I have attached a couple of pictures. One shows a standard Ruby; the other shows a modified version with a longer bonnet, the seating further back, just two seats in the end and a small cabin. The roof is envisaged as a complete canvas sheet which rolls down, out of sight, into the bulge in the rear.
Obviously, tweaking and refinement is needed,but it gives an idea of the style of car which I hope to construct, in time.
Nice idea there, might you consider suicide doors, long (rear) hinge edge, short striker edge, without glasses but side screens? Could make for an easier and lighter door construction...
Moving the seats back is not as simple as you might think, the rear wheel arches tend to get in the way!
I would stick with the scuttle and bulkhead where Austin intended it to be. Moving it back is fraught with many added difficulties.
I recall seeing an OHC Morris Minor (early 1930's type) with a very neat fabric covered 'Sportsman Coupe' body. It might be worth looking up some photos as it would be a good basis for an Austin special.
It's not unlike Chris Gould's Epsom. I think he re-engineered a rusty big 7 shell. There are always Ruby bodies being listed on Ebay by bodysnatchers... Might be worth consideeing modifying one of these?
(06-08-2018, 08:27 AM)Malcolm Parker Wrote: Having built a number of A7 specials, my advice would be to study the Austin 7 Source Book and base your special on one of the 300 plus body types that were produced over the period of production. Most A7 enthusiasts agree that the SWB cars look nicer, a Ruby chassis is quite simple to shorten and you can still use the Ruby mechanicals.
Most of the Austin production models used a very similar floorpan, whether they were saloons, tourers or sports bodies. My latest special, based on the coachbuilt Pytchley saloon, has a plywood floorpan based on that in my 1931 saloon, and weighs in at around the same as an Ulster. It is more spacious than the SWB box saloon and has the advantage of a better power to weight ratio, close ratio 4 speed box and a 5.25 axle, yet looks very vintage.
I made a 1" to the foot cardboard model of the Pytchley body based on the only photo I have ever seen, that in the Source Book.
The whole floorpan was made out of an 8 x 4 sheet of 1/2" plywood. The scuttle, body sides and rear panel were made separately and fitted to the floorpan, The frames are clad with 4mm birch plywood. Then a roof assembly was added like a lid which trued everything up and the rear corners added from aluminium sheet. The whole thing was primed, covered in yacht varnish and the cheap curtain lining fabric was applied, followed by more varnish, primer and oil based eggshell (Farrow and Ball Hague Blue!). The whole job was a bit like making a designer garden shed. I am very pleased with the result. If I was doing another special, I would consider something along the lines of the Mulliner Sports, with a similar fabric covering to that described above.
This is a photo of the Pytchley. It's got wings, lights etc. now and looks amazing.
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Car type: '26 Chummy, '28 Top Hat, '33 Type "65", single seaters
07-08-2018, 01:59 PM (This post was last modified: 07-08-2018, 02:10 PM by Greig Smith.)
Steve your Pytchley is stunning, worthy of a new thread dedicated to your perseverance and passion with lots more pictures...... Hint hint, we like pictures !!!
Aye
Greig
James have a look at this one, a 1931 MG Midget Sportsmans Coupe
I'm sure a Google search will turn up plenty of pictures and you could scale them up and use them as a basis for your special. A dead Ruby body should yield up enough so that you can get a screen and the rear of the roof - I'd suggest try pick a dead one rather than one that could be recussitated as a live Ruby.
I really like the colours of this one but then I'm partial to a red interior. The sunshine roof is also a nice feature.
Having just built a supercharged single seater from scratch, I'm well aware of what goes into a special and mine didn't even have doors or a roof to contend with....
I confess that I had wondered whether there would be space between the wheels to put the seats where I have shown them in the picture. All being well, my chassis will be delivered this weekend, which will make planning easier. All being well, the seats, grille and windscreen will be coming with it, along with a pair of dead doors for patterns and floor pan.
The Pytchley, Morris, MG and Epsom suggestions are appreciated. I have only found a sketch of the Epsom so far, but it looks really good in the drawing. The car that very much caught my attention when drafting my ideas is the Lombard Coupe, below.
With a much moved back seat but still with an upright seating position how do people handle moving the pedals back? With the clutch and brake pedal being direct acting levers I guess you can't just extend the length of them because the arc the pedal itself would swing might get too long?
(08-08-2018, 12:23 AM)jansens Wrote: With a much moved back seat but still with an upright seating position how do people handle moving the pedals back? With the clutch and brake pedal being direct acting levers I guess you can't just extend the length of them because the arc the pedal itself would swing might get too long?
Simon
Simon,
This is where my plans might come unstuck: where theory and reality collide. My belief is that the foot brake is co-located with the steering box and that moving one moves the other. I naively assume that moving the box back will bring the brake pedal with it: obviously, the rest of the linkages will need altering to suit. I plan to fit a Reliant engine as the chassis comes without an motor. This, I believe, has a cable clutch, so I should be able to put the pedal more or less where wish, cable length permitting.
I should be interested in how others achieve overcome the problem, though.
