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Austinsevenfriends
Old Trials Special - Printable Version

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Old Trials Special - James Fraser - 04-01-2021

Hello
This is my first post here and as someone who is completely new to Austin Sevens please go easy on me!
I recently acquired what I assume is an Austin Seven based trials special when purchasing another car and some spares from the estate of Peter Binns, the famous VSCC man. I knew Peter before he died and on one occasion he mentioned that he had acquired this car 'a very long time ago' but unfortunately was no more specific than that and he had no log book or information of any previous owners. Peter died in 2015 aged 98 and I believe he had owned this car since at least the 1960s, if not before - but I could be wrong.

In spite of its rather dilapidated condition it does look quite nicely made and I have found the chassis number (C123220) and engine number (M123938). The differential casing has the numbers 8 11 30 stamped on it which I assume refers to a build date of 8th November 1930. Would this tie in with the chassis and engine numbers?

Parts of the suspension appear to be drilled and the engine has a Cambridge head fitted. The body is a tubular construction with aluminium floor pans. It doesn't look like the external skins were ever fitted - perhaps the conversion to a trials specials was never finished? The radiator is very wide and the dash (which is engine turned) has no speedo, presumably as it was only ever meant to be a trials special and not road going.

I know this is a real long shot but if anybody has any information on it - or any ideas on who might have built this car and when, I would love to hear of it. Also any other general advice would be much appreciated!
Many thanks indeed
James Fraser


RE: Old Trials Special - Mike Costigan - 04-01-2021

Engine and chassis numbers are probably matching, and are entirely consistent with a late-1930 build. The overall appearance is a bit too low and wide for a trials special; I suspect it was originally intended to fit one of the proprietary fibreglass bodies, or perhaps a purpose-built alloy body, for road use. Whatever the original intentions, that looks to be a fine basis for a fun vehicle.


RE: Old Trials Special - Steve kay - 04-01-2021

Either Mick Hobday or myself will ask David Filsell for details when and if we next see him. He and Binns did quite a lot together and will probably remember quite a lot.


RE: Old Trials Special - Reckless Rat - 04-01-2021

You're going to have a lot of fun with that. Welcome to the fold.


RE: Old Trials Special - Jacob Fowkes - 04-01-2021

That’s a seriously cool bit of kit.

With some ally side panels and fibreglass nose and tail you’d have a nice machine


RE: Old Trials Special - James Fraser - 04-01-2021

Many thanks for the very quick replies.
Mike - were these fibre glass bodies made by any particular aftermarket companies? Do any survive?
Steve - thanks for offering to reach out to David. I met him in the VSCC library once but didn’t think to ask him about this car as I was more focussed on another research topic and didn’t know I was going to end up with it! Typically bad timing on my part. Will be very interested if he can recall anything. 
Reckless Rat - thanks for the welcome!


RE: Old Trials Special - Ruairidh Dunford - 04-01-2021

I like it James! Can you post a photograph of the head and also the dials on the dashboard please?


RE: Old Trials Special - Paul N-M - 04-01-2021

Very interesting special. Would look good with a Lotus 6 style body and not too difficult to do. As said in other replies not a trials car. Looks very complete and should be fairly straight forward to rebuild. 
Good luck with it. Keep us updated with progress.


RE: Old Trials Special - Howard Wright - 04-01-2021

Hi James

As with all the other replies I think it’s a nice car. Definitely not a trials car given the dropped front axle. It is probably not VSCC eligible in its current form with the telescopic shock absorbers. It does have lots of other goodies like Bowden brakes.

Keep us posted as you work on it.

Cheers

Howard


RE: Old Trials Special - James Fraser - 05-01-2021

Hi Ruairidh
I hope these photos are detailed enough.
Best
James

Thanks again to everyone for all the help and positive comments. I assumed it was a trials car party because it was parked next to a pre-production Dellow in the barn. I suppose the lack of speedo just suggests it was being built with competition in mind as opposed to it being a road car.
I am happy to post more photos if there are any features people are especially interested in.
Best wishes
James