EARLY CHUMMY WINGS

[bystander]

Gosh, with all this deadly asbestos about, its a wonder any of us are still alive!

[Mike Costigan]

[quote pid="71291" dateline="1629735313"]
im baffled.

why is a prototype austin 7 in a SCIENCE museum.

shouldnt it be in a motor museum?

tony
[/quote]

The prototype and the Ruby show chassis were donated to the Science Museum by the Austin Motor Co (or maybe it was BMC by then); at the time there were no car museums in the UK - The Beaulieu 'museum' was little more than just Lord Montague's private collection.

[Tony Griffiths]

And come to that Tony why do people in a SCIENCE museum apparently know so little?

You should try female staff at the Kelham Island Industrial Museum in Sheffield. As they have not a single example of the four small metal-turning lathes manufactured in Sheffield - Portass, Flexispeed, Adept and Faircut- I offered to supply an example of each free of charge. The reply I received would have scored an A Star on the scale of moronic - they proved themselves to be utterly fuc*ing clueless (to use what is now the country's most popular swear word, apparently).

[Tony Betts]

[quote pid="71291" dateline="1629735313"]
im baffled.

why is a prototype austin 7 in a SCIENCE museum.

shouldnt it be in a motor museum?

tony

The prototype and the Ruby show chassis were donated to the Science Museum by the Austin Motor Co (or maybe it was BMC by then); at the time there were no car museums in the UK - The Beaulieu 'museum' was little more than just Lord Montague's private collection.
[/quote]

Well mike,

If they ever need it the be in a car museum today.

I can make space in my own micro motor museum  

apart from funds we are not far from opening a full time austin 7 inspired museum.

We dont worry about aspestos.

And the 100th anniversary would be welcome to a FREE loan of the car.

I wouldn't say we are idiot free, but we know more about austin 7s than we do about science

Tony.

[Duncan Grimmond]

If you take up the challenge, Duncan, I can supply several photographs to help you:

That pic is most informative. I was not expecting to find flat "valances" to the scuttle. I'm waiting to hear from the owner who I gather has patterns...
However any more information/illustrations would be helpful Mike, if you PM me I'll send my email address.
Ta

[Hedd_Jones]

I'm afraid not. I have been talking with the Science Museum for over a year now, with regular suspension of contact as a result of Civid interuptions and furlough (I assume) The bottom line is they didn't seem particularly fussed about being helpful. The final straw (for me, anyway) was they suddenly sprung the potential for huge costs for the Association for Asbestos remediation for both the car (they quoted brake linings and gaskets amongst other bits) and all the other items displayed with it  they would have to move to get it out.

It just got to the point where I had better things to do with my time than send yet another email that would probably get no reply. A shame, I know...

We should be able to source another pretty early car for people to look at...

Having read this again looking for something. 

Its worth noting  that when I was involved with getting a vehicle out of the museum to attend an event.

1. It was a publically accessible event, open to anyone and everyone who wanted to attend. Entry fee notwithstanding. 

2. Being a public event, the machine in question would therefore had possibly exposure to thousands of people daily. Attendance was approx 200,000 over the event, with up to 30,000 on site daily. 

I always understood that these items were saved 'for the people', and its 'no cost to the museum' attendance at a well attended public event clearly ticked all the boxes.