Norfolk NA7ter

January 2015

Norfolk NA7ter

Norfolk Austin Seven ClubOfficers and Committee

Chairman John Groom Tel: 01945 474196email:john.groom1@sky.com

Secretary Paul Maulden Tel: 01986 872537email:paul_liz@maulden21.plus.com

Treasurer John Wyett Tel: 01366 500165email:jwyett@tiscali.co.uk

Membership Rick Fryer Tel: 01362 696114Secretary email:rf.na7c@tiscali.co.ukEvents Dave Rix Tel: 01508 493419Co-ordinator email:rixna7c@waitrose.comLibrarian John Hazell Tel: 01953 488219Committee Jim Hunt Tel: 01603 868093Members email:jimmy.hunt@talktalk.net

Matt Dingle Tel: 01603 714199email:mckr993@talktalk.net

Michael Spinks Tel: 01603 737332Editor/ Rick Fryer 38 Neatherd Road, Dereham,Website Norfolk NR20 4AQ

Tel: 01362 696114email:rf.na7c@tiscali.co.uk

Club Meetingsare held on the third Tuesday of each month

from 7.30 pm at

East Tuddenham Jubilee HallMattishall Road East Tuddenham

Norfolk NR20 3LR

Club Website – www.na7c.co.uk

Copyright © 2015 Norfolk Austin Seven Club

The articles, photographs and views expressed and printed in the ‘NOR-FOLK NA7TER’ are for the sole use of NA7C members and their read-ership and must not be printed or reproduced in any other way without

the express written permission of the NA7C appointed representatives.

The views expressed in the articles appearing in the 'NORFOLK NA7TER' are those of the contributors and not

necessarily those of the club, committee or editor. It maybe necessary to condense or alter some of the articles submitted

for publication to suit the space available: the editor apologises in advance if this is unavoidable.

The NA7C is a member of the Austin Seven Clubs Association and the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs

In This Edition of theNorfolk NA7ter

PageNews

Editorial 1Christmas Dinner 2New Members 3Speakers’ Corner 3Calling All Bookworms 4While we’re on the subject of books.... 6Association News 7

Our Cars Buffy Reborn 8Nellie 9

Sales and Wants 15FBHVC News

UK Legislation 18Roadworthiness Testing 18Fuel News 19

What’s On 21NA7C Events Calendar 2015 23And Finally... Inside back cover

“Buffy”, Hamish Alger’s 1927 Chummy – see page 8

On The Cover

January 2015 1

NewsEditorial.

Another year has come and gone. Bestwishes for a happy and prosperous2015 and “Happy Austineering” to allour members.

2015 is our tenth anniversary year. Fol-lowing an inaugural meeting in No-vember 2004 to gauge the level ofinterest, the Norfolk Austin SevenClub was set up in January 2005. Weare pleased to say that the club hasgone from strength to strength, first un-der the auspices of its founder, JimBlacklock, and subsequently with thepresent committee, headed by Chair-man John Groom. We continue to at-tract new members (see page 3) andthere are now 85 joint memberships,giving a total of 157 members.

To celebrate ten years of the club, yourcommittee is considering several pos-sibilities, such as an anniversary me-mento, a social evening, a barbecueand, of course, our main rally at theRoyal Norfolk Showground in August.

Details will be announced at the earli-est opportunity.

Dave Rix, our Events Co-ordinator, isworking on the 2015 programme andthe “first draft” is on page 23. More de-tails soon, but don’t forget that the lat-est programme can be found on theclub’s web site at www.na7c.co.uk

Our AGM will be held at the JubileeHall on Tuesday 17 March. This isyour chance to influence how the clubis run, so please try to attend. Finally,club membership expires on 31 Marchand renewal forms will be sent out to-wards the end of February. Prompt re-newal will be appreciated by theMembership Secretary.

The user name and password to accessthe on-line version of the latest NorfolkNA7ter are in the printed copy sent tomembers.

Rick

The next edition of the NA7ter will be published in April 2015 Please let me have any contributions before 31 March

Contact details are on the inside front cover

2 Norfolk NA7ter

News

Christmas DinnerAnother enjoyable eveningFifty-eight members and guests en-joyed a convivial evening at our annualChristmas Dinner, held once again atthe Wensum Valley Hotel, Taverham.As usual, the meal was excellent andefficiently served by the attentive staff.

The raffle, particularly well stockedwith prizes, was drawn after the meal.Many thanks to those who donated sogenerously. Thanks also to the mem-

bers present who unstintingly boughttickets and raised the record total of£177, which will go towards clubfunds.

