Austin Seven Van

[Tony Press]

And if you really have to have a van- find a chassis and ask Martin Prior to build a body !

[Ray White]

If you had an original van body in good condition to swap over then I would be tempted but you will never find such a thing; a reproduction van body would be missing the point, I think you would agree.

[David Stepney]

It appears that some Austin Sevens go through all sorts of iterations that form part of the history of the car. When I was little, the local carpenter had a short chassis Seven upon which he had built a shooting brake body. It was very pretty and looked like a glass display cabinet on wheels! I wonder what happened to it?

[Martin Prior]

I strongly believe that wherever possible an original body should be preserved, but once it's gone, it's gone.  I don't think that a replica of the lost body is any more legitimate than any other style. 

We've been having great fun over the last few months building an AVK-style van body on what had once been a Mk1 Ruby saloon.  There was, of course never a van version of this model, but we're basing the new body very closely on Austin practice of the later 'thirties, even down to the steel sub-frame arrangement. The only real concession that we're making is panelling it it aluminium-covered ply, rather than steel. This saves a lot of weight and is much easier to work.

If someone asked me to do a similar job on a complete saloon, I'd politely refuse, but in this case, the body had been chopped up many years ago.  We have a similar project at an early stage using the remains of a roofless RP saloon, and a hard-top sports coupe body for what had once been an RM, but has no hope of restoration as such.

[Ray White]

^^^^^
I recollect the original rear doors (in steel) were, as you say, incredibly heavy. What you are doing there is a much better option.

My goodness Martin, you really do a nice job. !

[Martin Prior]

Thanks, Ray!

Yes, this arrived with us fitted with a fairly recent unfinished, un-thought-out and incredibly heavy steel body, framed with 1" square steel tube, Dexion shelving and the cut-down remains of what had probably once been quite a nice mahogany dining table.  It's no exaggeration to say that each of the rear doors probably weighed almost as much as the entire body that we're building!

[PedigreeChummy]

Well, you go out for the day and return to a plethora of messages... all very well made! Thanks gents.

I was definitely going to leave it as is, until Martin chipped in with those photos! You were supposed to be talking me out of it, but looking at that project you have on the go, you're tempting me... that wooden frame is a work of art! Lovely stuff!

No... if the car was a bit of a heap, or as you say, I had an original van body lying about, then I would be sorely considering it, but as neither is the case, I will sit tight.

Who knows, if it starts to fall to bits in my lifetime and I am looking at any resto work I might take the plunge then... just don't show me too many photos of how that progresses, Martin, or you will be causing me sleepless nights....

[Ritchie Wilson]

Wonderful photos Martin.
Where did the inner rear guards come from? Are the sides all single curvature?
I suppose the well under the floor is for the spare wheel.

[Martin Prior]

Thanks, Ritchie!

The wheel arches are the repaired originals from what was left of the Ruby saloon body.

The sides have a very slight double curvature, but the vertical element of the curve is confined to the lower sides and is divided by the wheel arch, so there's enough give to achieve it using flat sheets of ply and aluminium.

Yes, the well is for the spare wheel, but is not long enough - hence the cut-outs in the doors.  This was, however, a feature of the original AVK van.

[Duncan Grimmond]

That is looking very good Martin...