Help selling a 1935 Austin Seven

[inconsistant]

A good friend has an Austin Seven which he now needs to get rid of. It’s a 1935 DeLuxe model, dark blue and black. He’s owned it for about 12 years, but it’s unfortunately been neglected over the last 7-8 years for various life reasons, living under a tarp in the front garden, but before that it was a runner, worked fine, was regularly driven and lived in his garage. It has two of the wheels off in the photos but they are with the car and in good condition.

 

He now unfortunately needs to get rid of it, but he doesn’t really know how to go about this since it’s not really the usual autotrader fodder. I offered to post on here in case anyone knew where might be the best place to sell/get rid of it, or anyone had any contacts who might be interested. He knows it’s not going to be worth much, he knows he should have looked after it better, he's gutted at how much it's deteriorated, but hopes that it’s not got to the end of its life.

I said I’d post a here to see if anyone had any ideas. It would be a massive shame if it was scrapped, and although it’s not in great shape I’m sure it’s got to be of interest to someone somewhere?

So it’s not really a for sale thread, more like a request for help & ideas of where best to advertise/who to contact. 

Any help/comments very much appreciated. It’s in South London/Surrey btw. Thanks!

 

 

 

 

[MarvinsMom]

could try carandclassic.co.uk and classicarsforsale.co.uk websites, and maybe the Austin 7 owners club, there MUST be an owners club for the 7,  even a big 7, surely they would know if there are nay members wanting a project for lockdown and/or winter.

alternatively, maybe give Derek Mathewson a call, he is the auctioneer/trader fella off "bangers and cash" who would know the right people to talk too or even go and get it to put across his auction block, cos yes, this "big" seven does want saving. 

[loserone]

£500 tonight mate?

 

I think car and classic is a good plan, but also these things seem to skyrocket on ebay.  Maybe they're just valuable..?

[RayMK]

1 minute ago, MarvinsMom said:

could try carandclassic.co.uk and classicarsforsale.co.uk websites, and maybe the Austin 7 owners club, there MUST be an owners club for the 7,  even a big 7, surely they would know if there are nay members wanting a project for lockdown and/or winter.

alternatively, maybe give Derek Mathewson a call, he is the auctioneer/trader fella off "bangers and cash" who would know the right people to talk too or even go and get it to put across his auction block, cos yes, this "big" seven does want saving. 

Agreed.  It looks saveable and all there.  I'm not sure what an Austin Ruby is worth these days - £8K in good order would not surprise me, so even in this state it could fetch around £2K. Unless the chassis has dissolved, I doubt that it will end up being scrapped or sold for parts.

[RayMK]

It's interesting that the DVLA lists it as having an 885cc engine, yet 7s including the Ruby only stretched to 747cc.  The Big 7 which came along in 1937 had a nominally 900cc engine but it also had a more conventional dynamo drive, not the right angled set-up of the earlier 7s.  Perhaps the 885cc is a period modification if it is not an error. One or two 7s ended up with a Reliant side valve engine when owners got desperate for decent spares. Although the Reliant 747cc unit was derived from the late Ruby engine, it differs in many areas. Very few components are interchangeable, the head having a conventional bracket for a fanbelt driven dynamo, a different position for the distributor and also the top water manifold is in a different more central location on the Reliant unit. In other words, the 1935 A7 in question seems to have the correct engine layout for a Ruby, just a slight puzzle regarding its cubic capacity. 

[inconsistant]

Thanks for the replies so far. Interesting about the engine. Friend has the logbook and some paperwork that he's trying to dig out so I'll get a photo of that and see what the details are. I really don't know anything about cars of this age at all, so it's all interesting!

[RayMK]

1 minute ago, inconsistant said:

Thanks for the replies so far. Interesting about the engine. Friend has the logbook and some paperwork that he's trying to dig out so I'll get a photo of that and see what the details are. I really don't know anything about cars of this age at all, so it's all interesting!

I do hope that it goes to an enthusiast. Unfortunately, I'm too old and knackered to take anything like that on. I'm not an Austin 7 expert by any means, but Dad had a 1933 A7 'box' saloon between 1954 and 1960 when I was 4-9 years old and I have owned a 1961 Reliant Regal MKVI since 1992 which has the A7 derived engine.

[loserone]

1 minute ago, RayMK said:

enthusiast

I would have thought anyone with the opportunity to take this on would become an enthusiast very quickly

[eddyramrod]

I'd love that!  I'm not able to take it on though, but wouldn't it be splendid with a gentle recommissioning?  Clear out the spiders, get it running and stopping, and just enjoy.  Marvellous.

