A little puzzle to fritter away those damp, dark November evenings.

[Jeff Taylor]

Well Tony, the front dumb irons (assuming they're real and not faux) would suggest the car had half elliptic springs and coupled with three stud small centre wheels might point towards a 1931 or earlier Morris Minor chassis or early MG variant using the same chassis - M Type ? As to the parentage of the body with the strange side mounted spare on such a small body (though some Minor vans had the spare wheel on the passenger door), I'm not so sure. Interestingly a 1930 MG Double Twelve Midget (Le Mans) had the spare wheel mounted in that position.
I've owned a 1936 Morris 8 Series I Tourer since 1973, hence the Morris connection !

[JonE]

hmmm.. its not a 1924 Sports is it? all the rest of the front treatment an add on?

[Tony Griffiths]

Last chance! Our invited judge will be combing the entries this evening...and giving the answer.

[Charles P]

It has a look of the 29 Arrow but I didn't think they had dumb irons nor a spare on the side. But some Arrows did have dumb irons later.
However with small run cars, especially ones modified in the 30's,  a car with such alterations could end up in a scrap yard

Charles

[Mike Costigan]

Thanks Tony, for dropping me in it! First of all you publish the picture without my knowledge,  and then expect me to pick up the pieces 

Peter started us off by suggesting a Swallow, and later a Gordon England Stadium; half right with the coachbuilt idea, and crucially you identified a problem with the spare wheel mounting.

Sorry Ian, a Military model is a bit far adrift.

Terry and Jon were both fooled by the Mulliner-like dummy dumb-iron cover, and Jon's later suggestion of an early Sports doesn't work either.

Howard picked up most of the clues, but no, a Boyd Carpenter it ain't.

I like Andy's idea of a prototype Water Ski Special - a brilliant idea.

Russell correctly identified the other cars, but failed to come up with an answer to the Austin's id.

Sorry Alan and Jeff, it was definitely an Austin Seven, and no, Zeto, a Frog-Eye body would have been far too wide!

John also picked up on the side-mounted spare, so he was getting close ...

... and Dave was spot on with his id of Don Rowarth's scrapyard.

The truth is the Seven is a complete figment of my imagination   I sketched the other cars in Don's yard - the drophead in the background was a Roesch Talbot 75 - probably a James Young body - from which my father salvaged a good number of bits. The van, by the way, was an Austin Sixteen. But the Seven didn't exist!

I rather fancied the idea of a coachbuilt car with a side-mounted spare, and did not consider, until too late, that there wasn't room to have that and an opening passenger's door. 

And now Tony expects me to nominate a winner! Grrrr ...

I think I will nominate ... drum  roll ...


 Howard Wright as the winner, as he was the only one to query the possibility of having both the side-mounted spare and a passenger door, whilst identifying the other key features which would confirm it as a Vintage short-chassis car.

Now I'm going to hibernate until spring, in case Tony comes up with something else.

[Howard Wright]

Oooo That is a surprise.

Thanks both Tony and Mike.

As has been said before excellent sketch and, I think, a superb idea for the thread.  So when are you two going to hatch the next puzzle!

Cheers from a rather chuffed 

Howard

[Nick Salmon]

I think the descriptive process of picking the winner was as entertaining as all the rest of the thread. Great fun!

[Tony Griffiths]

Oooo That is a surprise. Thanks both Tony and Mike.

As has been said before excellent sketch and, I think, a superb idea for the thread.  So when are you two going to hatch the next puzzle! Cheers from a rather chuffed. Howard

Congratulations Howard. If you PM me your address and let me know which books in "Workshop Series" numbered 1 to 49 you would like, I'll get them away to you. You could also choose the Amateur's Lathe and the Amateur's Workshop if you wish or, if there is another you would like that's more expensive, just give me a ring on 01298-871633 and I'll pro-rata the cost against one of those if you'd like to pay the balance.

---

Thanks Tony, for dropping me in it! First of all you publish the picture without my knowledge,  and then expect me to pick up the pieces 
Now I'm going to hibernate until spring, in case Tony comes up with something else.

Thanks for taking it so well my old friend - a writing such a witty reply. The amusing thing about this is that, many years ago, Mike gave me a series of sketches as he completed them when in his early '20s and, unsurprisingly, could not at first remember doing some of them. I have to tell you all that he was modestly surprised that he had done them so well - but as he'd produced a brilliant painting of my two cats last year, it was no surprise to me at all. Of course, to his horror, I may have more hidden away to puzzle you with a little later.....
Don Rowarth's scrapyard was near Great Huklow and where every local marginal motorist went for parts. Sadly, it's now gone, closed twenty years ago by pressure from the middle-class incomers who run the Peak National Park. Almost invisible from any passing road, the yard was something of a treasure trove, always fun to explore and with insanely cheap parts. However, Don had other income, a little casual farming, selling Morris' Golden Film oils to local farmers and rebuilding starter motors and dynamos in a tumble-down shed, packed with what today would be highly-collectable, electrical paraphernalia from the vintage era.
It was said that if you took your rotten-as-a-pear, dropping-to-bits car at other than a walking pace down Don’s track, by the time you reached the farm entrance the car was ready to be left there. So, arriving very carefully one late afternoon in PL 3002, I spotted Don sitting on the steps of his shed. As I walked over he excused himself from conversation with a wave of the hand saying, "I'm gonna get us tea lad. Thee wait 'ere, it won't take a mo.”. He then picked up a pair of garden shears and headed towards the half-open barn door. What happened next was a mixture of horror and comedy for, upon reaching the door several chickens, realising what was about to happen (they are not as stupid as they look), fluttered, squawking out of the way with Don snapping at them with the shears. Moments later pandemonium broke out in the barn as hens fluttered wildly about trying to escape the dreaded hand-held guillotine (it's amazing how far a non-flying bird can fly when it tries). But this was all to no avail as,  moments later, Don emerged, somewhat covered in feathers, clutching a headless but still kicking chicken. "Like to see 'im run?" he queried. Taking my blank expression for acquiescence, he put the chicken on the ground which then did indeed (the chicken, that is, not the ground), proceed to run around at random. Pleased with this impressive performance of balance without a head, Don scooped up the unfortunate animal and handed it to his wife (who happened to be wearing one wellington boot and one slipper) for further treatment in the oven. The result now is that I can hardly bear to watch it when Chickens Run

[Mike Costigan]

Just to give you an idea of Don's yard here's a photo I took of one of the many Sevens he had. Sadly light got into the camera and rather spoilt the image - the others I took were even worse - but you get the idea:


  Don Rowarth.jpg (Size: 36.49 KB / Downloads: 186)

[Tony Griffiths]

Just to give you an idea of Don's yard here's a photo I took of one of the many Sevens he had. Sadly light got into the camera and rather spoilt the image - the others I took were even worse - but you get the idea:

...and in the background J.A.G. and D.W. ?