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Family car - my father’s first Seven...
#11
(02-01-2018, 05:25 PM)Mike Costigan Wrote:
(02-01-2018, 04:12 PM)Reckless Rat Wrote: ... Sadly I haven't any history of my car prior to approx 1978 - it was at that time owned by someone in the Bakewell area but I have no documentation to substantiate it. I think it's original number is on a Roller somewhere. Since I acquired it in the early 1980s it has been in regular, but not quite every day use ...

What was the registration number? I know of several enthusiasts in the Bakewell area who were Seven owners around that time; I may be able to jog someone's memory!

That's the problem - I don't know. When I got the car it had the number 417 VWC allocated to it but the log book didn't match. Once I'd finally restored the car and got it back on the road I had a trip to the landing beaches in Normandy in the offing and I was worried that the anomaly between the car and its paperwork might cause problems at Customs. I decided to contact the Sheffield LVLO for their help. Whilst they accepted that the car was a genuine 1933 saloon, the buff log book was from an earlier 1930s car and the deeper they dug into the archives they found a three way cherished transfer had taken place involving an Austin Seven, a Land Rover and a Rolls-Royce. Where my car featured in it was anyone's guess. The DVLA accepted that I had come by the car legitimately but to resolve the number plate issue, voided the 417 VWC number and allocated it with NFF 233 (age related), which it retained until I emigrated to France and had it re-registered over here.

I originally acquired the car in the 1980s from a Mr W (Billy) Cawthorne of Rotherham, a market trader and old car enthusiast. He had bought it some time earlier, in the late 1970s from someone in the Bakewell area who had been forced to part with it due to a divorce. The car was complete, but dismantled. The chassis number is 177617 with a later 2brg engine crankcase M238100 and a 1930 block at +030. Car number is B8-223 and it has body n° RP 10454. Most of the metalwork was original apart from the floor (which has a second skin underneath) and it had a newly made (then) headlining. It appears to be a Standard Saloon with a fitted roof panel (I suspect non original). It has the original 4sp crash box but a semi girling front axle. It is now BL tartan red and black, but it was all colours under the rainbow when I got it and I've never been able to determine its original colour.
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#12
My father tells me that he swapped the early headlamps fitted to the car when he bought it for the correct R47s with Mike Costigan!

The car apparently had a rear petrol tank, three bearing engine, four speed box and a wooden floor when he bought it...
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#13
(02-01-2018, 07:05 PM)Ruairidh Dunford Wrote: My father tells me that he swapped the early headlamps fitted to the car when he bought it for the correct R47s with Mike Costigan!

The car apparently had a rear petrol tank, three bearing engine, four speed box and a wooden floor when he bought it...

Who? Never heard of him! That must have been for one of my madder schemes ...

Anyway, back to RR's RP; Bakewell area, late 1970s and divorce - I think I may know who that was. I'm not so sure about the Seven/Land Rover/Rolls Royce connection, maybe that occured later? I cannot recall any Sevens with number-before-letter registrations at that time. I'll make some inquiries and report back.
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#14
(02-01-2018, 07:23 PM)Mike Costigan Wrote:
(02-01-2018, 07:05 PM)Ruairidh Dunford Wrote: My father tells me that he swapped the early headlamps fitted to the car when he bought it for the correct R47s with Mike Costigan!

The car apparently had a rear petrol tank, three bearing engine, four speed box and a wooden floor when he bought it...

Who? Never heard of him! That must have been for one of my madder schemes ...

Anyway, back to RR's RP; Bakewell area, late 1970s and divorce - I think I may know who that was. I'm not so sure about the Seven/Land Rover/Rolls Royce connection, maybe that occured later? I cannot recall any Sevens with number-before-letter registrations at that time. I'll make some inquiries and report back.

Thanks Mike. The LVLO as it was at the time were very reticent on information so the information prior to Mr Cawthorne is at best anecdotal. Particular details of the car would jog someone's memory though, I hope. Look forward to any information you can drag up. You can contact me by e-mail top prevent clogging up the thread.
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#15
Please do clog the thread - this is a great outcome of drift (as many are), I am waiting (as will many others be) for the outcome!
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#16
(02-01-2018, 08:11 PM)Ruairidh Dunford Wrote: Please do clog the thread - this is a great outcome of drift (as many are), I am waiting (as will many others be) for the outcome)!

Yes Bruce, please do clog the thread. I've known you and your car for a long, long time and I remember you telling me the story you quote many years ago. It'd be great to hear a conclusion.

Steve
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#17
(02-01-2018, 08:39 PM)Steve Jones Wrote:
(02-01-2018, 08:11 PM)Ruairidh Dunford Wrote: Please do clog the thread - this is a great outcome of drift (as many are), I am waiting (as will many others be) for the outcome)!

Yes Bruce, please do clog the thread. I've known you and your car for a long, long time and I remember you telling me the story you quote many years ago. It'd be great to hear a conclusion.

Steve

Am I making it up but do I remember overtaking you going up Staxton Hill on the coast to coast one year? That was AFTER you'd greased my dynamo end bush. (ooh Matron!)
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#18
I'm really excited about the possibility of finding out more about my car's history. I hope Mike is able to dig deeper. Whilst the current engine is a bitsa, it was with the car when I got it. The flywheel appears to be original, according to the chassis register. It carries the number 177275. The car's chassis and car n° plates are original and do not appear to have been ever removed. Whoever had the car before must have bought a job lot of red lead as the body underside and inside and chassis were covered in it.
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#19
Sorry, Reckless, today my last lead has drawn a blank; I cannot track down any Austin Seven in the Bakewell area in the mid-1970s that fits the bill.
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#20
hi R,

as you know i think ians car it great.

and following it round on the road run at guildtown in the chummy this year. the RK looks very comfortable in its skin. love it.

we know have our RK back from scotland, its looking stunning in black and nickle. nothing like the red body and boxs of bits that went up there.

tony
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