Our Chairman, John Groom, closed theevening by thanking both the member-ship and the committee for their sup-port during 2014, which had resulted inanother successful year for the club.

The raffle was particularly well stocked

Members and guests enjoyed a convivial evening

News

January 2015 3

New MembersPlease join us in welcoming the following new members to the club:Janet Wheeler and her son, Roder-ick, live in Hoxne, near Eye, and owna 1935 Ruby Cabriolet.

Gary and Lynne Weidner, who havea 1938 Big Seven, come from Rendle-sham, near Woodbridge.

Marion and Keith Barmby, brotherand sister-in-law of long-time mem-bers Roy and Sonia, live in Kirstead,near Norwich and do not yet have a“Seven”.

Speakers’ CornerTwo contrasting talks

In November we were entertained byJohn Read (left). John spent his workinglife involved with the Norwich gas worksand recounted many tales about the go-ings-on there.

His talk centred around his own careerand the history of gas and concluded withan interesting and informative slide-show based around the Gas Museum atFakenham.

At our October meeting, KevinShortis (right), ably supported byson Richard, gave us an interestingand humorous account of his person-al and business history in the motortrade.

Opening his first shop in Barn Road,Norwich, with a loan of £5000, hedescribed how his group progressedin 50 years to owning 43 shops, 38fitting bays and 23 motor factors,with an annual turnover of£40,000,000.

News

4 Norfolk NA7ter

Calling All BookwormsThe Editor’s attention has been drawn to the following booksA Comprehensive History of the Austin Seven Grasshopper – a new book byPeter Hornby and Michael Hanna, reviewed by Chris Garner

Of all the Austin Seven models pro-duced over the years perhaps theGrasshopper model is the one leastknown. The Grasshopper had a brieflife as a Works’ car of only aroundthree years from 1935 before beinggradually sold off to privateers.

Of a total of twelve cars built a surpris-ing seven still remain. Despite the lowproduction numbers the model hasplayed an illustrious part in 750 motorracing and its history has now beenvery ably described in Peter &Michael’s book, one which has taken

several years of research and compila-tion

Comprising around 150 pages withwell over 300 photographs, some incolour, the book comprehensively de-scribes the cars, beginning with thetechnical aspects and then going on todetail the surviving cars. The chapteron living with a Grasshopper is inter-esting as Peter Hornby is the proudowner of two survivors – a situation tobe envied.

The remainder of the book sets out thecomplete competition history of all thecars and is most detailed with numer-ous photographs. The book ends withshort profiles of the drivers over theyears.

The authors compliment each other,with Peter as an owner and Michael asa wordsmith and so achieving a veryreadable and well-thought-out layout.They are to be congratulated.

The book is published by The Pre WarAustin Seven Club Limited, price: £16.00 post paid from Graham Beckett,7 All Saints Lane, Nettleham, Lincoln.LN2 2NJ. Tel: 01522 750870. ISBN:978-0-9572426-3-0

News

January 2015 5

Alexa – The Life and Death of an Austin 7 Ruby, a book by Brian MiltonIn 1968 Brian Milton – TV presenter,financial journalist and adventurer –fell in love with a girl called FionaCampbell, who lived in South Africa.She agreed to marry him and he re-solved to drive a 1937 Austin 7 Rubycalled Alexa across Europe, the SaharaDesert and the tropical Congo to claimhis bride.

The car didn’t make it, but a greatmany adventures occurred.

Brian crashed Alexa in the Sahara aftersuffering ptomaine poisoning from atin of sardines. He was robbed of vari-ous pieces of equipment by desert Ar-abs, and ran out of water twice enroute.

Driving into Chad in central Africa, apiston ring broke and Brian was forcedto continue for the next 2,000 mileswith just 3 working pistons, no plug atall in the 4th piston.

Alexa lost her brakes and was withoutlights, shock absorbers, starter-motoror handle, and gradually falling topieces. In this state, Brian drove her an-other 900 miles down to the CongoRiver itself, then east. With 300 milesto complete to get to Uganda whereeverything, pre Idi Amin, could be re-paired, Alexa was down to two pistonsand a failing big end, and finally gaveup the ghost in a town called Mung-bere. However much he raged, Brian

could not get permission to give Alexaa Viking funeral in flames.

Alexa’s terrific struggle and eventualdemise is told through diaries writtenat the time, on a 1948 Olympia type-writer called Brunehilde perched onone petrol can, the author on another,lighting provided from a hurricanelamp hanging off an umbrella stuckinto the car roof-rack.

