Accessories

[Tony Griffiths]

What "period" accessories do you have on your car?

[Steve kay]

There have been anorak debates about Boingy boingy springs, whether Clark's Nobby springs were the originators, and who made the volute springs still to be seen under early Sevens. The item I must now try to find is the Time of Trip clock. Putting the Halda that is sitting on a shelf into the glove compartment of the Ruby might be fun, but would provide yet another reason to be banned from a VSCC nav rally. The Time of Trip, however, would be a prefect period accessory. Quick, where can we find a box of NOS Times of Trip? Team Longbridge would have further assistance in beating the Abingdon losers on Ian Grace's event, or finally keeping the Inter Reg Trophy out of the ands of the Rileys!

[Gordon Puzey]

My Chummy is fitted with the J.A.R oil filler and I still have the original box. 

  JAR 1.JPG (Size: 527.34 KB / Downloads: 844)      
A very useful accessory. 
Gordon

[David Stepney]

The only accessory my car has is an original Desmo door mirror.

[Hugh Barnes]

I'm just about to fit this to the Chummy. Eversure of Birmingham...

I would love a gear lever extension, though...

   

   

[Tony Griffiths]

The "Minute" clock made in the USA looks interesting. Might ebay.com be a good place to save a search?

[Steve Jones]

My Saloon has a pair of the Step Mats, Rear Luggage Rack and Off Side mounted Rear 'Stop' Light. I recall that Malcom found the Stop Light advertised in a 1930's Brown Bros Catalogue but I forget the manufacturer. It works fine on a standard type stop light switch and those that have followed me say it is quite bright and very effective. There was a car at Morton with a similar stop light.

   

   

   

Steve

[Malcolm Parker]

I seem to remember that Steve's 'STOP' lamp was made by Halfords.  I have an advert for it in a pre-war motoring magazine, I will scan and post it in due course.
Regarding the Time of Trip clock, I don't think it would be much use on a nav rally, all you have to do is start a stop-watch at the start of each section.   when I was doing VSCC nav rallies back in the days when my eyesight was good enough to read a map in a moving car, I made a set of average speed rings to fix to the clock in the dashboard of my 1931 saloon.   I read about them in S C H Davis's excellent book 'Rallies and Trials'.
You need a ring for each average speed, I made six from 16 mph to 26 mph, the range usually used in VSCC rallies.
At the start of a section set at say 22 mph, you put the ring on the clock with the start arrow on the minute hand.   As time elapses, the minute hand indicates how many miles you should have covered.  In the photos below, the distance covered would be about 10 miles.
I tried it on a couple of Meashams but found that driving in the dark in February, with a navigator who was prone to nodding off, it was a distraction too many!   As for a 26 mph average, in an Austin 7 that was going some on the Measham.
           

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I need to reply to my own post!

I have just realised that the speedo on my photos above clearly show that the car was doing 65 mph when I took the photos.

You can conclude that:

1.  I was behind time on that section and trying to make up time.
2.  The speedo always reads 65 mph.
3.  The speedo needle has been permamently strained by excessive speed.
4.  The speedo is very accurate as long as you know how many mph to add onto the reading.

The answer is 4.   You need to add 19 mph onto the speedo reading except when the car is at rest.  It is of course absurd to imagine an Austin 7 saloon doing 84 mph.

When I was doing rallies in the car the speedo was easier to read!

[Duncan Grimmond]

On the subject of proprietary accessories I have no shame in reminding readers of the availability of tinplate or brass wing mounted tanks, with or without mounting brackets...    

[Steve kay]

Being a happy customer for a wing tank, Duncan, might one suggest that your next project is the extension funnel for magneto engine oil filling? Malcolm, I am most impressed by your navvying accessories, never seen any before. Nav  rallying in a Frogeye or MGB used the Halda, in a twin cylinder Visa was a combination of a stopwatch and desparate  guesswork. In Austin Sevens driving as fast as one dared was about right, never arrived early at a TC. Did you really have sections intended for 26 mph on a Measham? How your navvy ever nodded off is a mystery, I would have thuoght that at such a pace through the frosty night they would have been overwhelmed by Adrenalin and barely able to sleep for days afterwards.