My Story
I'm not to sure how my
racer came about,……………………….
but to cut a long story short Bev Keable my
Seven
‘Guru’ and myself decided that it would be fun to build an Austin Seven racing
car in the
style of the 1923 Captain Waite works car. We did not set out to build a
replica but our own
interpretation of a Racer from the earliest days of the Austin Seven, nothing trick on
the chassis
or
engine at this stage. It also had to be built with the resources that Bev had at hand (at this
point I should say that due to illness I didn't put a spanner
on the project, but did source most of
the parts).
We
used a couple of photos of the Waite car from various books. It was only later
on completion
that
Source
book, Doh!
One
of the criteria was that the Vintage Sports Car Club would accept the car for
their events,
which means applying for approval from the clubs eligibility committee.
Rather than find they
would not accept the work we planned, I wrote to them explaining our
objective and seeking
approval for the project, this I obtained.
The VSCC do issue guidelines on what is
acceptable in building cars plus separate
supplementary details for Austin Sevens.
The
club rightly disapproves of Saloons being destroyed /dismantled to make a racer
or special.
As
we wanted a Vintage Racer we needed to find a short wheelbase chassis built
before the cut
off date of
found one, then there would have been the dilemma about turning it into our
racer. We were
fortunate to find the a rebuilt SWB rolling chassis in the ads in the Austin
Seven
Owners Club magazine. We purchased this from Dave Plank of Maidenhead.
Dave has a mouth
watering collection of immaculate Seven’s and had built up our 1929 chassis for
a van project ,
then decided it was surplus to requirements. It was built to a high standard
and saved us a lot of
time and work. It also saved us quite possibly money over renovating one
from scratch, as costs
do
mount up.
Dave was kind enough to trailer the chassis to
Walton were it was hidden from my wife Val at a
very good friends house, as my garage contained my Austin Seven
Cambridge
Special and Bev was short of space re building his Bullnosed Morris Cowley, the body
work was stored in his front bedroom at the time.
The
basis for our 1927 magneto engine was purchased again via the A7OC magazine
from
another Austin Seven
friend, Andy Handing who lives just around the corner from me.
John
Milne kindly supplied a beautifully rebuilt magneto (hens teeth are easier to
find). All other
components came from the usual suspects, the wonderfully helpful spares suppliers
dotted
around the country who help us keep our Sevens going.
The
day came to move the rolling chassis to Bev’s house
approx a mile away from where it had
been stored. We chose to push the car on the road early one Saturday
morning. I was concerned
at
one point when we were overtaken on the pavement by an old man with a walking
stick!
Bev then over 5-6 months waved his magic wand over the pile of bits to assemble
what you see
in
the photograph. This was undertaken in an extension to his garage which is
probably less than
9ft square. It was not until we pushed the car out into his garden to take
photographs that we
discovered to our relief that the car has the proportions that we were looking
for.
Next
stop to take the car for it’s MOT, I insured the car
in it’s last few months of build and R&H
issued me with a cover note to drive to the test station and later to present
the car for DVLA
inspection in
drive in the car was up and down Bev’s road then
onto the garage for the test. On a previous visit
to get my special MOT’d I had asked for advise from our tester about lack of
lights and
mudguards. I knew for sure that lights did not need to be fitted but that if
lighting conditions
change you must put them on or stop. Lack of mudguards is a grey area. My
argument is that
Waite
had driven his car on the road in 1923 from
race .
The tester contacted the ‘Ministry’ and came
back and said that mud guards are not necessary,
for the MOT.
We
arrived more than half an hour early for the test and left the car outside in
the street and we
retired for a coffee, by the time we got back I was a little surprised to find
the car still in the road
but facing in the opposite direction and the tester showing the car to
interested bystanders.
Something
I was going to have to get used to, because it is a head turner and does
attract more
waves, hoots and shouts than the special. He was waiting to complete the MOT
certificate and
wanted the chassis number for completion. Next stop a visit to the DVLA office
in
explain that I wanted an age related number plate commensurate with a Vintage
car. So with the
MOT
certificate, V55, a letter from the AO7C confirming chassis number and age, my
passport
and a utility bill I sat in front of a very helpful young man who took all
my details and arranged for
me
to take along the car for a technical inspection the following week. This
entailed driving the
racer to
traffic. The DVLA inspector gave the racer the once over and with staff looking
out the windows
it
passed, again sans mud guards. I then went straight back into the office and
was issued with
the registration
BS9227.
So
in little over 12 months from an idea, some money and a lot of hard work by Bev we have a
1923
inspired Austin Seven Racing Car.
Plan
is to undertake the Austin Seven,
and hillclimbs, some outings to shows 750MC and
A7OC club nights. First event is to compete at
Brooklands VSCC
driving tests on January 16th. I intend to drive the car as it is but Bev is
currently making up some mudguards and some lights in case we fall foul of the
law.
I
hope this is OK.
