The People and the Austin 7 Episode 1 The Cars Outliving Their Owners

[LianeKate]

Welcome to the first in a series looking at pre-war Classic cars, focusing on the Austin Seven. However the importance of this series is to look at preserving all Classic cars According to the Austin Seven Association register there are 11,179 known Austin Sevens on the roads globally today. 


The current car owner dilemma is that the car’s are quite likely to outlive their ageing owners and community, so this series will bring experts and passionate owners and car clubs in the hope  to build a future proofing strategy to encourage younger generations to take guardianship of these lovely historical motorcars. 


In the next episode we find out how classic car owners across the world are sharing their passion for preserving heritage vehicles with younger generations, including Steve in Brisbane’s Ideas for car sharing and organising community cruises that will drive through thriving city locations in the hope to encourage younger classic car ownership in the future. 

Episode 1: The Cars Outliving Their Owners  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl3-X4CZpjM

[David Stepney]

Excellent Work, Liane!

[Mike Costigan]

Absolutely brilliant, well done Liane. One small point that I'm sure someone will pick up on eventually: I image there's quite a large number of those 11,000 survivors that aren't on the road!

[LianeKate]

Hi Mike, I know..that's what forms the start of episode 2 :-)

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Thank you David

[Ruairidh Dunford]

Absolutely brilliant, well done Liane.

The chap with the blue car is quite the studmuffin!

[John Mason]

Yes I second that absolutely brilliant. One thing that it brought home to me was the cost of buying and running an Austin Seven. Until I bought my Ruby I was totally ignorant as to running costs etc. I was unaware of such things as cherished suppliers of spares and thought owners had to search the earth for parts or alternatively have them made for them in expensive engineering shops. I was also amazed at the cost of insurance far cheaper than for my modern something that I wrongly thought would be much more than a new car.
All my friends and neighbours (until I explained things to them) were of the opinion I had won the lottery When I bought my seven as they were also of the opinion it was a very expensive hobby.
Perhaps we should push the low cost aspect of owning and running a seven. That is if you are prepared to repair and service it yourself.

John Mason