Only for those with deep pockets

[Ian Williams]

That is a very difficult question to answer Rory. With my special there is an awful lot of design and contemplation time involved, making up experimental parts to see if I have the aesthetic right, sometimes making things several times until I am happy, as well as lots of distractions helping other people with their projects. The Brooklands I started before the special, it was my accident which caused the chance in direction, the special I have owned since i was 19, it has evolved and changed a few times over the years, it has been my number one car, and it always will be so had to come first. The Brooklands requires a lot of research, I have collected pretty much everything mechanically and five years ago I thought I was in a position where I knew how to build it. However, and this is not to take anything away from the great job Tom did back with the information he had available when he built them, but his replicas are not structurally accurate in their execution. It is fair to say that Tom was forced to make assumptions and educated guesses and I am sure will admit that with the benefit of hindsight and later knowledge he may have done things differently. Of course in absence of any surviving cars and very few pictures that show any below surface detail it is very hard for anyone to be 100% sure how they were constructed. I believe now that I have enough to evidence to make reasonably a decent job of it, mine will be structurally different from Toms, but will be a replica, evocation, whatever we call it of the earlier pre production prototype cars, whereas Toms were of the later production Brooklands. As for time frame it is not so much the physical labour as the obsessing about getting the details right, Joss and I were talking about our cars the other day as both of us have been involved in long builds. Both of us believe having now built the prototype body's we could now repeat the exercise and make a copy of either within three weeks to a month, but its is all the finishing and detail work that takes time. In reality though I guess this long winded answer is saying that I anticipate several years will pass from start to finish of the project! BUT because I can do just about all the work myself I genuinely believe I could build the car for less than the figure quoted by Mike, I should say that I did not pay UK prices for my collection of parts though!

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Thank you.

[Nick Lettington]

Sorry I wasn't meaning to be negative. Obscene may be a bit strong!I am certainly not envious, although it is clearly a thing of beauty. If I had the cash for such an extravagance I d have mine matt or silk, not gloss. I would just never be able to find the time to keep it shiny... it would be boring if we all had the same taste.

I don't like marmite... let's just get that out there...

Actually, having reread Ruairidh's comment re mellowing with time I think it would be nice to own... I could enjoy taking the shine off. Now I wonder if there's a couple of quid down the back of the sofa?

[Tony Griffiths]

It would be wonderful to have, via Friends, a regular photographic report on how the build progresses. In addition, details of what your research revealed about the early cars would most welcome.

[Ian Williams]

Yes Tony I have all that in mind, I have been threatening for years to write an article about the three works Brookland's that ran in the 1924 season, one of which ultimately came to NZ in early 1925. Mike has recently published some details of the other two cars in the association magazine, I am not a natural writer but I have promised to try and get the article finished in the near future. There are some intriguing questions around the development of the Brooklands and why it was an official Austin endorsed model, Mike I hope you don't mind me repeating this and correct me if I have any detail incorrect, but some time ago Mike sent me a picture given him by GE himself stating that it was the first Brookland's ever built. We have photographic evidence which proves that this was the car Waite used in the 1924 Swiss GP, and appears to have further evolved with Waite during the 1924 season. We also know that GE drove a Brookland's prototype to victory in the 1923 JCC 200 mile race at Brookland's, if GE's statement to Mike is correct then this is one and the same car. We also know that following the success of the Barrel Austin had asked GE to construct a car for that looked recognisably like an Austin, and it seems more than probable that this is how the Model came into being and that it was developed in conjunction with the works. GE at the time would not have had the resources to make all the mechanical tuning modifications these early race cars had, I am sure he would have offered suggestions but I believe development was probably led by the works. Beatrice Canning Brown told me that she believed the three 1924 works Brooklands cars were the earlier Boulogne cup cars now re-bodied. It seems that Austin had sent GE a full works specification chassis on which the body could be constructed, possibly one of the earlier racers, the works appears to have then further developed these body's. There is also the conundrum of the significantly larger rear fairings of these very early prototype cars, it has been suggested that this was as a result of parallel rear springs as per later cars such as Slippery Ann and Mrs Jojo. I now am of a different opinion and believe that it was to house outboard rear dampers which allowed a slightly lower seating position which was then made even lower with the parallel springs, but I believe this was an evolving process over the 1924 and 1925 seasons. The works cars also had twin front dampers in 1924, yes it was not 750MC racers who came up with that one! Now that I have spilled half the story maybe I don't need to write an article....joking Mike. Of course I may have some things wrong so if anyone has anything to add I would be very interested to hear from them, I am of the opinion that by sharing the things we know a clearer picture evolves. Perhaps this should even form an seperate thread but I am not typing all of this again!

[Tony Press]

Ian, you jest surely  

"I am not a natural writer"

See above !!

Now written here you can simply copy and past into a good article with additions as required.

Lovely work !!

[Mike Costigan]

Ian,

I don't think we should read too much into Gordon England's comment that the photo of the 1924 Swiss GP car was the first Brooklands, because there are a number of ways of interpreting that statement. It is entirely possible that the car was, indeed, a development of his first 1923 car; or it could be that he meant it was the first one he built in this definitive form; or maybe it was the first one he built that the Works officially ran; or that he misremembered, or I misheard, and he meant the first car he built that ran overseas, or maybe some other 'first' ...

No, I'm not letting you wriggle out of the article by writing this preview 

[Ian Williams]

Well Mike you have me fired up again, I have been back through my archive of pictures, I think I can safely say that the swiss car is very unlikely to be the 1923 JCC 200 car. I am reasonably convinced that it is the first of the three works cars and quite possibly the first definitive Brookland's design......or is it, the works cars had some unique features not seen on the other pre production cars, and we know that a major rethink went into the body design for the production version which became a much sturdier heavier body than these early cars. So are the Production cars the definitive Brooklands, and were any of these ever ever sold with the claimed 75mph certificates, there seems to be doubt about the numbers of certificates issued and I believe the few recorded ones in the Brooklands archives all appear to relate to the pre production cars. We may never know for sure but it is fascinating trying to unravel the story to seperate myth and legend from fact.

[Mike Costigan]

Now with a Bicester dealer with a 20% mark-up:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Austin-SEVEN/...Swtv5erpDW

[Tony Griffiths]

Now with a Bicester dealer with a 20% mark-up:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Austin-SEVEN/...Swtv5erpDW

Well spotted, Mike. Said dealer needs to get some full-page, high-resolution pictures up, the thumbnails used are worse than useless.