The book is available only on-line,price £10.00 plus £3.00 P&P, at

www.brian-milton.com/books

News

6 Norfolk NA7ter

While we’re on the subject of books....Here is a snippet from Martin Jones

The October issue of the AutomobileMagazine refers to a picture of an earlyDaimler, that was still going well in thelate thirties, that appeared in a book en-titled Motors, Ships & Engines.

Being a collector of motoring books(Thelma calls it “hording”) I looked upmy own copy of the book in question,which I have had from the early fifties,and found the picture. This in turn gotme looking through other similar agedbooks and I found the same picture inThe Wonder-Book of Motors, The Ro-mance of the Road, published by Ward,Lock & Co in the late forties.

Whilst leafing through it I came acrossa picture of an Austin 7 Ruby, with theregistration number clearly visible.DOJ 507 appears on page 137, in thechapter headed Light Cars and “Ba-bies”. Unfortunately there are no de-tails of when or where taken, but it isclearly an early farm setting. The Ruby

appears pristine, so it could have beentaken pre war.

This prompted a look on the survivingchassis register, which lists DOJ 507 asbeing a model ARR Ruby Mk2, ingreen and owned by someone in theBristol Austin 7 Club who is also amember of the Austin 7 Owners Club(London).

I e-mailed the secretary of the saidclub, suggesting the owner might like acopy of the photo and details of whereit appeared, but as yet have not had aresponse.

News

January 2015 7

Association NewsJohn Wyett reports on the Quarterly Meeting of the Austin Seven Clubs'Association, October 2014.There was a very poor turn out by rep-resentatives of member clubs, espe-cially as the holiday season had largelypassed by.

The chairman, Andy Lowe, gave a fullreport on his various wanderings dur-ing the year (see Grey mag 2014D fordetails).

He mentioned that Chris Dalby fromA7 Services remains very poorly hav-ing suffered a stroke earlier this yearand the contents of his businesspremises at Kirby Wiske were beingauctioned off, the first 500 lots to besold off at the end of October 2014with more to come.

The secretary made a plea for all clubsto notify 2015 rally and event details toBernard Griffiths (Events co-ordina-tor), Ed Waugh (the Grey mag editor)and Chris Charles (website co-ordina-tor) a.s.a.p. and certainly by 1 Decem-ber 2014 for inclusion in the 2015AGrey mag.

Jim Blacklock sent his usual compre-hensive report on the register whichnow included 11,465 car details. Themeeting recorded the A7CA thanks toChris Charles for providing the on-linesearch of the register facility throughthe Association website. Jim will be re-tiring as registrar, any takers?

John Wyett (Treasurer), reported onthe finances of the Association whichstood at a total of £32,737 at the end ofSeptember 2014 and also notified themeeting that a volunteer to take over asTreasurer has come forward. ChrisHeeley will take over from the start of2015.

Phil Baildon gave his usual compre-hensive report on happenings at the Ar-chives and it is intended that the workdone by Dave Martin on the AustinMotor Co factory records will be pub-lished in due course. Also Graham Bal-dock's publication on the variousAustin Seven models will appear as apublication soon once costings andquotations for printing have beenfirmed up. Bob Wyatt generously of-fered financial support for theseprojects.

It was agreed that the Associationbreakdown register would not be re-published in written form.

Discussions took place on A7CA in-surance cover and it was agreed that awritten statement of insurance needsshould be produced prior to invitingquotations for the various insuranceneeds of the Association.

8 Norfolk NA7ter

Our Cars

Buffy RebornHamish Alger on his “new” ChummyAbout 3 months ago I sold my '35 Aus-tin 12/6 Newbury and bought a '27Chummy. Nothing wrong with theNewbury, it was a lovely and impres-sive car, but it just wasn't a Chummy.A Chummy is fun, and the 12/6 wasn't.It's as simple as that!

But what had I bought? Actually it's abit of a mystery. I am in contact withthe chap who restored it in 2007 butboth he and I do not know what hap-pened to it in the years 2008 to2014when I purchased it from a dealer. Ihave a few old photos showing the carin a parlous condition prior to its resto-ration, with a poor hood, flat tyres, cut-away doors and four headlights. So farI've been unable to date these photo-graphs. What we do know is that thecar was restored in 2007 (as above) butby 2014 it was going down a slippery

slope again. It had even lost its originalregistration number (WW 511) and Ihad to re-register it with one of the cur-rent issue of age related plates.

