The father of BMW, Jaguar, Bristol and Lotus cars - Austin 7 Part 2/2.

Today I'll be looking at the legacy left by the humble little Austin 7 on the European Automotive industry, if you missed my introduction to the Austin 7 here is a link to yesterdays post.

The Austin 7 deserves it's place in British automotive history simply for being it's first mass produced car, but it's real standing becomes clear when one considers the Austin 7 was manufactured under licence by the Automobilwerk Eisenbach car factory.



Above Joe Tisdall, 1930, Austin 7 Ulster, VSCC Prescott,

Their Dixi variant of the Austin 7 supplied in kit form initially in 1927 was so successful that within a year BMW bought the company after its own primogenitor vehicles proved less than viable. So the Ausitn 7 saved BMW from ruin as its aeroplane engine manufacturing business began to fail after shady dealings with the USSR came to light.



Above Mark Groves, 1930, Austin 7 Ulster, VSCC Loton Park.

This next bit traces the development of engines if you stick with it you'll see the blood line from Austin 7 through BMW to Bristol.

In 1932 BMW used the 4 cylinder 747 cc / 45 cui Austin 7/ Dixi engine as the starting point for their own 4 cylinder 788cc / 48 cui motor used in first all in house designed BMW 3/20

By 1933 BMW built a 1182 cc / 72 cui six cylinder version of the 3/20 engine called the M78 for their 303 model.

In 1934 a larger 1,490 cc 90.9 CUI six cylinder engine was developed from the M78 for use in the BMW 315/319 series of vehicles, which was superseded in 1936 by the hemi head 1971 cc / 120.3 cui six cylinder engine for the 328 model of 1936.



Above Miss Katherine Everett, 1930, Austin 7 Ulster, Prescott.

The plans for the 328's engine first built in 1936 were appropriated as war reparations by HJ Adlington who was both in the British Army and Managing director of BAC Cars in 1947. The 328 engines designer Fritz Fiedler was also persuaded to move to England where he continued to develop the engine for the Bristol Aeroplane Company cars sold under the new 'Bristol' brand, thus the Austin 7 747 cc / 45 cui engine can be seen to be of the great, great, grand father of the Bristol marque which used hemi head 6 cylinder engines derived from the 1936 BMW 328 from 1947 to 1961.

I hope that wasn't too convoluted or painful.



Above Edward Williams, 1930 Austin 7 Rolt Ulster, Supercharged, VSCC Prescott.

Rewinding back to 1927, Sir William Lyons took the basic Austin 7 and made a high end body for it which sold as the Austin Seven Swallow, moving the Swallow Sidecar Company from side car manufacture into motor car manufacture. In 1945 the Swallow Sidecar Company was renamed the Jaguar Car Company.



Mark Lance, 1930 Austin 7 Ulster TT Replica, VSCC Loton Park.

After WW2 many Austin 7's were converted into specials as there were not enough new cars to meet demand in England. One of those converting an Austin 7 into a special was Colin Chapman who gave his special a now popular and familiar name Lotus Mk1.



Above Ms Penny Jones, 1931, Austin 7 Ulster Replica, VSCC Loton Park.

The Austin 7 leant it's name to another influential vehicle the original Austin Mini in 1959 which was originally marketed as the 'Austin Seven' and 'Morris Mini Minor'.



Above Benjamin MARCHANT, 1928 Austin 7 Chummy, supercharged, VSCC Loton Park.

I respectfully suggest that the humble little Austin Seven, which the Austin board only reluctantly agreed to back, became, through it's role in the development of four prestige automotive manufacturers, one of the most influential vehicles of all time.

Thanks to Roger French and Julian Hunt at TNF for their help identifying a couple of these vehicles, to Tim Murray for his assistance identifying the Chummy and to everyone else for their time and patience, tomorrow I have the first instalment of another two part blog about an absolutely stunning replica of a vehicle which shines in one of my favourite stories about Le Mans, debutantes & underdogs, wishing everyone a fabulous Friday, don't forget to come back now ! Class Dismissed :-)

The father of BMW, Jaguar, Bristol and Lotus cars - Austin 7 Part 1/2.

The father of BMW, Jaguar, Bristol and Lotus cars - Austin 7 Part 1/2.



Above, Chris Smith, 1925 Austin Brooklands Replica, Loton Park.

Today I'd like to introduce a very special little vehicle, the Austin 7 in my humble opinion the influence of this vehicle is so far reaching that I am going to make this my very first two part blog, I hope you'll bear with me and consider the time and space I have dedicated to this model well spent. I'll start today by introducing the model and tomorrow I'll consider it's bewilderingly far reaching legacy on European automotive history



Above, Ms Hannah Enticknap, 1928, Austin 7 Ulster Special, Loton Park.

