Wheel diameter

[James Anderson]

In reply to the initial question of this thread, I'm sure I read somewhere that for some obscure reason some if not all export A7 Swallows had 17" wheels and their use may have applied to other export production models of A7s. This would bring the date of their production and use to well below the date of 1934 that Ruairidh mentions. I know this news made me more happy about my 'far from correct' Mk2 Swallow that for all its incorrectness looks quite comfortable with them and has good acceleration and speed to match.

Since no-one else has responded, I'll stick my head above the parapet! I would be very surprised if any Austin Swallows had 17" wheels. I have a 1933 Autocar Show Number which has a table with specifications of all the cars available on the UK market (ie for the 1934 season) and there is no car listed with 17" wheels of any size - I doubt if 4.00x17" tyres were available at that time, so certainly not for Swallows which had been discontinued by late 1933..

Mike, I'm glad someone has responded, as I said in my post, I was not 100% certain about the info. I supplied but hasten to emphasise that it applied to export cars only. The main thrust of my message was really that drivers/owners should to what they want with regard to improving their cars and if they had a set of 17" wheels, try them and see what happens. A lot simpler than stripping and changing back axles and/or gearbox ratios. I may bring the subject of Swallow wheel sizes up in a more appropriate place like the Swallow Register to gain more insight to the accuracy of my information and will report back. Incidentally according to the Swallow Registrar, my 1932 Swallow seems to have been the last one produced, so it's tempting to think that they just put anything on the car that was 'to hand' but that's purely conjecture !