1929 Austin Seven Van "Bella"

[Martin Prior]

Are the two photos that Martin posted supposed to be of the same vehicle? There seem to be quite a few differences: the wheels, obviously, but they have different front bumper blades, the doors seem to be different, and even the slope of the windscreen appears to be different. Maybe someone in Spain produced a number of them?

Hi guys
to my understanding by the previous vendor, Bella was produced as a running, rolling chassis and exported to Rosengart  in France then turns up at "Talleres Dalber" Lugo Lorenzana Northern Spain.Talleres Dalber was a Vespa and Piaggio workshop who put the van body on her.I appears to be a one off.Talleres Dalber closed sometime in the Sixties .Bella came with a plaque affixed to the dash in memory of "David Alvares Del Busto".My research shows him to have come from the "Passageway in Santo Domingo" in the Asturias region. Del Busto was born into a wealthy family and it appears he was connected to the Cruz Rioja.I have found that he died in 1936 at the age of 50 Rightly or wrongly I like to think that he and Bella supplied aid to the prisoners of Franco during the Spanish civil war and was shot by Franco,ists for doing so .If and when more comes to light I will update .As to Bella and the wayward cooling fan mounted on a "tower", would anyone know what is involved in resecuring the fan spindle back in place thanks cheers Ally


Hi Ally. 

That sounds very similar to the story that I'd heard a couple of years ago.  At the time I wondered why Rosengart, as a manufacturer of complete A7-derived cars, would have wanted a running chassis from Austin. There may have been a perfectly good reason.

My personal opinion, based only on photos, is that you have a Morris chassis fitted with a '29 A7 engine and a professionally-built, post WW2 Spanish body.

It's a very interesting and attractive car, but as I mentioned before, photos showing the chassis would be very helpful in identifying exactly what Bella actually is.  

Securing the fan spindle should be very straightforward - push it back in and tighten the cotter.  There should be a split pin at the back end of the spindle assembly to prevent it from moving forwards even if the cotter is loose.  The nut on the cotter and the split pin are visible in the attached photo (of a '34 engine).