Friends' Gallery Picture of the Month - October 2023

[Mike Costigan]

The RAC provided Austin Sevens for their senior officers; this is a Chief Superintendent's car, registered in London July 1938. Note that it is fitted with bumpers front and rear - not a feature of the standard catalogued model.

[Colin Morgan]

My car started off as a July 1938 tourer like the one above - also London registered (EYV) - though it is now a February 37 Ruby after a body swap in the late 1950s. (The very-late Ruby broader cowl, concealed hinge bonnet, and later front wings are still on the car.) The body came from a high mileage car as the current engine block is from Feb 37 and it has been rebored, sleeved, and rebored again to 40 thou. From the lack of wear in the drive-train even now, the tourer had not done as many miles - which is probably why this chassis was chosen to have another more practical body fitted. However, from looking at the Register, a full body replacement seems rare in surviving Sevens?

Can anyone see if there is a fixed starting handle fitted, please? It is not clear in the picture. A fixed type would be expected with the bumpers in place. My car still has the removeable starting handle - works okay with the front bumper, but I don't think the factory would have built it that way, so the bumpers were probably added at the same time as the Ruby body.

Was this taken in 1938/9, I wonder? The number plate is of the pressed aluminium type - as they are on my car - so perhaps they are original after all.

[Jeff Taylor]

Is the starting handle any clearer in this enlargement ?


  Screenshot 2023-10-02 at 22.40.13.png (Size: 498.84 KB / Downloads: 438)

[Peter Naulls]

A "broader cowl" Colin? do educate me, I thought they were all the same.

The tourer looks to have a removable handle, difficult to see though.

[Colin Morgan]

Still can't work out what is happening with the starting handle - but it doesn't look like a removeable one that leaves a square end.

As I understand it, the 1939 model year Ruby - around Autumn 1938 - was given a slightly wider cowl with a different attachment to the bonnet. The badge became 'Austin' rather than 'Austin Seven' around this time too? But perhaps not, as I have never managed to compare an early cowl side by side with a later one.

However, it says in Appendix 3, List of Modifications in Wyatt (p187) - June 1938 - "Radiator and cowl to fit wider bonnet" - from Chassis No. 286462.

[Peter Naulls]

Very interesting, there's always something new to learn.

[Tony Press]

An interesting post on PreWarCar

An endangered species with an extinct Austin - PreWarCar

It also includes a nice looking replica from Robin Lawton.

Car Austin 7 ‘Roll Top’ Newspaper Delivery Van 1930 for sale - PreWarCar

Another great 'Car of the Month'.

[Malcolm Parker]

A "broader cowl" Colin? do educate me, I thought they were all the same.

The tourer looks to have a removable handle, difficult to see though.

My friend Geoff Roe, who is an authority on Austin 7's and usually right when it comes to the minute details, reckons that the late Ruby and the Big Seven shared the same scuttle, so they possibly used the same radiator cowl.

[Peter Naulls]

That's interesting Malcolm. Perhaps someone with a late car can enlighten us further. I'm not suggesting Geoff is wrong but I wonder why they would make such fundamental changes to a car who's days were presumably numbered (even without the impending war)? If the scuttle is different, what about the screen? or the doors?

[Parazine]

No. definitely not. I had a 1939 Ruby, which had a perfectly standard Ruby scuttle. I currently own a 1938 Big 7, which has a perfectly standard Big 7 scuttle which is not the same as a Ruby.

The 1939 Model Year Ruby might have slightly different/wider cowl, the fixings for the "hidden hinge" bonnet were certainly different.

The Big 7 cowl is similar but different as it lies at a different angle, i.e. the top slopes back towards the windscreen more. The chrome trim around the bars is the same on both Big 7 and Ruby.

My friend Geoff Roe, who is an authority on Austin 7's and usually right when it comes to the minute details, reckons that the late Ruby and the Big Seven shared the same scuttle, so they possibly used the same radiator cowl.