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, RayMK said:

It's interesting that the DVLA lists it as having an 885cc engine, yet 7s including the Ruby only stretched to 747cc.  The Big 7 which came along in 1937 had a nominally 900cc engine but it also had a more conventional dynamo drive, not the right angled set-up of the earlier 7s.  Perhaps the 885cc is a period modification if it is not an error. One or two 7s ended up with a Reliant side valve engine when owners got desperate for decent spares. Although the Reliant 747cc unit was derived from the late Ruby engine, it differs in many areas. Very few components are interchangeable, the head having a conventional bracket for a fanbelt driven dynamo, a different position for the distributor and also the top water manifold is in a different more central location on the Reliant unit. In other words, the 1935 A7 in question seems to have the correct engine layout for a Ruby, just a slight puzzle regarding its cubic capacity. 

DVLA are notoriously shit at getting pre-war engine capacities correct.

If Sevens in this condition were still selling for three figures I'd be tempted to buy it myself.  Sadly they're not.

[brownnova]

3 hours ago, inconsistant said:

He knows it’s not going to be worth much,

How much is not much? 

[inconsistant]

I suppose I mean’t he knows it’s not going to be worth much... compared to how much he paid for it as a running, fully working car in good condition.

[LightBulbFun]

34 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

DVLA are notoriously shit at getting pre 1974 engine capacities correct.

If Sevens in this condition were still selling for three figures I'd be tempted to buy it myself.  Sadly they're not.

FTFY LOL

a lot of the errors most likely comes from the fact anything from before 1974, will have been on the buff logbook and if its on the DVLA today will have been manually transferred  from the buff logbook system to the V5c scheme and thats where all sorts of fun can arise, from errors/fun in the original hand written buff logbook to errors when computerising etc

a lot of the main stream stuff was fine, but anything slightly obscure and it was all bets off LOL

I did a a post on my thread dedicated to DVLA cockups for Model 70's alone LOL

On 28/08/2019 at 10:05, LightBulbFun said:

prompted by the above posts about "AC (ELECTRIC)" I figured I should post a montage of sorts of all the whacky DVLA results I have turned up in the 1000+ Model 70's I have looked up at this point LOL

 

 

Seen plenty of dates of first registration a good few years after they where made, but this one was registered before K suffix was even a thing according to the DVLA LOL

Nice try but you cant hide from me this easily LOL

one that shows up as "AC70" with a 100 liter engine!

 

late registration and engine size fun, a lot of these early Model 70's have all sorts of nonsense for engine capacity from 250cc to 993cc

 

I do wonder if this one however really was 650cc, as its the only Model 70 I have seen actually come back as 650cc, so I wonder if someone did it on purpose?

as shown in the above posts 

letters going walkies entirely

 

 

not come across one down as Brown... yet.

 

a motivational support vehicle

 

 

one down as "AC" and "Green"

 

and turquoise 

 

meanwhile in Russia?

 

 

from above as well  

 

a couple AC's down as just "INVALID"...

 

 

 

another one along with REV453R that did not last very long at all..

 

covering all bases!

 

"INVA... what is it again? *looks out of window* Oh right car..."

 

who knew computers can stutter too!

 

and a fairly mundane OCR fail to cap it off

anyways I think thats most LOL I may have a couple more on the laptop, but otherwise yea

it seems like the DVLAs OCR really struggled with "INVACAR" LOL

 

I also have a few more, but there just ones that have odd engine sizes or dates of first registrations like 1980 despite being made in 1972 or such

 

 

 

[barrett]

I think the going rate for a decent, up-and-running Ruby in nice condition is between £4-6k. They're not desirable, sadly, as they have a reputation for being a bit cumbersome and obviously aren't eligible for any Vintage events. 

Depending on how much he loves it, I'd be wary about where and how I advertised this if it's going to be 'cheap' - to most people in the A7 world this is probably worth more as parts so would be in danger of being broken up. If he's not sentimental then it doesn't matter.

I'd say an afternoon spent getting it back on its wheels and rolling, and perhaps driving (this is the most basic car of all time, I reckon even I could get it going in an afternoon) would make it much more of a going concern and more likely to find a sympathetic buyer.

[beko1987]

I'm surprised @LightBulbFun hasn't offered you all his money for those boxes of light bulbs on the back seat!

Maybe @vulgalour should buy it for after his current car is done in a few weeks? 

[LightBulbFun]

1 minute ago, beko1987 said:

I'm surprised @LightBulbFun hasn't offered you all his money for those boxes of light bulbs on the back seat!

