Sevens I have known and loved .................. Purely for my own delectation I thought that it would be fun to write a few lines on the various Sevens which have, at various times, been part of my life. There have been three. Well four actually, but one came and went as several boxes of bits, and even the log book went missing somewhere along the line so that I do not even have a record of the number.
'Bunny' YW 214 1953-57 Of the three serious contenders for my affections the first was a Cup Model which belonged to my great friend, sadly no longer with us, Colin Hoile. The car was YW 214, and always known as Bunny since there was a small silver rabbit on the radiator cap. Red in the days when I used to maintain it for him - I was the one in engineering - in exchange for quite a lot of use of the splendid little vehicle. It is still about, now brown and very smart, and living in the Midlands. I saw it at Beaulieu in '03. Colin had the car originally as everyday transport until he aspired to a company Morris Minor. I was serving an engineering apprenticeship with the old AEC company, and thus knew all there was to know about anything with pump-up tyres. Well that was the theory - practice was somewhat different. My first ever outing with Colin and Bunny is recorded in a separate piece entitled Perryman Platz elsewhere on this site. Now would perhaps be a good time for you to read this saga to put things in perspective. It should be pointed out that this episode was the first time that I had ever sat in an Austin Seven. Bunny was the first vehicle from which I extracted the engine for a major overhaul, which I am glad to say was a success - a major opus at that period of ones experience. The good news was that I lived at Barnes, within the loop of the Boat Race course, and thus my local purveyor of all things Austin Seven, just up the road at Kew, was the splendid and amusing Bill Williams of Cambridge Engineering. Bunny was used quite hard on rallies and particularly at numerous driving test events, where we both competed. The engine got very tired and this was the cause of the overhaul. As you will see from the photos, Gordon England drove the car at Goodwood at the Festival of Motoring in 1963. There is another picture of Bunny taken earlier on the same lap and it appears on page 175 of the Chris Harvey's book 'Austin Seven'
'Henrietta' HW 7758 1929 RK Saloon 1958-63 Ultimately my apprenticeship came to an end, and with it my deferment from National Service. I was spirited away to spend two years in REME. Not all bad it has to be said, for in the spring of 1958 I purchased Henrietta from the squady in the next bed. Twenty-five pounds bought me not only the car, but also a complete spare (in pieces) which a good friend with a van took me to Bath to collect. The regular Saturday lunchtime trips from Bordon to London that then ensued, four-up for part of the journey, were exciting to say the least. Henrietta was (for it is my sad belief that she is now no longer with us) was an aluminium box of 1929 vintage. Black, tatty, and much loved, Henrietta saw to it that I did not miss a single Saturday night at home for the rest of my tour at Bordon. After six months I was posted to Germany, and Henrietta was laid up to await my demob fourteen months hence. In fact it was over two years before her little wheels pounded the streets of London once more. I am ashamed to say that at that time an Austin Seven was considered purely as transport, and she did not receive the reverence that 7's now enjoy. I would really have liked an Austin Seven special, but time and funds precluded thus, and as a result I spent what pennies I could afford on making Henrietta go as fast as possible. The ultimate specification was along the lines of an engine at 30 thou' oversize, reworked tappets, flowed ports, bigger inlet valves, aluminium inlet manifold and a Solex carburettor from a Renault Dauphine (remember them?), a much later cylinder head with better placed fourteen millimeter plugs, a bunch of bananas to get the gas away, lightened flywheel with stronger clutch springs, a four speed box, 4.00x19 fronts and 4.50x17 rears, BRG over black livery and as much bravery as you could manage. This all took place during our courting days, and no journey was considered too far. In fact distance was never even considered and we just got in the car and went. Many were the adventures! Have you stood in the middle of the traffic around Hyde Park Corner, in the rush hour, whilst pouring in the spare can of petrol? Have you been without a starter motor for three months, when the only means of starting was to balance the back axle on a piece of three by three timber of suitable length, whilst spinning the off-side back wheel by hand in top gear? Have you been without a windscreen for a fortnight, unable to afford a new one, wearing goggles, and with a piece of rope tied between the interior door handles to keep the doors from flying open due to air pressure (having punched and broken the screen in frustration after the seventh stall caused by a blocked jet)? Have you boiled on Redhill due to a broken fan belt, taken the inner tube out of the spare wheel and cut it into rubber bands to make replacements? Have you stood polishing the car in the middle of a forest at three o'clock in the morning whilst marshalling on a rally? Have you been devoid of a hand brake ratchet and screwed a garden gate bolt to the floor to keep the brake on? (And talked you way through an MOT ten year test like it?) Have you indulged in a traffic light Grand Prix with a Ford Special which lasted all the way from Mortlake to Ealing via Chiswick and Brentford. The Ford won, but only by about fifty yards. I have always reckoned that he pulled a flunker over Chiswick Bridge! These my children are some of the things of which Austin Seven folklore is made! Just some of the events which occurred whilst I had Henrietta. Ultimately I ran out of half shafts, and the car got stranded at my parents. When they eventually moved in 1963 I had to sell it. So after stiff negotiation with the new owners father, who had some splendid words in his vocabulary with which to describe me, twelve pounds and ten shillings changed hands. And that was that.
'Veronica'VG 2331 1929 Chummy 2003 - Cut to the present as they say. Family been and gone, a drift into retirement, a sudden urge to again have the thrill of an Austin Seven - you know how it is. So I started a search for another car. I found a near replacement on the web but when I enquired it had already gone. This was probably just as well as the man wanted far too much coin of the realm for it and I might have been tempted. A further search over several weeks finally produced Veronica. She lived near Norwich. I went to see her, dithered, and finally bought her. One of my better decisions I feel. Jim Thompson of Pioneer Cars trailered her home for me, and a long list was made. Now, after two years I have caught up with all the jobs which I considered important. When I decided to enter the ranks again I joined the Solent Austin Seven Club. This was indeed a good move, and has been the medium through which Christine and I have had the most enormous fun. Most recently we did the Austin Seven Brighton Run, and again you can read of this escapade elsewhere on the website.
Mike Whittome May 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
