1936 Rosengart v Ruby

[Colin Morgan]

A Rosengart has appeared on ebay.  Interesting to compare with the 1936 Ruby?


(Don't know the seller, usual disclaimers.)

[Mike Costigan]

There are two on ebay at the moment, MMF 649, a saloon at a very optimistic price of £13,000, and the bright blue coupe YWG 135 at £6995. The latter was going the rounds a couple of years ago, failing to sell at H&H, Anglia Auctions and then at Bonhams.

   

   

[Tony Griffiths]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/235040407714?...R_zkvuKSYg

and

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404292894612?...R_7kvuKSYg

[Colin Morgan]

Thank you for adding the pictures and links.

The engine looks familiar, with the older manifold design, but the picture of the chassis shows that the rear suspension has been changed to semi-elliptic.  And the car has a boot, but the petrol tank is still under the bonnet.   


  Rosengart 1936 Chassis.jpg (Size: 203.62 KB / Downloads: 339)

[Mike Costigan]

The Rosengart gained semi-elliptic rear springs in, I think, 1933, but retained the scuttle-tank and three-speed gearbox throughout production. Both these are 1936 cars, so the specification is correct.

[Nick Salmon]

What if you were to add an American Austin/Bantam into the mix?

[Colin Morgan]

No Bantams were made between the end of 1933 and 1937.  The chassis from 1938 has the semi-elliptic rear suspension.


  Austin Bantam chassis 1938.jpg (Size: 156.74 KB / Downloads: 241)

[andrew34ruby]

With no running boards, and easy-clean wheels, the saloon looks more like a big seven. The idea of the bigger boot hung onto a Ruby might be good, but hanging the spare wheel on the outside looks a step too far.

Did the Rosengart have a bigger engine? The Ruby is low enough power to weight without hanging on a boot and the resultant luggage.

[Mike Costigan]

With no running boards, and easy-clean wheels, the saloon looks more like a big seven. The idea of the bigger boot hung onto a Ruby might be good, but hanging the spare wheel on the outside looks a step too far.

Did the Rosengart have a bigger engine? The Ruby is low enough power to weight without hanging on a boot and the resultant luggage.

That's not so very different to loading up the Ruby's luggage rack. As far as I know, the Rosengart still has the 750cc engine - coupled with the three-speed gearbox I suspect it will be slower than a Ruby.

[Colin Morgan]

Interesting to see the change to the rear suspension repeated on the American car. Lord Austin was perhaps keen to keep the Seven as originally designed, whereas others were ready to make greater changes to the chassis? Staying with the original rear suspension kept everything simpler - but, as anyone who has travelled in a Ruby will know, it did allow significant roll - especially these days on roundabouts at anything above 15mph. However, as this is a defining characteristic of the car, I cannot imagine a Ruby without it.