Maybe @vulgalour should buy it for after his current car is done in a few weeks? 

haha yeah I did notice those  would be interesting to see what type they are exactly, but going by the packaging/text on the boxes im expecting fairly simple torch type/style bulbs or something of similar size and shape maybe indicator bulbs at the largest?

 

yeah once @vulgalour has the Lanchester as his reliable daily he could buy this and play at being a 1950's shitter

[vulgalour]

Given my experience with the Lanchester, that Seven looks like it just needs some spiders evicting, a bit of soapy water on the mouldy bits, and a new battery and you'll be off.  I'd expect to pay £2-3k for this as it stands but then I don't say that with any authority or experience beyond what I personally would pay for it were I in the market for one of these.

[Dick Longbridge]

Shame the old girl has been plate raped. I can only assume the car was virtually mint prior to being laid up. 

I'd be inclined to not be so upbeat about the damp bits though - it would be intestesting to see just how deeply the damp and rot has got into the depths of the timberwork.

As mentioned above, spend a day getting it running, driving and washed and then consider an inflated price on c and c. 

[Eyersey1234]

Wish I could take this on. Wonder why it got a reversed 3 number 3 letter plate when it was plate raped? 

[MarvinsMom]

kerry has said many times that she would love to restore/recommission/own a car like this. 

maybe one day, when my (our?) boat comes in......

currently we aren't really working and don't have anywhere suitable to put one while we pull it to bits!

which is a shame. 

cos we'd be all over this, so i do hope it finds a good home.

the thought of an 83 year old car getting broken up makes me very sad

 

[RayMK]

1 hour ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Shame the old girl has been plate raped. I can only assume the car was virtually mint prior to being laid up. 

I'd be inclined to not be so upbeat about the damp bits though - it would be intestesting to see just how deeply the damp and rot has got into the depths of the timberwork.

As mentioned above, spend a day getting it running, driving and washed and then consider an inflated price on c and c. 

I was not sure about the registration and would have expected it to be the more usual 3 letters, 3 numbers format in 1935. However, 'XR' is a London reg and I had read somewhere that the letter/number format was reversed in some cases where demand outstripped the available sequences. Do you have futher information on such a policy?  The websites I've found are very sketchy on some of the details on pre-war UK registrations. One of them suggests the number/letter UXR London registrations ran until 1957 but their listing is unclear (to me). It could equally mean 'starting' at 1957 and running until the 'A' suffix numbers were introduced in 1963.

I agree that finding the extent of the corrosion would be a priority to anyone considering taking it on (or trying to put a value on it). I think the later Box saloons and the Ruby were of welded steel bodywork mounted on a steel chassis rather than coach built. I daresay there was some wood in its construction e.g. perhaps the door frames and the floor, but maybe not too much carpentry holding the body in shape.  

[Dick Longbridge]

9 minutes ago, RayMK said:

I was not sure about the registration and would have expected it to be the more usual 3 letters, 3 numbers format in 1935. However, 'XR' is a London reg and I had read somewhere that the letter/number format was reversed in some cases where demand outstripped the available sequences. Do you have futher information on such a policy?  The websites I've found are very sketchy on some of the details on pre-war UK registrations. One of them suggests the number/letter UXR London registrations ran until 1957 but their listing is unclear (to me). It could equally mean 'starting' at 1957 and running until the 'A' suffix numbers were introduced in 1963.

I agree that finding the extent of the corrosion would be a priority to anyone considering taking it on (or trying to put a value on it). I think the later Box saloons and the Ruby were of welded steel bodywork mounted on a steel chassis rather than coach built. I daresay there was some wood in its construction e.g. perhaps the door frames and the floor, but maybe not too much carpentry holding the body in shape.  

The prefix looks like the typical DVLA replacement letter format plonked only a pre 63 motor when re-registered/plate raped, along with AS - Eas/Ras etc .

This suggests the same. Poor old thing held onto it for most of it's life. 

[somewhatfoolish]

Any reason he hasn't just got it running and gone for a drive? A7s have shit brakes anyway so if they've taken a holiday it doesn't matter so much, especially with no MoT needed.

[LightBulbFun]

35 minutes ago, RayMK said:

I was not sure about the registration and would have expected it to be the more usual 3 letters, 3 numbers format in 1935. However, 'XR' is a London reg and I had read somewhere that the letter/number format was reversed in some cases where demand outstripped the available sequences. Do you have futher information on such a policy?  The websites I've found are very sketchy on some of the details on pre-war UK registrations. One of them suggests the number/letter UXR London registrations ran until 1957 but their listing is unclear (to me). It could equally mean 'starting' at 1957 and running until the 'A' suffix numbers were introduced in 1963.

