your first 747.5cc side-valve

[Reckless Rat]

In the early 1980s I bought a basket case Triumph Spitfire from a neighbours nephew for £25 and over a couple of years turned it into this, for about £500:



I used to go to the local technical college on a Wednesday evening to use the metal bashing facilities and I met a guy called Billy Cawthorne who one day asked me if I was still using the kit car. I said "yes but not much these days". "Do you want to swap it for an Austin Seven? and that's how I came to be the owner of my RP Saloon. I would have been about 37 at the time. "Trust me, it's all there", he said, when I went to collect what looked like a basket case. He was right. Almost. Took me 7 years to get it back on the road. This was taken shortly after the rebuild, somewhere around 1996/7 outside Rekkers Towers. I don't know if the "Midge" is still about. It's on the DVLA site but not taxed.

[Alan]

I was 23 or 24 when, no longer able to afford petrol approaching a pound a gallon for my Alvis,I bought my Austin Seven Special. It led to a mis-spent lifetime, really. I still have it somewhere in the back of the garage.

[Damian GT]

As a medical student in the early 1990s I bought a completely ruinous Ruby for £50 and took it apart in the garage at the back of my student digs.  A year or two later Dave Williams took me to see a nice 1925 Chummy - one that actually worked - I had to be interviewed quite thoroughly by the owner before being allowed to have it.

[Austin in the Shed]

14 I think,Was hooked on Austin Sevens after having been given a book on veteran and vintage cars the previous Christmas. There was a 1930 red Ulster pictured in it.
We put an ad in Exchange and Mart ,Austin seven wanted up to £30 and got some replies but ended up buying one locally, a 1932 RN which seems to have disappeared reg XJ 758.
Never really got over a 1931 bright red special,low slung ,15"silver offset wheels,chummy red shell etc,reg unknown advertised around the same time but it was around £250 at the time,a lot for a special and far above my budget.
Still thinking about that car I bought about 5 years later a really rough looking special for £28.I still have it 42 years later,It has taken more abuse than any other car I've owned.

[Simon Scott]

A special at 62.

[Rogerfrench]

I was 12 or 13 when I built my first special, Jinglebump, from various A7 bits and pieces my father gave me. 1932 chassis, Mag ignition engine, 3-speed Chummy gearbox, bits of bodywork from a wrecked special. Only to drive around the farm, you understand. Never on the road....

[Duncan Grimmond]

63, I bought a rolling chassis...it was supposedly a Military model but the numbers didn't match up.

[Viteran]

First 747 experience was when I was about 7 and my brother about 10, my cousin in littlehampton had a 7( ruby) .
We spent all summer winding up the slope of the drive on the handle then jumping in to freewheel down ( I think the plugs must have been out.
At 16 I got a Ruby from a scrappie in Hexham for £10 . In those days I could just lift the engine out, first time I came across the double spline into the gearbox !

Ian

[DaveT]

20 years ago on the 18th December 1998 having seen “her” displayed on the Automobile Magazine stand at the NEC Classic Car Show earlier in the year and finding she was for sale from Bob Glenister at Available Austins in Coventry. 

The annual insurance is still only £70 having started at £45 in 1998. 

Still cherished and currently in her shed hibernating and waiting for a nice dry spell. Ruby has won several local trophies over the years but all have now been returned so she'll have to try harder next year. 

   

   

Storm Deirdre is currently causing mayhem up here in Cumbria with icy roads, gales, road closures & power cuts so I wonder if we may get warmer summers once we separate from Europe

Merry Christmas to you all and let's hope that 2019 is kind to us all and our cars

[dickie65]

Hi Folks,
My first Seven came out of a hedge in 1976.
An Ashley special less its body and engine.
I rebuilt an engine in my bedroom and carried down into dads garage less flywheel, finished putting into the chassis, and learnt how to put the timing 180 degrees out, lots of bangs and pops.
I found another Ashley body from the Seven Workshop in Hertfordshire, dad to the rescue with a borrowed trailer.
I took it to the 1982 Longbridge rally on a trailer and managed to drive it round the rally field with an open exhaust.
( The only time I drove it )
I never finished the car marriage first house and no garage ended that. The car still turns up on ebay every so often and was still not finished last time It was for sale.