Friends' Gallery Picture of the Month - February 2024

[stuartu]

My fashion consultant confirms that both the young ladies’ dresses appear to be the same. This would suggest to me that a considerable degree of premeditation has gone into the composition. I suspect that Robin Boyce is of the same mind.

Regards,

Stuart

[Nick Salmon]

It is a little known fact that Austin offered new owners of the Seven a choice in who would remove the dust from their purchase prior to delivery. 

For the hoi-polloi, girls from Birmingham tenements flicked a piece of used lace curtain over the bodywork (the cars', not their own). This was included in the price.

More affluent owners, of discerning taste, could specify the services of 'nice gels' to delicately flick an alpaca-wool cloth over the paintwork - while attired in sleek dresses with a-la-mode footwear. This added a guinea to the price. Two guineas if the new owner wished to view the process in person.

Quite who would specify the services of the hairy-arsed blokes has been lost in the mists of time.

[Tony Griffiths]

There's more than a good chance that several pictures would have been taken and the most suitable chosen for publication. If my brief photographic career at college was anything to go by, those girls would have been playing up for the camera and some shots might have been rather 'unsuitable' for the staid image of Austin. Such a shame that they are now lost.

[Peter Naulls]

I note the oil stains on the floor under the 2-seater!

I agree they are vans on the left but the one behind the 2-seater - that has quite a different shaped roof.

[Tony Griffiths]

Found them! Long-lost pictures of two secret export Austin lines never before seen. There was even an RR-type department for the final preparation of the radiator shell and headlamps. When Lord Herbert saw them he had to be revived with smelling salts - and sacked the photographer.

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And one more - a secret prototype 7 on the 1947 'Lilliputian Line'.

[Nick Salmon]

Well done Tony. But I do find this AI stuff a bit creepy!

[Tony Griffiths]

Well done Tony. But I do find this AI stuff a bit creepy!

It certainly can be! Even though it's still in the 'crystal radio' stage, it's remarkable what comes up - even with filters in place. Once complete the resolution is pretty low, but several programs will enhance it - "Upscale" seems pretty good - and then one can work on them in Photoshop more easily.

[John Mason]

Just out of shot of the photograph is a Calendar on the wall for 1934/5 so it shows it must be one or the other. Still makes for a good photo nearly as good as Tony’s.

John Mason.