What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[Tony Griffiths]

Preparing for week away next week with Hereford Austin Seven Club annual trip. Not going too far, Mold in North Wales. A reasonable base for striking out in different directions each day. The pile is slightly smaller than last year, none of which was required at that time! Still one never knows....


Roly

It's perhaps worth remembering that an A7 in decent, standard, unmodified condition can be very reliable. Fifty years ago a group of us used to take our Austins on extended tours of France and carried just a simple tool kit. We took no spares whatsoever, not even a set of points, and the tool kits remained unopened. Were we lucky? Possibly, but it never entered our heads to do otherwise as the cars were generally in daily use and clocking up a considerable mileage. Of course, we maintained them well and that perhaps was the secret. The only relief at the end of a long journey was that the crankshaft had remained in one piece.... I recall a similar jaunt in Mike Costigan's 12/4; do you know, I'm convinced we had just an adjustable spanner and a screwdriver with us - if that.