The engine ran – just – but had obvi-ously been neglected and a nasty waterleak had left its mark (literally!) allover. Both water take-offs had corrod-ed to a paste and the hoses had per-ished. The body Is good with newtimber at the rear and the doors areback to a standard shape. The floor panis also sound and although there isabout 6mm. of dust over the entirechassis the running gear appearssound. She has a brand new singleduck hood but has no side-screens, norhas the aluminium capping beendrilled to receive them. The fivewheels are sound, with tyres so newthey still have the little 'pimples' onthem. If anybody knows of a source ofside-screens I would be pleased to hearfrom them.

I've decided to take the entire car topieces and as I write this her engine ison the garage bench and the body andchassis are side by side on the floor:there must be a hundred bits and piecesin our summer-house and the hood is in

Our Cars

January 2015 9

the Dining Room! I intend to prepareand paint the chassis, underbody andall running gear, obviously checkingand replacing everything that needsdoing. The exterior paintwork is good,and so long as I am careful it will notbe necessary to re-paint. The engine Ihope to entrust to my very good friendDave Orange for necessary refurbish-ment but keeping to the original spec.as much as possible. She is fairly early(March 1927), with 22FZ bronze carb.,speedo driven from the prop shaft, oilbutton, small radiator, three speed'crash' gearbox, magneto ignition andCAV Dynamo and lights.

If any of you out there would like totake a look, proffer advice (not neces-

sarily taken!) have a cuppa and a chatyou would be most welcome. Ring first(01502 574097) to avoid disappoint-ment. Don't hold me up too long, Ihope to have her on the road nextSpring!

NellieBill Doe, who died recently, was the father of a friend of Barney Barnard.Among his effects was this account of his ownership of a “Seven” in theFifties. Continued from October 2014.The story so far... Bill, having bought the remains of a 1931 Austin Seven Saloonhas spent eight weeks building a new body virtually from scratch.

It was finished just in time for us totake a test run to Enid and Allan's atChadwell Heath, some 220 miles, tosee the Queen’s Coronation on theirTV.

The night before, however, the fan beltbroke in two. It was a flat section beltand quite easy to improvise using a flatleather dog's lead —the two ends rivet-ed together.

The trip started smoothly enough, butsomewhere between Whitchurch andthe A5 there came an ominous clatter atthe front end of the engine.

Stopping in the first lay-by, bonnet uprevealed a loosened fan pulley, pity ithadn't been tightened correctly whenthe radiator was off. The clearance be-tween radiator and fan pulley nut wasonly about 2". However a friendly AA

Our Cars

10 Norfolk NA7ter

man with his motorbike and side-car,who was parked just ahead of us, cameand asked if we needed assistance. Wethanked him profusely for fixing itwith a very large long-handled ringspanner.

Shortly after our maiden voyage toChadwell Heath and back, one of thecar’s battery cells packed up. By coin-cidence the company's Ford van bat-tery suffered exactly the same troubleshortly before. Of course the companyforked out on a new battery for theirvan and we gladly took the old batteryoff their hands. The van battery satneatly into the foot-well of the rear seatof the car and it was quite an easy jobto connect one of the good cells in se-ries with our two good cells. We wereback to 6 volts again. Great. As neither

of these batteries was in pink conditionthere was not quite enough power tooperate the self-start motor. This wasof no consequence, because the enginewould always start without trouble ormuch effort on the fixed starting han-dle.

As the starter motor was now redun-dant, there was no need to carry itaround and what's more, it took up agood deal of room in the drivers com-partment. So it was removed and a neataluminium plate was made to cover theresultant hole, really to stop inquisitivelittle fingers fiddling with the spinningfly-wheel and starter gearing!

At this time we had a small Rotavator– a Howard Bantam, a petrol-enginedmachine no larger than a Suffolk

Unfortunately, we haveno more pictures of “Nellie”, but as the

family grew up and expanded, more “Sevens”

came along, as shown here and opposite

Our Cars

January 2015 11

Punch garden lawnmower. Thinking itmight earn us a bob or two doing con-tract digging, by removing the car'spassenger seat, we found it could beman-handled in and out for transportand therefore taken to peoples gardens.In this fashion, we did do one large gar-den, an orchard to be precise. It did agood job, but we never got paid for it.That was the end of that enterprise.

However, the little car was doing ster-ling service as our personal transportwith frequent trips to visit friends andto Chester and Birkenhead.

