a sheet of 2mm steel riveted on, so it weighed a ton. Performance was not impressive, the slightest gradient requiring at least one gear change. Not that changing gear was a problem as it had a semi-automatic gearbox, as the gear lever would fall from 1st to 2nd or 3rd to 4th at modest engine speed. Other features were the windows, which fell like a stone if the car hit a bump, and the passenger door which opened itself on right hand bends. The semaphore indicators were unable to achieve an erection unless the engine was running, presumably the vibration helped. MOT time was always very tense as the tester and myself waited patiently at each side of the car for the indicator arm to rise. It took about 10 seconds as a rule, you had to allow for this whilst driving, but the self opening windows made hand signals easier.
I don't know where CRA 212 is now but the spares I got with it started me on the special building that has taken up so much of my wasted life!

[free_spirit07]

Can only wish that a 7 was my first car however 'twas an Aussie assembled Mini. Did though, at the tender age of 4 or 5, fall in love at first sight with a Chummy heading in 'tother direction - distinctly recall thinking that it looked honest & appeared to smile & that if I ever had the chance I'd get one. It took rather a few large earthquakes to convince me I wasn't immortal which lead to the beginnings of the madness - the wee girl, sitting amongst 5 other 7's, happened to be the same colour as the feature wall in my lounge - some things are just meant to be! ;-)