 

it sadly has been robbed of its VRM

you can tell even by not looking it up as the first reverse registration mark, ie number then letter was only issued in 1953 starting with 1000E, so no Pre 1953 vehicle would have ever worn a reverse registration when new

quite a few of the later reverse registration series's never got used by 1st January 1965 (when suffix plates where made mandatory) especially in places like London which got allocated a lot location markers (UXR was only issued as UXRxxx in period starting in December 1957, it was never issued in period in reverse format) so a lot of these unused registration series get used as age related plates today

(for example xxxGXR was the last registration series for the XR location marker to be issued in period, being issued in October 1963, and in 1964 they stopped using XR as a location marker, so it never got issued as part of any suffix registrations)

 

which is also means theres a bit of a glaring hole in the DVLAs age related plate policy, as the DVLA does issue plates appropriate for the age of the vehicle, but they have issued plenty of reverse plates to pre 1953 vehicles sadly

which is a shame as otherwise they are quite good about it, for example, no Pre 1932 vehicle would have a 3 letter 3 number plate (with ARF1 being the first of that kind to be issued in July 1932) so the DVLA appropriately issue only 2 letter 4 number plates to any Pre 1931 vehicle being registered in the UK for the first time (or sadly being robbed of its original  plate)

(funnily enough in the past they did have a specific 3 letter 3 number age related plate policy for vehicles made between 1932 and 1956, but I dont know how it stands today, clearly if they do still have one they dont adhere to it, however im not 100% sure how things are in this regard now all the local offices have been closed, I know the DVLA do still issue 3 letter 3 number registration marks and while I was looking up a currently issued serise recently I noted that they where only on 1930s-1950s vehicles so perhaps the DVLA have plugged this hole, but more research is required LOL)

a good number of the small scottish islands never even used up their original  2 letter 4 number allocation (or had only just recently used them all up) by the 1st of January 1965, and it is where a lot of 3 letter 3 number age related plates came/come from (and some of the pre 1931 age related marks came from there too)

 

[bangernomics]

My maternal grandfather had one of these, grandma kept chickens in it during ww2 and when he came back from Japanese captivity he restored it and ran it until he passed away as his/their main car. I’d love to rescue this but god knows what it’s worth?

[Angrydicky]

Number plate robbers who dress themselves up under the guise of ‘enthusiasts’ are scum of the earth.

Second only to the type that would buy a Ruby like this, throw away the body and fit some dreadful,  replica racer or trials body to it.

Maybe they’d even ring their contraption with an earlier logbook so they can take part in the much-coveted (not sure why) pre 1930 trials as alluded to by Barrett. 

Very wise advice about finding the right buyer for this car. It’s got to be worth £2k as it sits with current inflated prices, so depending how long ago your friend bought it, he might not be too out of pocket. My dad bought a ‘37 Ruby, in good condition with original numberplate, for £2750 in 2005. Sold it for £4.5k in 2009 having done very little to it.

[loserone]

I must be far too naive, I can't imagine anyone doing any of that (despite the obviousness of it already having been plate raped) 

[scdan4]

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. On that basis...

 

I’d use that. I’d stop the rot and make mechanically good and stop there and use it.

It’d live inside though, in a heated very dry unit.

It’d have a friend also living its best life to share those long winter nights with 

and the friends’ owner has the unit pictured, so it would be well and knowledgably looked after.

It would live on like a rescue dog that’s fallen on its paws for its second life.

It would be updated here so it’s recovery and rehabilitation will be documented so they could follow the fun and I’m able to pick it up and when I do I’ll be clean polite and pleasant.

However.... it would have to be cheap cheap cheap. Rescue dog money but it would be its forever home. No breaking for spares guarantee. 

Depends on how sentimental and flush the owner is feeling, but as said, don’t ask don’t get.

 

 

[inconsistant]

Send me a PM and I'll put you in touch with my friend. One or two others have expressed interest and they are being put in touch with the owner too. I don't want to be drawn into a discussion about how much as it's not really my car to sell/value so I'll leave to the seller/buyer to agree or otherwise. I'm very much just doing a chum a favour/pushing him to do what he should have done years ago. Have a look at it and make an offer, he can only say either 'no' or 'old aaht yer hand yerv jus bort yourself an auld awstyn!'

[mk2_craig]

One of these has just turned up locally,

Looks like the original mark is with it. Not really my cuppa T, but I'm thinking this is probably a BARG.