My friend Peter in the UK asked me a while ago to do a walkaround of the Special as he was holed up in a lockdown at the time and probably is again, so as I had just popped down to Warragul for a coffee in the car and I had my phone in my pocket a video seemed a good thing.
Just need Julie Andrews to sing a little song and it would be quite a production, however here is the walkaround sans music and lederhosen.
Hot day today so while it was still cool in the shed I thought I would try out my latest Ebay folly a set of louvre rollers that can be used on my bead roller. I have been on the fence about these for a while but they dropped to $100 delivered so I thought I would give them a try.
I wanted some louvres on the bonnet sides of the Austin 7 Special hoping they would help with the cooling and look cool as well, really what is a special without louvres? The problem I see with this method is keeping the louvre shape consistent as there are so many variables involved and one of them is me.
From the picture above the first four louvres were experimental with different numbers of passes through the rollers, then I tried to do four in a row by the same method as the fourth one. It worked OK and probably good enough for the Special although I may destroy a little more ali before I get to the main event.
I have been away from carcrank, I thought Facebook would do the job and it does but it also wastes so much time and then there is the politics so I have come back home also I have moved carcrank.org from my old company to somewhere else, I think Canada but maybe the US.
So after selling the Lambda and the Bébé the garage now contains, by age 1927 Austin 7 Chummy, 1935 Austin 7 Special, 1950 Citroën 11BL, 195? Lancia Aurelia B10 and 1971 Lancia Fulvia Coupe. Here is a quick catch up with their goings on.
Bought the Chummy from Port Lincoln earlier this year it was a runner, just needed a tidy up and I’m still doing just that.
Big things to do: Clutch, Hood is baggy and the hood frame does not fold or lock in place, apart from that it’s fine.
Like most Austin 7 Specials she is a bit wanting in the looks department but as a Mother never thinks her baby is ugly, so too with the Special creator. This year I have fitted a new Phoenix crank, waiting for the Richardo head to arrive and currently building a windscreen which I’m sure will make her even more beautiful.
Still my favourite car, a bit of a hotrod with an ID19 engine and 4 speed gearbox (as the car God intended). Tough as old boots and an utter delight to drive. Apart from an oil change that’s all for this year.
This one is not even in the garage yet but once Victoria manages to get the Covid numbers down, I will be off to South Australia to pick her up. Body looks to be good, motor is dismantled but hopefully complete.
Last month I reached a dubious milestone of spending more money making the body rust and dent free than the purchase price of the car ….. and it’s still in primer. It will be beautiful, it will be beautiful. I probably need to say Om with that.