05-08-2018, 07:38 PM (This post was last modified: 05-08-2018, 07:40 PM by Duncan Grimmond.)
I'd recommend digging up the technical drawings of the rolling chassis which are available on the web. Print out several copies, look at pictures of all sorts of cars you like and get busy with a pencil! It helps to make a scale card cut-out of a body (perhaps even with paper rivets at shoulder,hip,elbow and knee) in scale to the drawing to put onto your drawings so that you can get the anthropomorphics right.
With the fixed points of the chassis, steering wheel, gearbox, pedals etc. you will see where your limits lie and be able to work within those parameters. Spend a lot of time with your pencil, it will help enormously in your choice of body shape.
Doors are always a bit of a problem as you are weakening the inherent strength of the upper structure and will need to reinforce to compensate for the loss of this.
I agree that it may be difficult to incorporate a rear seat, even a rudimentary one unless you go for a dickie type which may be complicated for a first time builder.
05-08-2018, 09:35 PM (This post was last modified: 05-08-2018, 09:39 PM by jansens.)
I would think if your'e doing any kind of special with a lowered steering column it would be very difficult to find room for a rear seat. Lowering the column pushes the drivers seat position back quite a lot. If retaining the standard column then maybe a Chummy style body would work? Simple to make. It's just a tub really.
I went out to look at mine to see where a rear seat would go and there is no where on the style body I have made. The problem is as well as being further back the lowered column means the seat is lower. Any rear seat would need to go over the rear axle but you still need 7 inches or so above the axle. So the rear seat would be very high up. I might be possible to build such a body but I think drawings and models first would definitely be a good idea.
I owned a MGB GT. The rear 'seat' was only really good for putting shopping on! Or one small person, sideways!
Having built a number of A7 specials, my advice would be to study the Austin 7 Source Book and base your special on one of the 300 plus body types that were produced over the period of production. Most A7 enthusiasts agree that the SWB cars look nicer, a Ruby chassis is quite simple to shorten and you can still use the Ruby mechanicals.
Most of the Austin production models used a very similar floorpan, whether they were saloons, tourers or sports bodies. My latest special, based on the coachbuilt Pytchley saloon, has a plywood floorpan based on that in my 1931 saloon, and weighs in at around the same as an Ulster. It is more spacious than the SWB box saloon and has the advantage of a better power to weight ratio, close ratio 4 speed box and a 5.25 axle, yet looks very vintage.
I made a 1" to the foot cardboard model of the Pytchley body based on the only photo I have ever seen, that in the Source Book.
The whole floorpan was made out of an 8 x 4 sheet of 1/2" plywood. The scuttle, body sides and rear panel were made separately and fitted to the floorpan, The frames are clad with 4mm birch plywood. Then a roof assembly was added like a lid which trued everything up and the rear corners added from aluminium sheet. The whole thing was primed, covered in yacht varnish and the cheap curtain lining fabric was applied, followed by more varnish, primer and oil based eggshell (Farrow and Ball Hague Blue!). The whole job was a bit like making a designer garden shed. I am very pleased with the result. If I was doing another special, I would consider something along the lines of the Mulliner Sports, with a similar fabric covering to that described above.
Malcolm though is not a beginner at this...
and is one of a few adventurous souls
to successfully make a period Austin 7 saloon
just starting from the only published photo of a
Pytchley.
If you are still a working wage slave, rather than a retired person
such a project may take a lot longer than you think....
It also works out to be quite an expensive way of getting on the road.
Once you factor in overhauling the chassis engine and gearbox.
I’ve just built a GE Cup Special (3 years)from scratch , but frankly
I’d have been a lot cheaper buying an on the road original fabric
Saloon that I was offered.
Hi Jamie, I went down the tube and aluminium skin on my recently completed special. (Cambridge style). It took me 3 years from a bare chassis build with the majority of time spent on the body. A set of drawings to work from would have made things a lot easier. It certainly isn't in the same league as some of specials I have seen posted on the forum but materials (including mudguards) came in at under £400.
I have plenty of build pictures if they would be of any help?
06-08-2018, 10:15 PM (This post was last modified: 06-08-2018, 10:17 PM by Jamie.)
Thank you for the ongoing suggestions and ideas.
I have made a start on a scale drawing of a design, including a driver, and have realised that a rear seat is a trifle optimistic: unless the passengers have legs like drinking straws in size.
Simon: thank you the links to your blog. I started to read this a while ago, not realising that it was yours. I have found it useful already.
Malcolm: thank you for the details of your construction techniques.
Dave: your costings for materials are rather reassuring and, yes, I should greatly appreciate any pictures which you are happy to share.
Bill: I am still very much working for a living, so spare time is at rather a premium. I do not envisage completing this project in a great hurry, especially as my current, non-motoring metal working project has taken yonks so far and is a fair way off completion.
I shall post my initial drawing idea once it is finished.
Hi Jamie, maybe not the style you are looking at building as the idea for this one is to have a go at trials hence the basic side profile and lack of doors.