One day in Chester, we had just startedto leave the car park, when Win (Bill’s

wife), babe in arms, suddenly openedthe door and abandoned ship. The rea-son was that there were sparks andsmoke issuing from under her seat.Quite a dramatic episode really, butnothing to worry about. The steelframe of the seat was short circuitingthe battery terminals.

Enid and Allan had moved house whennext we drove down to see them. Theyhad moved from a flat in ChadwellHeath to a modern house in Gidea Parkwith a drive and double gates. Revers-ing out one day, our exhaust, whichwas rather low-slung, collided with thecentral gate stop which was standingproud. The result was a broken cast

Our Cars

12 Norfolk NA7ter

iron exhaust manifold. Not so seriousthough: we found someone who madea good job of brazing the two halves to-gether.

The job at the transmitting station nor-mally consisted of twenty four hourson duty, then forty eight hours off. Twodays off were ideal for making longdistance return journeys – there oneday and back the next.

It was on one of these occasions that Itook Win with John and Anne to Mid-dlesborough. They wanted to stay onwith Win's mum and dad for a fewdays, which meant I had to go home thenext day alone. There was not a lot ofpetrol in the tank, but I was not worriedbecause, although I only had 1s 6½d inmy pocket, I carried our Post OfficeSavings Book.

About halfway home, high up in thePennines, it seemed a good idea tocheck the petrol situation. Nellie’s in-strumentation did not run to a petrolgauge, but a quick check with the pieceof dowel we kept as a dip-stick,showed that all was not well. Free-wheeling down most of the hills westopped at the next village only to findthat the Post Office was closed. Subse-quent Post Offices were closed. At thenext garage we lashed out and took onhalf a gallon of petrol, this left me with½d pocket money.

We did get home, just!

One of the good things about Nelliewas that it had two controls on thesteering column, one ignition control(advance and retard), which meant youcould readjust for optimum perform-ance and economy and two, hand throt-tle, leaving the right foot free to rest onlong journeys.

Christmas 1956 was a one-off. Therehad never been one like it and there hasnever been one like it since.

With rearrangement of the station dutyrota, it made possible for the station en-gineer to have five days off. He tookhis family off to Brighton. As we hadthree days off, we decided to go toMiddlesborough on Christmas Eve,but would have to return on BoxingDay, to relieve the engineer on duty.He was non-resident on the station andwould not have the provisions to stayon duty any longer. We had no worriesabout returning on time as the car wasso reliable, but the weather could makea tremendous difference.

The road across the Pennines fromBolton Abbey to Skipton had a notori-ous reputation for getting snowed upand the prospect of being snowed up,miles from anywhere, with John sevenyears old, Anne three years old andPenny to be born one month later wasunthinkable.

Christmas day, dawned calm and cold.However, the sky was heavily laden

Our Cars

January 2015 13

with a blanket of something with thecolour of magnolia, tinged with pink.Suspiciously like snow.

Regrets and apologies flowed freelybetween Wins mum and dad and our-selves, but, sorry, Christmas was off.We had to be on our way back toCheshire.

As we trundled down into Skipton wesighed with relief. The sky had main-tained its threatening attitude but theroad had been clear and we were nowin civilised parts.

It was very cold, but we were wellwrapped up and reasonably snug. Toprevent the radiator freezing up we hadremoved the fan-belt - anti-freeze inthe radiator was a luxury we could notafford and provided one used ones loafit was not necessary anyway. Somewarm air from the engine did come intothe car through the pedal holes and var-ious other apertures.

As we had no car boot, or luggage rack,our possessions were stacked in therear footwell. By this time we hadbought a new car battery, which meantthat the old car battery, stored tempo-rarily in the rear seat footwell had beendiscarded leaving the children with aflat area covered by a blanket; some-thing less than four feet square.

Snow started falling as we came intoPreston. By the time we left the town it

was almost a blizzard. Eventually thewindscreen wiper could cope no long-er. I got out to clear the screen andcould hardly stand up on the skatingrink surface of the road. The old trickof putting a matchbox under the trail-ing edge of the bonnet to direct warmair from the engine on to the screenwas not wholly successful, but it didhelp a bit.

Coming into Liverpool we were fol-lowing a double decker bus. We had totake a left hand fork to go through theMersey Tunnel. As we did so, the buswhich was attempting to take the right-hand fork, slid gently sideways downthe camber towards us. We did asquick an exit as possible without get-ting wheelspin. It was now dark but thesnow gave it an eerie radiance. Wepussy-footed across the Wirral fromthe Mersey to the Dee. The wind wasnow strong to gale force.

