02-10-2020, 10:07 AM
The hydraulic brakes conversion I mention above was fitted to our RK in 1959/60 - we think by Ray Stephens who was a janitor a the (then) owners school in Shaftesbury.
My father bought the car like this in 1964 and drove it around 350'000 miles in until it came off the road in the late 1980s/early 1990's - the system was Morris 1000.
When I put the car back on the road about 12 years ago I replaced everything on that system and after a little tinkering it worked as well as it had ever done, the issues arose because the car was little used and I found cylinders were seizing in between, the car is kept in a wooden garage and used maybe 3-4 times a year. Eventually I took the whole system off and reinstated uncoupled brakes with Girling backplates, it is still like this today.
Had the car remained in regular daily use it most likely would still have hydraulics - for me it was a case of horses for courses. In the same vein, I am happy with the cable brakes on my others Sevens so have never sought to change them.
If rod brakes with full Girling back plates are not an option (these are tremendous on the very late Two Seaters and Rubys I have driven) then I prefer the off-set shoe system used around 1935/6, these out perform anything else I currently have.
My father bought the car like this in 1964 and drove it around 350'000 miles in until it came off the road in the late 1980s/early 1990's - the system was Morris 1000.
When I put the car back on the road about 12 years ago I replaced everything on that system and after a little tinkering it worked as well as it had ever done, the issues arose because the car was little used and I found cylinders were seizing in between, the car is kept in a wooden garage and used maybe 3-4 times a year. Eventually I took the whole system off and reinstated uncoupled brakes with Girling backplates, it is still like this today.
Had the car remained in regular daily use it most likely would still have hydraulics - for me it was a case of horses for courses. In the same vein, I am happy with the cable brakes on my others Sevens so have never sought to change them.
If rod brakes with full Girling back plates are not an option (these are tremendous on the very late Two Seaters and Rubys I have driven) then I prefer the off-set shoe system used around 1935/6, these out perform anything else I currently have.