(26-11-2020, 07:55 AM)Tony Johns Wrote: One unusual feature was the side curtains were in the style of a retractible Holland blind mounting on two pieces of timber built into the non fold down hood.
Were non fold down hoods a "thing" in Australia back then? As well as the A7s I have a 1928 Chevrolet tourer which was imported from WA. The hood frame joints have been welded on this, I'd presumed to stop the squeaks/rattles which are part an parcel on early open tops. I'm not looking forward to the job of cutting the welds whilst preserving what is a decent hood at the moment.
Stuart the sprung rollup curtains were not common and the overhead brackets that supported them necessarily immobilised the hood frame. I believe they were manufactured by Jaken, also manufacturers of solid glass curtains.
Hood frames tend to sag due to joint wear or incorrect tension in the recovery process, I have not seen a hood frame welded solid however many that were held up by a strap or hook or some other contrivance. It is likely that releasing the welds will expose these faults and you may have to resort to frame straps. At least the hood will then fold, good luck
In 1978, the Victorian branch of the Vintage Sports Car Club of Australia organised a race meeting to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1928 AGP held at Phillip Island. It was a two day event with Saturday devoted to driving cars around closed public roads that formed the original circuit. Split into three classes. The first, cars than competed in the original races from 1928 to 1935. The second group consisted of similar cars but without the race history and the third group were cars that the spectators would have used to get there.
Thanks to my good friend Ken Cooke, (750 Motor Club) I have a program signed by Colonial Waite that is shown below. Although I was on the organising committee driving my Ulster on the Saturday and racing my S/C Austin on the closed circuit where the World Championship motor cycle races are now seen on television. I was out numbered by the Bugatti owners and that is why there is no image of Waite and the Austin on the cover.
Bill Sheehan contributed to the program with this story on the domination of the Austins in early AGP's.
When I questioned the illustrated mode of entry into the chummy I was not entirely being flippant. It is many years since my entry into any car was not modified by the ravishes of old age, and in any case I do not have a chummy to practice on, but what is the normal technique? Surely persons do not stand on the running board with the right foot?
04-12-2020, 08:00 AM (This post was last modified: 05-12-2020, 05:09 AM by Tony Johns.
Edit Reason: More information
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My friend Arthur Morris from Brisbane, has just shared two very interesting photos. Both were taken in Brisbane and the first one of the Sports bodied Austin with flared guards was taken outside Diane Hiley's grandmothers house in the Brisbane suburb of Myrtletown. The dished steering wheel and 5" lamps suggest 1927/28 however Diane mentioned her parents Norman and Vera Schluter, the owners of both Austins were married in 1933 and the Sports Austin was replaced with a four seater in 1936 with the birth of her elder brother Brian.
It is worth noting that the windscreen on the tourer was designed to fold flat from the bottom of the pillars or open out from the top. Both Austins had locally Brisbane built bodywork.
Tony - These Sports were built in Brisbane, possibly by Charles Hope?. Allan Tyrell's Father bought one new from Austin Distributors back then, I had the remains of one including the wings, there was a restored one at the Ballarat National A7 Rally, there's also one here in the Melbourne Club, so they were apparently not a rare body. Great photo of a nice car. Cheers, Bill in Oz
05-12-2020, 12:22 AM (This post was last modified: 05-12-2020, 12:24 AM by Tony Griffiths.)
Now, that's a really delightful-looking 2-seater!
I wondered, Tony, as the photograph of the photograph was taken at a slight angle, if putting the perspective back to nearly as correct as possible might make a small difference to the car's lines. It seems not....
09-12-2020, 03:20 PM (This post was last modified: 09-12-2020, 03:21 PM by Mike Costigan.)
Tony Johns has sent me a number of images from a 1923 edition of The Coach and Body Builder. No wonder most Australian Sevens were locally bodied; £50 duty on the bodywork must represent close to a fifty-per-cent increase in the cost of importing a complete car!
