What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[Reckless Rat]

Nothing really. Car is still laid up waiting for a valve chest gasket. Just posted to get to number 1000! ?

Good thread stats - over 100 pages, 1000 replies and 100,000 views. Keep 'em coming!

[Steve kay]

   

Pah, you did nothing. We won the Cotswold Rally....again! Austin Sevens, handled by their splendid crews, swept to individual and class victory on what might be an almost embarrassing annual basis, however we can't be embarrassed by blowing lesser marques into the weeds. It also helps to have a car with such a tight national network of support. One of the Chummys stumbled into the first stop, at Toddingtom Station, the fabric coupling already on its last legs. A couple of us almost locals cried, fear not, just creep a few miles along the road to Mark Greening at Alderton, who will sell you a fabric coupling right away. The Chummy crew didn't quite believe that in rural Gloucestershire there would be a garage selling Austin Seven transmission parts on a Sunday morning, but they re-joined us later going quickly and looking very happy indeed. The picture shows Team Austin swapping notes at the Hook Norton Brewery, navvy notes rather than tasting notes at that stage in the day.

[Mark McKibbin]

David,
Do you still have a serial port or do you have a special vintage computer as well or just one of those usb-serial thingys.

[David Stepney]

David,
Do you still have a serial port or do you have a special vintage computer as well or just one of those usb-serial thingys.

I have a fairly up-to-date computer and use a usb/serial adapter.  I also use Windows XP as the Kodak 'Picture Easy' software for the camera will not run on anything later. I do have a 'vintage' Pentium computer that runs Windows 98, so, when eventually nothing works with XP anymore, I shall have to run the Pentium solely to continue to use the camera.

Plus ca change, plus c'est le meme chose.

[Alan]

David, interesting that you have a 111 series Leica. I used a 111c for many years until I went digital. Actually although mr digital SLR has all sorts of gizmos, I still use it exactly like I learned to use a camera 40 years ago.

[David Stepney]

David, interesting that you have a 111 series Leica. I used a 111c for many years until I went digital. Actually although mr digital SLR has all sorts of gizmos, I still use it exactly like I learned to use a camera 40 years ago.

I still use my Leica although not often now. But is is worth all the fiddling with a light meter and setting the camera for every shot just to press the shutter and hear the whisper of the beautifully made mechanism. My Leica was built in 1934 and i note that, when new, fitted with an F2 Summar, the price was £66.00, or just over half the price of a RP Delux saloon!

[Chris KC]

Tempted to suggest that if we're going to talk cameras we may need a separate thread for it.
Meanwhile here's my baby....(what's a computer?)

   

[David Stepney]

Sorry, Chris. It's probably all my fault the thread has been hijacked. I was, in a roundabout way, trying to apologise for the scruffy quality of the photos that I posted after my run out in FG on Sunday.

That's a splendid plate camera, though. What's the make and what lens has it got?

[Simon Scott]

Looks like the Gandolfis I used at college. Can’t beat some mahogany and brass.

[Chris KC]

The tripod is Gandolfi, but the camera is a 10 x 12" Wratten & Wainwright, circa 1880. When acquired the ground glass back was missing but I was able to construct a new one which works well. The lens pictured is - from memory - a Dallmeyer with focal length about 18" - if you try to take a portrait with it the camera has to extend to about 6ft long and your sitter tends to get pushed out of the window! It only comes out now and then but I do have a very precious pack of Ilford FP4 10 x 12 sheet film in the fridge.