Fitting into a Swallow Saloon

[Colin Morgan]

This morning I finally had the chance to see if I could fit into a Swallow saloon, having admired them since I was small - I am now 6ft tall, but fairly slim.  The answer is yes, but I cannot get in and out at all elegantly because the door aperture is not overly generous, and so have to back in and lever myself out.  Once in the car, it would have been driveable - I could operate the pedals and find the gears okay with the almost horizontal gear stick.  But it was very small inside, with a low ceiling and low top to the windscreen - it is easy to forget how little these cars are until you see them (compared to a Ruby) - but so perfectly formed they have masses of charm.  So, I will have to stick with my Ruby.   

It was a lovely original old car, not perfect in all repects, but it had the smoothest running Seven engine I have heard in a long time.  I had not met the current owner before even though he has taken the car to Tatton Park and other places I frequent, but he made me very welcome when I went to view the car - it's the Mk II that has been for sale for a while on carandclassic.   

Colin

[Ian M]

I, too, have always been fascinated by the Swallow saloons, but share your concerns about the apparently small amount of space inside. Interesting to hear of your own experience with one today.

[Andy Bennett]

I am 6ft 3 and folded myself into one, once...
I could reach all necessary bits and pieces but fear that I may have lost a leg or 2 to circulation problems by the time I got to the end of the road.
As you say that's the reality of a correctly proportioned car on a small chassis and the difference in stature of you average man 80 years ago.

Andy B

[Colin Morgan]

All Sevens have considerable charisma. But if I wanted to have a car just to admire, this would take some beating - definitely an original work of art. But driving them has always been a key part of the enjoyment for me.

Colin

[AustinWood]

I bought my Nippy from a man trading Austins from The Barn about 1985. It had a lot of problems. By coincidence a man at the end of my road in Cambridge bought a Swallow saloon from the same place the same week.
The man was very big and I could never work out how if got in and out. He looked to be wider round the middle than the door aperture. However I saw him driving it about but am dubious whether he could control it!
That car also had problems. The rear brake cables had been changed to rods with really weird effects on braking and handling. Ray Walker quickly converted them back to cables and fixed various other problems too.

[Howard Wright]

Hi Jim

I'm intrigued to know how a rod brake conversion would affect the handling? And if the late Rubys had similar brake handling problems?

I've kind of wondered about fitting rods to the 29 special I am building and would love to know what design issues there would be?

David Blessley, a founding member of the South Wales Club has a nice Swallow and I remember him doing the (now defunct due to insurance) driving test at our annual rally a few years back.  From memory he didn't do that well as he couldn't see easily out of the small windows when reversing and weaving through cones!

Cheers

Howard

[Bob Culver]

A smooth 2 bearing engine often means the spark is very retarded! The model for access is the RP with enormous doors. None of the bucket seats are designed fro modern diameters.

[Ian Williams]

Howard, you will probably find that in the case Jim describes someone simply replaced the cables with rods, this would adversely affect the braking because you would have lost the fulcrum present in the cable. The later full grilling cars have a completely different system, very short cross shaft, rod up the center of the chassis, fulcrum at rear crossmember, swivel at rear axle and straight pull girling actuators. They are very effective, here are some pictures, the rear cross member has been damaged in the last picture


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[AustinWood]

Yes Ian, you've got it correct.
The rods went straight from the brake levers on the end of the cross shaft to the levers on the back plate.
The fulcrum on the cables is important because it makes the rear section of the cable follow the line of the spring.
With the rods as they were the flexing of the spring makes the direct distance between the levers change.
In this case with heavy driver on one side the car was at an angle even before it hit any bumps. I think that the back brakes were being applied at random as the rear wheels went over bumps and the springs rebounded.
The late Ruby brakes are laid out so that the rods move in parallel to the torque tube so there's no interaction between brakes and suspension.

[Bob Culver]

The full Girling system is effective largely because the actuators float as a hydraulic system. One shoe does not limit the travel of other.
There is a local RN/RP with a home made rods  at the rear. Substitutes for the cables with lever pivots in place of the brass eyes, like the lower photo.
Dunno the logic but I recall being socked 15/- about 1961 to have a cable ends fitted to a new cable; a helluva lot in todays money.