Photo of Early Car with Herbert Austin's Daughters

[austin]

Trying to align the position of the numbers with the radiator, my guess is that it's a 4-digit number.

Is it possible that it's OL 166, the number was used on multiple cars by the factory. (Including one of the "Boulogne" racers.)

[Chris Garner]

The relevant dates are:

Sunday 11th September 1921 :   Edge's first visit to Lickey Grange prior to his commencing work on the Seven. 
January 1922:  Edge began draughting the design of the car and by February he was coming under pressure from Austin to complete the task!
18th April 1922:  Drawings taken down to the Works to commence build.
5th June 1922: First three prototypes announced at the Works Gala.

Edge makes it clear that whilst the three prototypes were being built he continued to work on the drawings. After these were built he returned to the general Drawing Office to continue to work on the drawings largely to refine them in order to improve production and to reduce cost of manufacture.

..................

Every entrant to the Centenary Celebrations will receive a copy of a biography that I have written entitled, Stanley Edge - His Time with Austin and Beyond.

[Bob Culver]

I suppose if he had seen a few other engines he could proportion all, but even very basic calculations like con rod bolts, gudegeon etc require some skills, involving ability about 1 st year university level, with about 6 th form a prerequisite. I dunno if he had covered or when (In NZ there was a notable mechanic Ralph Watson. He built a Lycoming based sports car special which was successful in local sports car racing....and ran in local GP! He attended night classes in later life. Published a book with stub axle stress, axle shafts, weight distribution cornering etc. And gave disturbing calcs for other  cars built without calcs!) The thin crank was very nicely proportioned; warrants hanging on the wall. The drive shaft and torque tube seems complex cf other cars which simply clamped ed the axle to the 1/4 springs. Presumably less safe.

[Colin Morgan]

So, given the number plate, perhaps the date on the back should be April 1924 then?

[Alan]

It would be quite normal that prototypes were around many weeks before they were shown to the general public. If the cars were announced in early June 1922 it’s perfectly believable that they existed in some form in the April before that. I’d say the date is correct.

[Erich]

Alan, according to Edge, he was instructed to bring the drawings he had made, from Lickey Grange to the Works to begin constructing three prototypes. That was on April 18. Though we don't have an exact date of completion from Chris's book on Edge, it seems unlikely any of the three cars was completed by the end of April. We do know that on one of the Sundays between April 17 and Whitsuntide, Austin's man, Clinton,and his family, took the one completed successful car to visit their ailing daughter. I'll leave it to Chris to fill in further.

Erich in Mukilteo

[Mike Costigan]

I agree that it's unlikely all three cars were completed by the end of April. There was talk of a car being seen on the roads before Easter (Easter Sunday was 16th April), but I suspect someone just remembered 'before a bank holiday' and it was more likely to be just before Whitsun. (The Austin board didn't approve the production of the three cars to a design yet to be agreed until the meeting of April 5th, and it was not until the meeting of May 3rd that it was agreed that the car would be built by the Austin Motor Company. Shutting stable doors and bolting horses come to mind  )

[Erich]

Mike, so given that the trees are bare and Zita and Irene were both dressed in very warm clothes, the date of the photograph can only be as early fall 1922 and must be either one of the 100 or so of the first batch of cars, the first satisfactory prototype, or one of the other two prototypes if their prop shafts had been changed to the half and half(half enclosed and half open). I suppose that the completely enclosed prop shaft car could have stayed that way, but the open prop shaft car would never have made it on the road as this car is. Of course, I'm making the assumption that spring doesn't come any later in the UK than it does here. Our trees are now full, but it feels like March with the temperatures only in the forties, F, and constant rain.;-)

Erich in Mukilteo

[Alan]

It’s probably autumn 1922 I agree, but April of that year was one of the coldest ever (apparently- I wasn’t there). It’s possible there were no leaves out on the trees in April.

[Erich]

Alan, I guess the debate becomes how long it would take to build the cars, given they could not have started before the Monday after Easter. I have some insight here having worked with Chris on the Edge book. Even given the speed at which they apparently worked, with personnel waiting for cranks and cams to be created, (we make crankshafts while you wait)I wouldn't think it would take less than three weeks or so to build the cars. That would put the car's finish to the first or second week of May. I know that the reason the third car with the enclosed prop shaft was not completed because the £1500 allotted by the Board was spent. Perhaps there would be a way to determine when the money ran out. We also know the open prop shaft car was a disaster so was driven. And we know Herbert drove the first car around the Works and lost a wheel and then took the other three directors for a ride around the Lickey Hills.

Erich in Mukilteo