What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[Malcolm Parker]

An excellent turnout at the local VSCC meet in Ripon.   Three Austin 7's, three MG's, two Alvises, Flying Standard, Triumph Roadster amongst the cars.
The RL went very well and was motoring along at 45mph on the way home when it faltered and then picked up again.  Running out of petrol, I thought.  At the lights on the bridge over the River Swale I pulled in and put the spare gallon of fuel in.   After that it would not start and I was not in the best place to be messing about under the bonnet.   After an hour or so changing the distributor about four times I came to the conclusion that it was an ignition problem as I could not get a healthy spark.  It fired up briefly on my spare DK2 dizzy but soon petered out.  By this time the battery was about flat so I rang my local garage in Thirsk about 3 miles away.   They were soon out with a starter pack but to no avail, so towed me back to the garage in Thirsk.   After another hour or so changing the distributor and general checking it fired up on the DK2 and I got back to Boltby.   I will give the whole ignition system a good going over before it goes out again.  In 25 years of regular use this is the first time that the car has ever needed a tow but at least it didn't suffer the indignity of coming home on a recovery transporter.