Lot Ended
Description
Expertly restored in the 1980s at great expense and only
lightly used since; rock solid car with deliberate 'oily rag' patina;
full weather equipment; nice original number plate; driven over 30 miles to the
sale; forced sale due to illness
First registered
in Surrey in March 1934, this Austin Seven four-seater Tourer comes with a buff
logbook implying that it remained in that county until the late 1950s before
moving to Oxford for 20 years. In 1981 it moved up north to Lancaster when
it was acquired by a Mr Clive Lamb of George Lamb & Sons Ltd, a
well-established Austin Rover dealership in the village of
Hornby.
Mr Lamb must have been seriously fond of
the Austin because he promptly sent it to historic vehicle restorers, Ollerton
Engineering of Preston, where it received a total body-off restoration which
took a year to complete and ultimately cost £5,630 – a very considerable sum
which would have bought you a brand-new VW Golf GTi or BMW 316 at the time.
This did not include any mechanical work either
– just the bodywork, chassis and interior – Mr Lamb electing to get his own
mechanics to rebuild the engine, gearbox, running gear, electrics etc, which
were all carefully put back in the car in stages to suit the painting schedule
recommended by Ollerton Engineering, as carefully spelled out in invoices of
file (see photos).
It was
clearly an expert job and the body and chassis are still in remarkably good
condition some 45 years later. Don’t let the ‘oily rag’ looks fool you, a
subsequent owner has elected to give the Austin its current patina by
distressing Ollerton’s brown-over-black paintwork (the car’s original colour)
with a thinly applied coat of matt black, artfully rubbed through and coated in
linseed oil for that essential ‘Rat Catcher’ look.
By 2011 the car was owned by a Mr M Hayes of Nuneaton, a valuation
certificate from the Midlands Austin 7 Club declaring the car to be an
‘excellent restoration’ which should be insured for £12,000 at that
date.
Supplied with a hood and sidescreens, all
in good condition, it also has a couple of invoices for routine servicing and
new parts fitted, plus four old MOTs which imply that it has been in light
regular use, covering some 2,000 miles over the last 18 years, Some parts
catalogues and a tuning and maintenance guide by The Pre-War Austin Seven Club
are also included.
Our vendor acquired the car
in March last year from a gent who had owned it for the previous dozen years. He
has been using it as a daily runabout, telling us that it has proved very
reliable and always draws loads of attention from young and old alike. The icing
on the cake is the original Surrey-issue number plate, BPC 906, which is
transferable and doubtless has a value of its own.
Driven over 30 miles to the sale on a baking hot day, it has been
starting promptly and running well as we have moved it around on site, with
healthy oil pressure. Only reluctantly for sale due to our vendor’s declining
health, this eye-catching Tourer is ready for a new owner to enjoy and is
sure to turn heads wherever it goes…
Consigned by James Dennison – 07970 309907 – james.dennison@brightwells.com