Family car - my father’s first Seven...

[Reckless Rat]

... 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.