RN or RP

[Tiger]

I have a friend who is starting to restore a Austin 7.
We are not sure which model it is.
If someone could indicate the main difference that would be great.
Regards
            Tim
I will try to get a photo

[bob46320]

RN (mostly) had the fuel tank under the bonnet RP had the fuel tank at the rear of the car. Body number was stamped onto the top of the tunnel just behind the gearbox. I say mostly as towards the end of the production run, RNs were starting to use the newer RP bits and bobs. My registered RN Oct 1932 is front tank.

[Barry Townsend]

Most RN's had three speed gearboxes as far as I'm aware although some later ones had four speeds and the fuel tank was under the bonnet. If i recall correctly the RP was four speed and a rear mounted fuel tank with a fuel pump. I'm sure members with a lot more knowledge than I will prove me wrong. I have a 1931 RN

[Mike Costigan]

The RN has vertical seams either side of the rear window, the RP does not; the waist moulding on the A-pillar is a simpler shape on the RN.


  RN.jpg (Size: 45.59 KB / Downloads: 519)  
  RP.jpg (Size: 33.54 KB / Downloads: 515)

RN on left, RP on right.

[Ruairidh Dunford]

The mouldings shown in Mike's photographs are the only sure way of telling if the car is an RN or an RP as the last of the RNs did not have the vertical mouldings either side of the rear window.

[Robert Leigh]

The RN body was wider and comes out further on the rear wings than it does on the RP. Late RNs had rear tank, sidedraught carburettor, 4 speed gearbox, dashboard the same as the RP and the bakelite covered steering wheel boss.
The body is the defining thing.

[Mike Costigan]

The use of terms like RN and RP is now common practice, but remember these are body codes, not model codes.

[Mike Costigan]

The mouldings shown in Mike's photographs are the only sure way of telling if the car is an RN or an RP as the last of the RNs did not have the vertical mouldings either side of the rear window.

So, did the last RNs without vertical seams retain the early A-post moulding, and and did they still have the wider body, or were they in fact stamped RN but with RP-type bodies?

[Robert Leigh]

They retained the earlier A-posts and had the wider body. I know because I had one for some years in the seventies.

[Reckless Rat]

I suspect that following the design changes in late 1932 the factory was using up existing stock of body stampings before introducing fully the RP model, hence the " hybrid" cars without rear seams, rear tank, 4 speed box and other " new model features. They were producing a fair number of cars by this time, for example my RP from mid 1933 is already body number 10454