Identifying Austin Sevens by their Factory Initials

[Douglas Alderson]

I was going to make a suggestion re the P types, but when David mentioned the index card I though I would check first.  The card below kind of explains the PA, PB, PF and PL.  Photos of PA and PB would be easy to add to the book also the front half of the car is very different but I have not seen a PF or PL, does one still exist.
   

[JonE]

could one of the pre-Jewel two seater owners speak to Chris Chubb and investigate further?

[Mike Costigan]

How about this as a theory:

P & PA: original design with long scuttle - same body, revised initials to match other production bodies.
PB: 27½" bonnet, 6" scuttle
PC: 25½" bonnet, 8" scuttle
PF: all fabric version proposed to compete with the £100 Morris Minor - may or may not have entered production
PL: all steel version mid 1932

The PF initials would make some sense cf: the RF saloon
The PL perhaps less so, but by mid 1932 the PD would already be under consideration, so they plucked a letter far enough ahead to not confuse the sequence?

Edit: Sorry, I've just re-read that index card. So the PL is an all-fabric version dating from October 1930, so a variant on the 6" scuttle, and the PF is a fabric-covered metal version from Jan 1931 which will have the 8" scuttle. Given that Austin had all but given up on fabric bodies by the beginning of 1931, neither version seems likely to have been produced in any significant numbers, given that the metal version was also in production at the same time.

[JonE]

Mike, sounds like someone needs to volunteer as a PL Tsar and go and look at the B1 and B3 ledgers!

I wonder exactly what the desire for a fabric-covered metal 2 door was. They must have had a following, but would have been akin to the GEs with fabric covered bonnets. A bit pointless... and quite difficult to identify once they have been refinished once.

It really needs a concentrated effort by SWB two seater owners to look at their transmission tunnel body stamps. Someone MAY have a golden ticket... or perhaps not.

[JonE]

message from Chris Chubb, Registrar, re SWB 2 seaters:

"No P or PA prefix letters exist on body number stamps
One early A8 car exists
PBs have prefix letters on body number stamps
PCs have prefix letters on body number stamps
No evidence from the Register or other contacts of anything fabric or fabric covered metal (or that might have been)...so far!"

[Mike Costigan]

That's great, and more or less confirms my thinking. Can Chris confirm the PBs have the 6" scuttle and the PCs the 8" scuttle?

[JonE]

The Changes book already has the bonnet lengths as in your post #43 above... and a Dave email confirms PB "as RL/RG bonnet" and PC "as RM/RH bonnet"....