A bit of shite - first Austin 7 trip of 2025

[horriblemercedes]

2 hours ago, Matty said:

Brilliant little thing. Glad to hear you're still enamoured with it 👍

I did lose love for it a bit, because I was dealing with other things that were more important. Family, friends, deaths and so on. 

 

It stayed in the garage for months and I did occasional bits of tinkering. It runs like a champ. A great little car. As long as I can keep it, it'll stay with me. 

[horriblemercedes]

On top of this, the XJR is a great daily driver. It is an XJ, so it's quiet and comfortable, but it's a great sports saloon when you want that. I'm OK with 16mpg

[SiC]

I still want a 7. I keep looking at pre-war stuff but it's the seven I keep coming back to. Both the simplicity and the fact they're not stodgy to drive like many cars of that era. I think it might be a Chummy that would be my preferred choice. But no doubt budget will predicate something less desirable like a Ruby (but still fun ofc). 

Funnily enough I had @dollywobbler more recent Austin 7 video came up on my YouTube feed today too and I thought about yours. 

 

I don't want another restoration project .... but they do look awfully simple and easy to restore. 

[lesapandre]

They have a very keen following outside the normal orbit of the 'classic car' world - they seem to exist in their own space. I'd join one of the clubs. The cars get passed about there. 

They race and hill climb of course.

They don't take up much space - made to fit down the side of all those 30's semi-detached houses to tiny garages.

They remain affordable too. 

[SiC]

4 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

They don't take up much space - made to fit down the side of all those 30's semi-detached houses to tiny garages.

I'm overflowing with cars at the moment. Another is coming soon and that puts me at 8 vehicles...

However I think the narrow gap between the house and garage is wide enough for an Austin 7 to fit through providing I rebuild the gate. That way it could go where our shed is when that's demolished ... 🙃

[plasticvandan]

Don't know how I missed it either,in moments of rose tinted insanity I do wonder if a ruby could be used as my daily,being as I now only do around 60 miles a week,and work from home for two days. My grandad owned many sevens and tens, started restoring them in the late 60s,which must be like someone restoring a rover 100 metro today.

[Matty]

8 hours ago, lesapandre said:

They have a very keen following outside the normal orbit of the 'classic car' world - they seem to exist in their own space. I'd join one of the clubs. The cars get passed about there. 

They race and hill climb of course.

They don't take up much space - made to fit down the side of all those 30's semi-detached houses to tiny garages.

They remain affordable too. 

When we lived in our first house there was a field on a steep hill beyond our back yard. The lad who owned it used to run trials on the hill a couple of times a year. Was great craic sitting in the back bedroom Sunday morning and watching all the little Sevens going up and down the hill through the flags!

[horriblemercedes]

I went to Longstone tyres on Friday morning. A great group of guys. Chatty, interesting and properly into interesting cars. I actually enjoyed getting a tyre changed! 

 

@SiC this Chummy is for sale and is absolutely lovely. Belongs to the owner of Longstone. Go on! I didn't ask the price though..... 

[Matty]

5 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

I went to Longstone tyres on Friday morning. A great group of guys. Chatty, interesting and properly into interesting cars. I actually enjoyed getting a tyre changed! 

 

@SiC this Chummy is for sale and is absolutely lovely. Belongs to the owner of Longstone. Go on! I didn't ask the price though..... 

@SiC that's got to be pretty much pure 7

[horriblemercedes]

5 minutes ago, Matty said:

@SiC that's got to be pretty much pure 7

We need to see more of your Austin! 

[Matty]

3 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

We need to see more of your Austin! 

I only update the thread when I'm working on it. So no news is good news 😁

[horriblemercedes]

3 minutes ago, Matty said:

I only update the thread when I'm working on it. So no news is good news 😁

Give us updates when you take it for a trip out! I think we would all like to see that 

 

I think before this Austin 7, the last time I had been in an Austin was my dad's diesel Montego he had when I was a child

[SiC]

8 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

I went to Longstone tyres on Friday morning. A great group of guys. Chatty, interesting and properly into interesting cars. I actually enjoyed getting a tyre changed! 

 

@SiC this Chummy is for sale and is absolutely lovely. Belongs to the owner of Longstone. Go on! I didn't ask the price though..... 

I imagine probably the thick end of 15k or something like that. The Chummy hold their value the best ... but are on the down!

I live in a cul-de-sac that goes onto a 40mph main road with many doing more than that. However they are supposed to be making it a 30mph zone soon and I'm waiting till then before getting something pre-war. While some may not do 30, there will be some that will and I have some chance of getting out in time.

[Matty]

4 hours ago, SiC said:

I imagine probably the thick end of 15k or something like that. The Chummy hold their value the best ... but are on the down!

I live in a cul-de-sac that goes onto a 40mph main road with many doing more than that. However they are supposed to be making it a 30mph zone soon and I'm waiting till then before getting something pre-war. While some may not do 30, there will be some that will and I have some chance of getting out in time.

Having been to your house i can see the problem. When I was leaving I tried for a gap that wasn't really big enough then couldn't get the power down due to the truck axle tramping all over the shop. Didn't make me popular 🤣