The truth is so much stranger than fiction. Consider the humble little Austin 7 with a 6'ft 3" wheel base and track of 3'6" powered by a 10hp 747 cc / 45 cui sidevalve engine that complete weighed less than half that of a Model T Ford when it hit the streets in 1922 with rear brakes operated by foot and front brakes operated by hand !



Above, Frank Hernandez, 1928 Austin 7 Brooklands Streamline, Loton Park.

Sir Herbert Austin acting against the wishes of his own board threatened to take the '7' concept to rivals Wolseley before putting his own money into the development of the '7' which was completed with draughts man Stanley Edge at Sir Herberts home Lickey Grange.



Above Matt Johnson, 1928, Austin 7 Ulster Supercharged Special, Loton Park, 2010.

Investment repayments and royalties on Sir Austin's patents arising from the Austin 7's innovations amounted to £ 2.10 on every vehicle sold on what emerged to be Britain's first mass production car.



Above Doug Bukin, 1929 - 1932, Austin 7 Ulster Special, Prescott, 2010.

Over the 14 years the Austin 7 was in production 40 different body styles were introduced including 2 and 4 seaters using aluminium, fabric and steel in tourer, saloon, cabriolet. sports, vans and a Coupe style.



Above Tom Hardman, 1929, Austin 7 Ulster B & Q Special, Loton Park, 2010.

In 1927 2500 Austin 7's were made small fry in terms of the Model T, and when production ceased 290,000 units was hardly hot potatoes in terms of numbers against Detroit's finest yet the Austin 7 deserves it's place in British motoring history for being Britain's mass production car.



Above Gary Bishop, 1929, Austin 7, Blaue Maus Special, Prescott, 2010.

Thanks for popping by, look forward to sharing Part 2 on the Austin 7's legacy and it's tomorrow, don't forget to come back now !

Satellite of affectionate derision - Trabant 601

Continuing on yesterdays East European theme here are a couple of pics of a Trabant 601 Station wagon. The Trabant name meaning satellite was inspired by the Russian Sputnik space programme.



The 601 was third model to come from VEB Sachsenring in Zwickau East Germany. In from production from 1965 - 1990 it is powered by a 27 hp 600 cc / 36 cui two cylinder, two stroke engine, which was relatively easy to maintain, to get to the underside of the car for instance, two people could easily lay the car on its side !



The Trabant body work is made of Duraplast the first to use recycled material mostly wool and cotton waste from the Soviet Union and phenol resins from the East German dye industry. Early examples had no fuel gauge but used a dipstick to determine the volume of fuel in the tank which sat atop the engine. Since the car had no fuel pump other than gravity to feed the carburettor.

Though seen with affectionate derision these cars are still used as daily drivers and still used in competition, a Trabant was also the star of a film called Go Trabi Go !

Thanks for dropping by, don't forget to come back now !

From way back in the USSR - GAZ 21

Today's post is dedicated to my friends at TNF, Alexander, Robert S and Alexey who last week unwittingly conspired to introduce me to the delights of Russian Truck Cross.



I don't have any pictures of Russian trucks but I did find these pictures of a GAZ 21 in my archive taken at the old East /West German border crossing at Marienborn on the A2 between Hannover and Berlin. The GAZ 21 was designed by Lev Yeremeev who appears to have taken his styling queues from the '52 - '56 Ford Mainline.



The three series of this model were in production from 1956 - 1970 powered by either a 2,445 cc / 149 cui 4 cylinder engine or in a few cases by a 5520 cc / 336 cui V8. These vehicles were used as taxi cabs, police interceptors and estate versions, known as GAZ 22's were used as ambulances.

Thanks for dropping by and as they might say in Russia, Не забудьте вернуться сейчас!

PS some fab pics of GAZ 21's on the race circuit here.

Correction : it turns out that the V8 cars mentioned above were made for the KGB and actually known as GAZ 23's with more or less identical bodies to the GAZ 21 in order not to attract any attention from the observed populace. Thanks to Alexander for the new information.

The Ugly Duckling - Jaguar S-Type

Amongst two classic vehicles I recently found in the car park of the Morgan Motor Company was this beautiful Jaguar S-Type that in silver epitomises Sir William Lyons maxim "grace pace and space", though it was considered the ugly duckling of its two contemporary 4 door siblings the smaller MKII and larger MK X.



The S-Type was a reworking of the Jaguar MKII / Daimler V8 250 shell and ended up looking like a half way house between the MK11 and MK X indeed when I first saw this car from the back I thought it was a MK X.



This particular vehicle is powered by a 210 hp twin carb 3442 cc / 210 cui cast iron bloc 6 cylinder motor which was significantly less popular than the 3.8 litre variant. The 3.4 was capable of reaching 60 mph from stationary in 13.9 secs and had a top speed of 115 mph figures that were down on the lighter 3.4 litre MK II.



However where the S-Type excelled was in its superior traction ride and cornering capability thanks to an independent rear suspension whose origins can be traced back through the MK10 Jaguar to the E-Type and it's D-type prototypes E1A and E2A.



