The Austin Seven Clubs Association

News items

A7CA July meeting

Sunday 10th July from 10.30 (to pick up magazines) for 11am.
At the Triumph Sports Six Club (TSSC), 36 Main Street Lubenham LE16 9TF – pre-war cars in courtyards, post-war cars signposted to village green.

Directions: From Market Harborough drive west 1 mile on the A4304, look for the white low building on your left; drive in the gateway.
From Lutterworth/M1 J20 drive east 10 miles, past Coach & Horses pub, low white building on right, turn in.
Any difficulties please contact: Phil Baildon A7CA Archivist, T:01858 446300 or

A7CA Archive Open Day December 2010 – and a very special find!

Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th December 2010 saw visitors (and respective wives/partners) including Big 7 Registrar Robin Taylor, PWA7C archivist Chris Garner, A7OC Dave Morgan, and even stray TSSC men came up to see the silver lady.

Latest addition from eBay via a dealer in Inverness from a Doune autojumble (you ScA7C lads missed that one!) a clean 1922, yes 1922, Parts List no.353 (no suffix) which shows the picking order of items down to tubes and rivets to build the first 100 production cars. It will sit well with the 1922 Handbook no.352 that was kindly given to us some years ago from the owner of Car No 103.

Not many books missing now, only:
Handbooks 352c 352d 715e 1400e
Parts Lists 670e 1029c
That is just 6 out of 106 known to be issued.
If you have one of these we would be grateful for a good photocopy or better still your donation to our Archive Room to join the other 100!

All 3 rooms are now in use for the A7CA and member clubs. Pre War & Bristol have already placed items there.

First Archive Open Day – 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!

They were taken to Brooklands Re-Union Day 27th June 2010 along with two oof the Boulogne replica racers, OL 166 and OK 8945.

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:
352e – p/copy free
619d Aug 29 – repro £2.50
972c Oct 33 – original £10
1400a Aug 36 – p/copy free
1400d Apr 37 – £15

Parts Lists:
353a mid 23 – p/copy free
353d mid 24 – p/copy free
353f early 25 – p/copy free
353j Late 26 – p/copy free
1218 Nov 34 – original £15
1406 June 36 – original £15

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 2011 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.

From early 2010 we are renting all 3 rooms 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. Rental of space is by arrangement set up under the legal agreement with TSSC.

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.

This is not a lightweight radiator mascot but weighs over ½cwt (about 25kg).

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.