What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[Ruairidh Dunford]

With increasing difficulty, Alan.

[Tony Griffiths]

Get Daisy to train as an orthopaedic surgeon then, in your dotage, she'll be able to help you get into and out of it.

[Steve kay]

   

   

   

   

I hope that the meeting attended by Ruairidh will have recoded my apologies for absence, as I was otherwise engaged on the Clee Hills Trial. Isabella and Steve Knight had come all the way from Beccles for their first outing in their Ulster. This was certainly not a first outing for Jane and Alan Bee in their Chummy, which they had bought even further, from Bishop Auckland. Whilst Pets may be at Home, Adam Jones was attaching numbers to his Ulster. And a certain French car was bravely displaying a Seven Centenary badge. 

Whilst one image stays in portrait format, one insists on lying on its side. Swearing at it, even in French, achieves nothing.

[Henry Harris]

I have had this, unused, for decades. It doesn't compare favourably with the Austin one.

   

   

   

[Hugh Barnes]

Fascinating - but it was only 2/6d...

I have no idea how old mine is. Is it pre-war and contemporary to when the cars were being made? Were Austin still producing 'new' spares for the cars post-war? With hundreds of thousands of cars still about (presumably) and the tooling available, it must have made sense to supply the market - particularly with how often decokes and rebores were taking place back then...

[Duncan Grimmond]

12.5 pee! You could have bought 5 Park Drive (1/-), a pint of bitter(1/3) and had 3d change for that in 1966!

[Mike Costigan]

I think 3d was enough to post a letter...

[Duncan Grimmond]

IIRC first and second class post was introduced in 1964? 5d first, 4d second?

[David Cochrane]

I think it was 1968?

[Reckless Rat]

Well down here in Rekkersland the sun is shining and there's no salt on the roads despite the bitter north wind that's blowing, so I thought it was an ideal opportunity to get the RP out and blow off some of the dust. Infuriatingly it started first time and then continued to run without a stutter despite the E10 that's been in the tank for several months. I really should have taken the fan belt off because with the four blader it doesn't warm up very quickly when it's cold, but it didn't seem to make much difference. By the time I'd got to the end of the valley the oil pressure had dropped to the normal warm engine range.

No running with the window down and elbow out however. It was full use of the Hobson Perfect window winder in the "up" direction, air conditioning vents firmly closed and a beany hat over the ears (and this is a saloon!). Shame the ends of the window winder can't be folded in - it always comes to a stop right against my knee, unless I drop the glass a tad.

Nice run round the block, up and over a couple of small 'cols' and back home in time for tea and buns. I did check the oil before I set off, but needn't have bothered. It was only about 1/4" down from the full mark, and that's after about 500 miles from the last change. Nice one, Ruairidh. Proper job!

Keep 'em rolling!