18-08-2019, 10:26 PM (This post was last modified: 18-08-2019, 11:06 PM by David Stepney.)
Frank,
I have taken a photo of the bulkhead on my car. There are a number of holes drilled into it that are redundant, but I think that the one you are referring to is by the corner of the copper tube that takes the wiring to the nearside front headlamp, just to the right of the clip holding it down.
Sorry the photo is a bit scruffy. My garage is a bit like the 'Black Hole of Calcutta' at this time of night!
Frank.
Having reviewed all the posts on this thread, it occurs to me that your car, being, as you say, first registered in July or August 1934, must be one of the very last RP saloons to have been built. The first of the Ruby's came off the production line in July 1934.
If your car has no hole in the top of the manifold (see the photos that Geof101 and I posted) and there is no hole in the bulkhead to take the vacuum hose, then it appears likely that you car was fitted with an electric wiper motor from the factory, as i believe some of the very last cars were. (See Dave Mann's comments) The fact that the windscreen frame still has the long cutout for the vacuum wiper motor may simply be that the factory didn't bother to change the windscreen frame to accommodate the change of motor, especially as they were just about to introduce a new model car. There is also the possibility that the windscreen frame might have been changed during the car's life. In the days when there were plenty in the scrapyard, it would have been quite simple in the event of a broken windscreen, to replace the whole screen and frame from another car.
The moral of this post is: Be careful! Your car might very well be original as it is.
19-08-2019, 09:19 AM (This post was last modified: 19-08-2019, 09:21 AM by Geoff101.)
This is a picture of my car which is as it was when I got it. This is a March '34 car. It definitely had a vacuum wiper motor as it came with it and the inside bits of the pipe were still there.
There is no hole near the glovebox though, other than the one the choke wire comes though lower down. You can see others are used for the original wiring, speedo cable and oil pressure pipe. There is another hole behind the head / block on the bulkhead but it looks like it was chewed out, so I'm suspecting not orignal.
19-08-2019, 10:19 AM (This post was last modified: 19-08-2019, 10:21 AM by David Stepney.)
How interesting! My car was built in June 1933. I hvae worked this out as it is fitted with the first type Hardy Spicer rear propshaft joint and the Chassis number is within 350 of the change point. The car was registered on 4th July 1933. It must have had a vacuum windscreen wiper originally, as the takeoff is still on the manifold and there is the hole on the nearside of the bulkhead for the pipe.
Before writing my previous post, I looked in Appendix 3 of Wyatt, but, unfortunately, it is silent on the point.
There appear to have been a number of variations on the electrical equipment. For instance, my car was never fitted with semaphore indicators from the factory, but all the '34 cars I have seen were. It appears that these were only fitted at about the time that the synchromesh gearbox became standard in late August '33.
Hello David, Hello Geoff,
whatever piece of literature I used... no real answer to my specific questions could be given. Even in the final version of the Handbook for the RP the vacuum wiper is shown. The fact that my inlet manifold has no option to connect the hose is the only thing that makes me tend towards the option "my car never had the vacuum version".
So the only options remaining, which keep my brain busy:
a) undocumented changes due to the introduction of the Ruby - therefore using the latest equipment (manifold has no hole)
b) body cannot be used to prove anything because it has already been restored (leaves both options)
c) the larger cut out above windscreen does not show anything because if latest version of wiper motor fits why should body be changed for the last cars in summer 1934.
d) Replaced inlet, no hole (although body restored), fitted electric motor (condition we bought the car in 1989) electric motor is original
e) Handbook is wrong (why change it for the last models) (drawing of interior + also no electric wiper in the electric wiring plan)
So David is right: "Clearly more research is needed"
Would be great if details like these could be solved (I am proud of being a rivet counter!)
There are two ways of approaching this problem. Both require leaving the car as it is, at least until a definite answer is available.
1. As is suspected, the car was originally equipped with an electric wiper from the factory It would be a Lucas instrument.
2. Even if it was fitted at a later date, leave it as it is until some detailed research sheds some light on the subject. I suspect that there are very few cars that can claim to be completely original in every regard. Any replacements, repairs or modifications can be regarded as part of the cars history and 'patina'.
My own car, for instance, is by no means correct and as it came out of the factory, but 95% of it is. For instance, it was painted (50 years ago) in a colour scheme that is not quite correct even for a deluxe saloon (it is a fixed head saloon) and was retrimmed in light tan leathercloth which looks wrong. However, it remains basically as it left the factory, goes well. is tidy and usable and given that it was all done half a century ago it is part of it's history.
My car appears to have been built quite shortly before it was registered. Date stamps on the axle are within a few weeks of the registration date. Engine numbers line up etc.
Hello David,
you are absolutely right. Therefore I will repair the wiper motor, get everything I potentially need, gather information wherever possible and hope that - when the decission to either leave it or change it - I will get my car closer to its original condition. I know that I will never reach the ultimate original condition simply because I had (the early 90s) to make some modifications to register the car in Germany. TÜV (MOT in Germany) can be cruel. Hope that the discussions we have here and the information given will help others to tackle problems related to the vacuum wiper as well.
I will certainly turn this discussion into a nice article for German-speaking Austin Seven owners, so that no information is lost.
Regards
Frank
Frank, this doesn't get you nearer to knowing what your car's original specification was, but I had a 1937 van which retained the old styling with the RP type bulkhead with the elongated slot in the windscreen frame for a vacuum wiper, and that had an electric wiper.
Hello Mike,
well, it does... because it is another piece of information related to " the wiper question" that might help others, it might also be the trigger for me taking the right decission to go for the vacuum version. One never knows. I still hope that something like this was recorded in official Austin Company documents that have not yet been analysed (still hope for that).
Regards
Frank
Hello Frank, my RP is a December 1932. The vacuum pipe from the Windscreen Wiper comes down the OUTSIDE of the right hand door pillar and through the top of the dash board. It then goes across, under the dash, to a point, central of the glove box. The hole in the scuttle is at the same height as the outlet on the Manifold. Good luck.
SMILEY