The last but one lap. Denhall Lane wasvirtually a cutting with banks and highhedges on either side and the windblowing at right angles across it wasfilling it up rapidly.

We went down the hill in first gear, ad-vanced ignition and full throttle. Thefirst leg of the marsh road was reason-ably easy: still first gear and full throt-tle and our guide to keep on to the roadwas to stay within a couple of feet ofthe farmer's field fence.

Our Cars

14 Norfolk NA7ter

When we left the farm there was nofence to follow. Before us lay a vista ofpure white virgin snow - no guides asto where the gravel track ran. We knewthere was a slight bend in it from expe-rience and we also knew that if we leftthe track we would be into the marsh:end of journey.

It was a distance of not much morethan a hundred yards to the station bot-tom gate. We did find the track.Through the gate, up the rise to the lastlap.

Still full throttle, still first gear butwithin 50 yards of home Nellie groundto a halt. The snow was well over thefront number plate, up to the bottompart of the radiator and the little carwas not designed as a snow plough.

Time to abandon ship, pick up belong-ings, turn on radiator drain tap, leaveNellie to the elements and trudge in-doors.

Vital Statistics – Austin Severn TL1404 Steel Saloon

Manufactured Longbndge Birmingham 1931

Engine Four cylinder. Bore and stroke 5606 MM. Side Valve.13.5 BHP developed by two bearing crankshaft at 3000 RPM.

Petrol consumption 45 mpg – but we bettered this by some 10 mpg. Petrol gravity feed to Zenith Carburettor.

Oil pressure about 5 psi

Gearbox 3 speed

Brakes Cable operated. Internal expanding. But we don't talk about these. Nellie was good at going –not at stopping.!

Cost to buy £20

Cost to make roadworthy £23

January 2015 15

Sales and Wants1930 AF Tourer For Sale

Ex-member James Brierly is selling his1930 AF Tourer, pictured below:

Bluebell, as she is known, sadly hasn'trun this year, but has been all tucked upin the garage. She might need a littlecoaxing to start her up!

James is looking for offers in the re-gion of £11,495 for this very tidy car.Please contact him, in the first in-stance, at james@elitetins.com orphone 07870685688 between 7pm and9pm only.

Sales and Wants

16 Norfolk NA7ter

Cambridge Special Body Frame

Charles Levien has something thatmight be of interest to anyone thinkingof building an A7 special – namely anaccurate copy in square section tubularsteel of the ash frame on a Cambridgespecial (ABP 856 – his first car). Theframe was built by an engineer who hasthe car but has now decided to rebuildit with an ash frame as per the original.

It is for a long chassis (Charles' car was1934) and he thinks it could give some-one a fast track to a very nice lookingCambridge replica. He is looking foroffers in excess of £100.

Please contact Charles on 01362684296 or candjlevien@btinternet.com

Sales and Wants

January 2015 17

Austin 10 For Sale

The following was received by e-mail via John Groom

I have been asked to sort out the sale ofmy late father’s Austin 10 on behalf ofmy mother.

I am contacting you to see if any ofyour members would be interested inthe vehicle. As you can see from the at-tached photo, it is a four-door carwhich has good body work but is inneed of restoration. All parts are thereexcept front bumper. £3,000-£4,000.

Please contact Neil Attwell (Advanced Water Treatment – Downham Market) 01366 387003 (Office) or neilattwell@advancedwatertreat-ment.co.uk

18 Norfolk NA7ter

FBHVC NewsThe NA7C is a member of The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs. Theypublish a bi-monthly magazine that highlights legislation and other topics which mayaffect our hobby. Articles of interest will be reprinted here. If any member would liketo read the magazine in full, please contact the Editor, or visit the FBHVC web site at: http://www.fbhvc.co.uk

UK Legislation Bob Owen

Roadworthiness Testing To remind everyone, the EU Directiveis adopted and is binding on all Mem-ber States including the UK. Our Gov-ernment is now working on theproblems of how the Directive is to beapplied, including whether, and towhat extent, there should be exemp-tions.

Interestingly, that means two separateexercises, one in Great Britain (Eng-land, Scotland and Wales) and one inNorthern Ireland, where the testing re-gime is devolved. Our own Depart-ment for Transport (DfT) is notinvolved in the Northern Ireland proc-ess. We are not clear how the two Gov-ernments are going to co-ordinate onthis, as they surely must, but we will bekeeping a watching brief on the North-ern Ireland situation under the guid-ance of the Association of Old VehicleClubs in Northern Ireland.

