The Austin Seven Clubs Association

News items

Third A7CA Archive Open Day

This will be held on the national Drive It Day, Sunday 25th April 2010. The second room will be in use for us. Pre-war cars only inside the premises, all others free parking on the village green, a short walk away. TSSC get about 100 visitors on this one so it may be full inside fairly soon!

Directions:
From M1 J20, A4304 east 10 miles, general car parking on left on the village green opposite Coach & Horses pub. TSSC is across on the right after School Lane.
From Market Harborough, A4304 west 2 miles, TSSC is on your left but unless in a pre-war car please park on the green on the right. There will be temporary signage.

A7CA Archive Open Day

Held on Saturday 24th October 2009, one of the star attractions was the Waite Trophy collection.

Photo of the Waite trophies in glass cases, by Nigel Coulter.

I am pleased to say the Waite Trophies are fully restored and all so far have said they were better than they expected. Their new mahogany bases really put them perfectly in the Twenties style of cups. Apparently Col Waite threw the original bases away when he moved in with Mr & Mrs Cox after the death of Irene and was going to dispose of the silverware too but Mrs Cox persuaded him to bring them with him – boy are we glad!

There are plans being made to take them to Brooklands Re-Union Day in June 2010 along with one, two or three of the Boulogne replica racers.

About 20 Sevenners came and gained immediate information from some of the documents we already have, but as usual every answer raises two more questions! From last summer's purchases of original Handbooks and Parts Lists, we now have some older photocopies or less good originals to sell/give to members;

Handbooks:
1400a Aug 36 – p/copy free
972c Oct 33 – original £10

Parts Lists: 353a mid 23 – p/copy free
353d mid 24 – p/copy free
353f early 25 – p/copy free
1218 Nov 34 – original £15
1218b Dec 35 – reproduction £4

Price Lists 1166a Nov 34 – original £5
1166c Aug 35 – original £5
1530 Apr 37 – p/copy free

Free ones plus 50p post, others incl post.

Most of our originals are now transferred to disc and in due course will be available on line (some are already) and I shall for 2010 be rewriting the list of those we have, until then refer to 1992B and C.

I also intend to rewrite "The Law and the Austin Seven", something we published in 1998C and D. Not a lot has changed but PLEASE you always did and still need reflectors, and whilst flashing indicators are not mandatory (yet-see Germany etc), do not rely on original 1930s arm trafficators with a glow-worm for a bulb to let other people know your intentions. It nearly killed a friend of mine in his Austin 10.

There was another Open Day on Saturday 12th December, this time like the first with potatoes and chilli which was welcome on a cold day!. The Triumph exhibits and archive made interesting inspection compared with the Austin ones.

From early 2010 we are also renting the second room and have more space for other member clubs archives (come on get them out of the loft) and for one-to-one visits. I can arrange to be there IF you write, ring or email first. Do not appear on spec – I neither live nor sleep there and TSSC are running a 9-5 business covering their 8000+ membership.

Phil Baildon.

The Waite Trophies – The Junior Car Club Trophy

The trophy is shown at the Gaydon quarterly meeting (October 2009), with the Archivist looking on admiringly. Click on the image for a larger version.

The plaque on the trophy reads:

JUNIOR CAR CLUB
BRITISH DOUBLE-TWELVE HOUR
RACE
1930
The Autocar Trophy
For the Best
Performance on Price
Won By
Car No 91 Sir Herbert Austin (AUSTIN)
Speed 64.97mph
Driven by A C R Waite & The Earl of March

They were 7th out of 59 starters, covering 1559 miles over the Saturday and Sunday 12 hour races. They were class winners and this was their prize for driving such a "cheap" car. The Sports rolling chassis plus engine was quoted as Ł185, supercharged would be extra.

Waite rolled a couple of months later in the TT injuring himself and Alf Depper, putting them both out of the BRDC 500 which was famously won by Sammy Davis and … the Earl of March.

The base of the trophy is Belgian black marble, the plaque is hallmarked silver.
The figure is a silver plated bronze by Amadeo Gennarelli (1881-1943)
There was an alternative version carrying a dove in her hand instead of the victor's laurels.

The Austin Federation website

The Austin Federation now has its own website. Whilst the site is relatively young it's a tremendous start.

Our thanks to Harry Parker for all his hard work, not just constructing it but also gathering the information and photographs together.

Please let us know what you think and send any information/links you would like to be considered for inclusion.

Insurance for Young Drivers

The Association Secretary has received the following information from R&H:

Having approached the Underwriters on your behalf in respect of the young driver issue, I can now advise that we have secured an agreement in principal with the insurers, to extend cover for 17 - 24 year olds as additional or main drivers under the car scheme. However, I would advise that each case will be dealt with on its own merits and trust that in all cases, these drivers will be a member of the club in their own right. Just to let you know, that in the case where drivers are between 21 - 24 years of age, the underwriters have had this arrangement in place already.

Steering Arms

Redesigned steering arms, forged and machined in the UK by ISO 9001 approved companies, are available at a cost of £75 each, which includes p&p and fitting instructions.

[ Click on pictures to enlarge ]

The life expectancy of these arms is greatly improved and they look very similar to the originals. They will fit all standard RHD Austin Sevens and there is also a version for cars with lowereed suspension. A detailed technical article about this project appeared in A7CA magazine 2004B.

To order, please contact A7 Components Ltd

01788 522033

Further details from the A7 Components website