What have you done today with your Austin Seven

[Chris KC]

I admit I had to look it up to know this, but there are different rules (and markings) for "unloading", which is not the same thing as "waiting". (Whether dropping a parcel off is "unloading" i couldn't say).

https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/road-mar...strictions.

My personal grumpy-old-man view is that the Highway Code seems to be getting increasingly complex, vague and counter-intuitive, the likely result of which is that people will increasingly ignore it.

[Dave Mann]

Quite right Chris, most pedestrians don't know of the new rules which came in a year ago, I'd be a rich man if I got a £1.00 for every time I stopped for a pedestrian when exiting or entering a side road and they just look at me as though it's a trap.    

[Tony Griffiths]

A poem by Mr A.I. Austin

Cars parked on the footpath, Illegally they stand,

Pedestrians forced to walk, Into traffic unplanned.

Mothers pushing prams, Dodging cars with care,

No space for them to pass, It's a danger they can't bear.

Pavements were made for walking, Not for cars to park,

Drivers, please think twice, Before you leave your mark.

Consider others' safety, And find a proper spot,

Let's make the footpaths safe, For all who use the lot.

So let's share the road together, And show some courtesy,

Let's keep our pavements clear, For a safer community.

---

There once was a young man called Mann

Who drove an Austin 7 (but not a van)

He parked with great ease

In spaces that others couldn't squeeze

For his tiny car you see, there was always a plan, man.

Quite right Chris, most pedestrians don't know of the new rules which came in a year ago, I'd be a rich man if I got a £1.00 for every time I stopped for a pedestrian when exiting or entering a side road and they just look at me as though it's a trap.

[andrew34ruby]

Today I haven't driven on any pavements to park or otherwise but took both Austins to fill up with E10 ready for Drive-it Day on Sunday.

   

[Duncan Grimmond]

We regularly (ie ,daily) have cars parking on the pavement outside our front door, delivering/collecting children to and from the school opposite. Most of them could walk but it would seem 750 yards along a safe pavement is too far for their little legs. Often it would be impossible to get out of the door but as we rarely use it...
The road is only just 5200mm wide between kerb stones, probably enough for an ox cart and a pony and rap and when we moved here 35 years ago tractors were considerably smaller than the land traction engines which cannot get past a parked car without mounting the pavement. Window boxes have been destroyed!

I would be going out on drive it day but I have to prepare for an MoT which I had not noticed till I went to renew the tax, stupid boy!

Steve, don't take it personally, I was just pulling the string! I don't have a garage at home, I'm spoiled by the huge yard outside my workshop (but that's on an industrial park 8 miles away).

[andrew34ruby]

Driving an Austin through Harrogate today I came across Mr Hoyle again collecting for charity. The 1933 green Austin seven today.
   

[Howard Wright]

Hi All

I’ve been working on the Brookfields getting ready for a possible drive out tomorrow (Drive it Day). However the weather forecast is not good ……. BUT I’ll be happy to test my new hardtop!

It sort of turns the car into a coupe although I’ve not thought about side screens yet.  Before anyone comments on the poor paint finish.  I only put the top coat on this morning and haven’t finished cutting it back. 

Cheers

Howard


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[Tony Griffiths]

Finished a number of fiddly jobs on my 1930 Chummy, and I'm now about halfway now to getting it back to as it should be. The assembly of the screen was a 4-hour struggle as various curves and fittings refused to line up. It's still not 100%, but as near as it ever will be, I think. Fitted new rear brake linings and adjusted everything - I now have a turnbuckle on the NS rear which makes things easier. Took it for a run and all seems OK; the drums were all just slightly warm and the brakes effective. One good point; previously, upon letting the clutch in, there was a most disturbing "k-klonk", as though a key or something similar in the transmission had broken. It turned out, thank goodness, to be nothing more than a loose silencer. Now to tackle (or have tackled) a complete re-trim.

[David Stepney]

At the back end of last month, as some of you may recall, I made a plastic spacer to take up the slack in my torque tube mounting, working on a suggestion made by Bob Culver who had wondered whether modern plastics would provide a solution. Well, I can report that it does but only for about 300 miles. On Tuesday my car started to make the now familiar knock that indicates that the torque tube mounting is loose.

So, once again, I pulled the prop shaft off and began to investigate the problem a little more deeply, and with a bit more courage. I decided that the sensible way forward was to take the whole mounting off, which involved removing the axle drive flange. Remembering that these are usually very difficult to remove with the distinct possibility of distorting the flange, I approached the task with great trepidation. I managed to undo the nut, which was tight, and attached my three jawed puller, tightening the centre bolt as much as I dared, only to discover that I had left my hammer with which to give the bolt a good blow on the bench.  As I extracted myself from under the car, there was a clatter and the puller and flange was on the floor! I heaved a sigh of relief and pulled the mounting off. 

Once off the car, I found that the plastic ring I had made had disintegrated. I am aware that many of us have filed the back face of the mounting to take up the wear, but, once again my natural caution and fear of messing things up got the better of me, especially as I had no spare mounting I case I got it wrong. After several cups of tea and cigarettes, I found a piece of 1 1/2 mm steel plate and made a dished washer to fit snugly between the ball on the torque tube and the front of the mounting. Not having the skills exhibited by many of our brethren on the forum, this took quite some time and indeed head scratching (l am a retired lawyer after all) but eventually I got it the right shape and fitted it. It is early days yet to see how the Mk 2 repair (bodge?) will work, but the knock has gone and the joint appears not to bind at any point. The car has now done about 100 miles since I completed the work on Thursday and a quick check under the car this afternoon reassured me that all remained well. I shall monitor the joint and report back. If it does work, it would appear to a viable alternative repair to taking a file to the joint, which, somehow, I feel is a bit drastic. (Or is that just me?)

[Ruairidh Dunford]

   

I took the above chassis to collect lots of shiny parts and started final assembly in this unusual crossover model of AD.

It was so nice it never came off the trailer and at the end of play was looking really quite complete.

                           

I have used the trailer for a number of jobs recently, it brings the cars up to a perfect height, for me, to work on.