We are disappointed that the meetingwith DfT and DVSA on 2 July, atwhich several stakeholders were repre-sented and which was most useful butfar too short, has not to date been fol-lowed up. We are still hoping.

We do hope many of you contributedto the discussion on the DfT 'Classic'web site. The web site was announcedas running till the end of October. Inthe event, as it was not a formal consul-tation and as it had received around550 comments, it closed slightly earlyon 24 October. Its presentation was abit of a disappointment. It didn't reallyexplain the situation and implied theexercise was merely a tidying up of theexisting MoT regime, which we thinkis a bit of a simplification. In particularit was in error in not mentioning thatmotorcycles are not to be covered until2021 and even then there will be muchmore national discretion. And the site

FBHVC News

January 2015 19

did not really allow for discussion onthe subject of 'substantial change'which is for us the most important is-sue.

DfT say they are proceeding towards aformal consultation during next year,but the Federation is now commencing

serious briefing activities on the mat-ters which we have considered andraised here, and which have been put tous by members. We will be able to tellyou a lot more on this in the nextNewsletter when our briefing activitieswill be further advanced.

Fuel News Matthew Vincent

Ethanol-free petrol: what are the prospects?

For those who aspire to an ethanol-freelife (as far as their historic vehicles areconcerned, that is) and wish to use ex-clusively petrol which does not containethanol in their historic vehicles, somerecent developments may be of inter-est. Firstly, British Motor Heritage(BMH), a company more commonlyassociated with accurate replicas of1960s British car body-shells, haslaunched a UK supply of petrol guar-anteed to be ethanol-free. This initia-tive has been fairly widely publicisedin the media in recent weeks, but tosummarise: BMH will offer two gradesof 100 octane quality petrol, i.e. with orwithout lead. The fuels will be offeredin two different volume containers, thesmaller of just under 19 litres, or justover four imperial gallons, while thelarger container is the industry stand-ard drum of 205 litres nominal volume(45 imperial gallons).

The announcement about the productsoffered by BMH raises some interest-ing issues. Firstly, some owners of his-toric vehicles may be wary of using100 octane petrol in their historic vehi-cles. For almost 25 years, the well-worn myth that high octane petrol isnot suitable for low compression en-gines has become currency in somequarters, despite not being based onany scientific evidence. In fact, the ap-pliance of science will easily refute thisview, yet still it persists. Assumingowners are prepared to overcome theirreservations, the ethanol free petrolcould well be taken up with enthusiasmby many. This then raises the secondissue: how to achieve a satisfactory ve-hicle range? It is clearly unsatisfactoryto have to restrict the use of a historicvehicle to the range which can beachieved using a single tank of etha-nol-free petrol. Longer journeys couldbecome fraught if there are concerns

FBHVC News

20 Norfolk NA7ter

about running out of the precious liq-uid, since the product is unlikely to besold at normal filling stations. One so-lution might be to go back to the daysof early motoring, when in effect thesame problem existed, and motoristswould carry one or possibly more two-gallon cans strapped to the runningboards of their cars, to avoid the em-barrassment of running out of petrol.

This takes us on to the final issue: howmuch petrol can be stored at home?This used to be a bit of a thorny issue,with cases of people hoarding petrolduring supply difficulties resulting in asuccessful prosecution on at least oneoccasion. Fortuitously however, newpetrol regulations have just been pub-lished under the heading of 'The Petro-leum (Consolidation) Regulations2014 (PCR)'. The PCR came into ef-fect on 1 October 2014, which dove-tails neatly with the announcement byBMH of their new offering. For fullchapter and verse on the legal issuesand requirements it is best to seek outdetails of the PCR on the internet.However, a brief inspection reveals anapproach which might be regarded assurprisingly helpful to those desiring toavoid ethanol in their petrol. In brief,up to 30 litres of petrol may be storedin either suitable containers, or a de-mountable petrol tank, without the

need to notify the authorities, providedthe total volume of petrol stored doesnot exceed 30 litres. The reference to a30 litre demountable petrol tank coversthe limitation on the volume of addi-tional fuel which may be carried on orin a historic vehicle, over and abovethe fuel contained in a full petrol tank,to increase its range.If it is desired tostore a greater volume, up to 275 litrescan be stored provided certain require-ments are complied with. To store adrum (205 litres) of ethanol-free petrolfor example, would require an individ-ual to notify the local Petroleum En-forcement Agency (PEA) in writing.Storage requirements do not appear tobe unduly restrictive, but would needto be clarified formally with the PEA.It would appear therefore that in princi-ple, the bare bones of a strategy whichcould allow owners of historic vehiclesto run them on ethanol-free petrol, andto overcome the range-limiting diffi-culties which this might imply, are athand. As ever though, the devil is in thedetail, and all those wishing to storeethanol-free petrol at home shouldcheck out the relevant regulatory docu-ments to ensure both compliance withthe law, and common-sense safe prac-tice. The new regulations may befound on the following link.www.hse.gov.uk/fireandexplosion/petroleum-regulations-2014.