Back in the day companies that excelled in exporting products were given a Queens Award for Export in recognition of their contribution to minimising the UK's balance of payment deficit with the rest of the world.



Production of the S-Type commenced in 1963 and continued until 1968 with 9,928 examples of the 3.4 litre being built compared to 15,065 of the 3.8 litre variant. This vehicle appears to be one of the last 909 3.4 litre vehicles built in 1968. Mr Crouch a Jaguar Body Engineer allegedly reported "that everyone (at Browns Lane) was glad to see the end of the S" a sentiment I find difficult to agree with 42 years later.

Thanks to Phillip Whiteman over at The Nostalgia Forum for bringing the role of E2A to my attention.

Slightly off topic, 20 years after Dale Earnhadt pulled off one of the most spectacular finishes in history by making up 16 places to take his final win, Talladega produced another thriller yesterday, an absolute heart stopper for fellow Kevin Harvick fans I am sure with over eighty lead changes amongst 20 odd drivers.

I was most despondent when Kevin T-boned someone with around a third of the race left to run, yet somehow the Happy pit crew kept Kevin on the lead lap after patching his car up with copious quantities of tank tape and Kevin crossed the finish line first with one lap to go (white flag lap) however the big one occurred as Kevin being pushed by David Reutimann on the outside of Turn One fell slightly behind team mate Clint Bowyer who was himself being pushed by pole sitter Juan Pablo Montoya.

Though AJ Almendinger ended up on his roof it was noticeable that none of the vehicles at Talladega went airborne in the same way as last year which might be attributable to the switch from the rear wing to the rear gurney flap earlier this year. Fortunately it would appear no one was hurt either and after agonising minuets off decision making Bowyer was declared the winner.

Harvick has closed the points deficit to 38 on Johnson who got shuffled down the pack on the last restart to an eventual 7th and sits just 14 points ahead of Dangerous Denny Hamlin who had a torrid race going a lap down but thanks to a lucky dog still salvaged a ninth place finish by the end. They don't call this race the Alabahma Lottery for nothing.

Next week NASCAR moves to Texas where Denny Hamlin won last time out and he Happy and Johnson will have it all to play for, my only prediction is that Johnson will be staying well away from the #77 of Sam Hornish Jr.

Thanks for stopping by wishing everyone a momentous Monday, don't forget to come back now !

The end of the Edward Turners hemi head V8 - Daimler V8 250

The British Daimler Motor Company was the brainchild of Frederick Simms who bought the UK patent rights to Gottlieb Daimlers engines in 1891. Under the ownership of Harry Lawson the company produced the first Daimler with a Panhard engine and then went on to produce Daimler powered machines in 1897 becoming Britain's second company to serially produce motorcars after Humber.



From 1898 Daimler supplied official transportation for the Royal Household until 1950 when an recalcitrant transmission led the Royal Family to chose Rolls Royce as it's transport of choice. From 1910 to 1960 Daimler was owned by by the Birmingham Small Arms Company leading Daimler into various military markets alongside it's treasured roll as preferred purveyor of motorised transport to the Royal Family.



In 1960 Daimler was sold to Jaguar who needed additional production facilities for it's growing marque. The Daimler V8 250 was the second series based on the MK II Jaguar powered by Daimlers hemi head V8 engine it was 50 kg lighter and more compact than the competition bred six cylinder Jaguar XK engines. The V8 250 was in production from 1967 - 1969 the vehicle in the photo appears to be a 1969 model and as such represents the end of the line of hemi head Daimler V8 production. From that point on all Daimlers were badge engineered Jaguars.

Wishing Racer 187 a Happy Birthday and plenty of Chief 187's toasted pumpkin seeds.

Slightly off topic congrats to Kyle Busch on his thrilling Talladega truck victory, glad Ron Hornaday was walked away from his wrecked KHI truck. Condolences to friends and family of Jim Hunter NASCAR's snr vice president of corporate communications.

Here is hoping Kevin 'Happy' Harvick finally gets one over Dangerous Denny Hamlin and goody two shoes Jimmy Johnson in a good clean race at one of my all time favourite tracks.

Thanks for popping by, don't forget to come back now !

Halloween Special - Fafnir Machtigen Werke Special

To put you into the mood for the weekends festivities here is Oliver Way driving BR Thompsons Fafnir Machtigen Werke Special with a non automobile 10 litre / 610 CUI engine seen here at Loton Park.



The car does does always appear with the scary radiator cover, as can be seen here at Prescott.



Fafnirs in production from 1908 - 1927 had in line 4 cylinder engines no bigger than 3990 cc 243 cui.
I am wondering if anyone knows where the huge engine came from, or what type of circa 1918 chassis, with only rear wheel brakes this is?

Thanking you in anticipation of your responses.

Thanks for dropping by, wishing everyone a scary Halloween weekend, don't forget to come back now !