Throttle and advance/retard lever position

[Parazine]

I was pondering a 1st edition Nicholson book the other day and noticed that the drawing (taken from the "official" handbook I think) of the controls of the car shows the hand throttle and advance/retard lever at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock respectively. Downloading the handbooks from the excellent A7CA archive site seems to indicate that the orientation of the levers changed to 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock somewhere between handbooks 715a and 715b (May 1930, RK and Jan 1931, RL). Anyone have the definitive word on this one? Did it change with the steel body introduction as it doesn't seem to be linked to coil engines, long wheelbase or any of the other major changes. Or was the position variable, depending on the assembly operator in the factory?

I'm sure this was discussed on the old site but I've searched and can't find anything.

Tim R

[Smiley]

Hi Tim, On my 1932 RP, They are positioned at 3oclock and 9 o'clock but I don't know if 
the position is variable.
Smiley.

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Hi Tim, Further to my previous reply,  Looking through "THE ORIGINAL AUSTIN SEVEN" book there are several pictures showing the position of the levers.
It appears to show that before the Thirties, they were at 12oclock and 6oclock and then the positions changed to 3oclock  and 9oclock sometime after 1930/31. Cheers
Smiley

[Parazine]

Yes, it seems that they were in the "new" 3 and 9 o'clock position on all steel bodied cars. I wondered whether anyone had anything further on this one. My '29 RK has them in this later position but that might be because it was assembled wrongly by a previous owner...……..

I fancy they're more difficult to use in the 6 and 12 o'clock version.

[Hedd_Jones]

i use the throttle lever in preference to the pedal on my chummy

[Mike Costigan]

I have owned about seven or eight Vintage Sevens over the years, and every one has had them in the 3 / 9 o'clock position, but they are so easy to alter that I suppose that doesn't mean much. My 1927 Twelve had them in the 6 /12 o'clock position, and I never had any trouble switching from one to the other which might suggest most people wouldn't change the existing position ...

[Bob Culver]

There was a very extensive discussion on this some time ago, possibly the old site. From memory, it was noted that there are many possible miss assembly variables; which side the lower lever is on, which side of distributor arm is on.