January 2015 21

What’s OnThe Events Calendar for 2015 is on page 23. At this time, of course, some details area little sketchy and there will be changes and many more events to be added duringthe year. The latest version is available on the website at

www.na7c.co.uk

The Club’s Events Coordinator is Dave Rix, who can be contacted on 01508 493419 or rixna7c@waitrose.com.

Here are some of the events over the next few months:

Tuesday 20 January – NA7C Meeting

Tuesday 18 February – NA7C Meeting - Indoor Bowls Knockout TournamentJubilee Hall, East Tuddenham – 7:30 pm.

Tuesday 17 March – NA7C Annual General Meeting – All members are invitedto attend. Jubilee Hall, East Tuddenham – 7:30 for 8.0 pm.

Tuesday 31 March – Quiz Night versus Jaguar Drivers Club – Parson Wood-forde, Weston Longville - 7.30pm

Tuesday 21 April – NA7C Meeting – Rubber Band Racing Night. Jubilee Hall,East Tuddenham – 7:30 pm. See next page for details.

Sunday 26 April – Drive It Day – A Visit to Zenos Cars, Wymondham. Moredetails from Dave Rix.

What’s On

22 Norfolk NA7ter

Rubber Band Race Night Rules

1. Each car must be no bigger than 10.5 inches long, 4.5 inches wide and 5 inches high (266mm x 114mm x 177mm). THE CARS MUST BE ABLE TO FIT IN THE SCRUTINEERS “GARAGE”.

2. All cars must be fitted with a body - saloon, sports, van, open tourer or special. Rolling chassis are not permitted.

3. All cars shall be powered by ONE Number 34 rubber band. A regulation band will be supplied and fitted on the night by the scrutineer.

4. The rubber band shall be complete and intact. No cut bands or catapult starts are allowed.

5. Cars may be made from wood, card, plastic, adhesive tape and glue. No metal parts are allowed EXCEPT for the road wheels. Any gears and axles must be non-metallic.

6. The car that travels the greatest distance in a straight line shall be the win-ner. There will also be a “Concours” prize for the the car judged the best-looking model on the night.

The scrutineer’s decision is final

Great Prizes at StakeSide Bets, Winner Takes All, Will Be Allowed

All enquiries to the Race MarshalPaul Maulden

01986 872537 or paul_liz@maulden21.plus.com

January 2015 23

NA7C Events Calendar 2015Bold type Underlined = NA7C Organised Event Bold type = NA7C Supported Event

Normal Type = Event not organised by NA7C but recommended or suggested by NA7CGrey shaded – a new or amended event

Note: Please let the organiser know if you plan to attend an event

Date Event Venue Contact

Jan 20 Tue NA7C Meeting Jubilee Hall, East Tuddenham - 7:30pm

Dave Rix 01508 493419rixna7c@waitrose.com

Feb 17 Tue NA7C Meeting – Knock-Out Indoor Bowls Tournament

Jubilee Hall, East Tuddenham - 7:30pm

Dave Rix

Mar 17 Tue NA7C Annual General Meeting Jubilee Hall, East Tuddenham - 7:30pm

31 Tue Quiz Night versus Jaguar Drivers Club

Parson Woodforde, Weston Longville - 7.30pm

Dave Rix

Apr 4 Sat Ufford Vintage Cars The White Lion Inn, Ufford, Suffolk - just turn up!

Dave Rix

12 Sun Halesworth to Snape Run Halesworth Main Car Park - 10.00am

Paul Maulden 01986 872537 paul_liz@maulden21.plus.com

21 Tue NA7C Meeting - Rubber Band Racing Jubilee Hall, East Tuddenham - 7:30pm

Paul Maulden 01986 872537 paul_liz@maulden21.plus.com

26 Sun Drive It Day – A Visit to Zenos Cars, Wymondham

TBD Dave Rix

26 Sun Daffodil Craft & Country Fair Langley School, Loddon 07717 716505

May 3 4

SunMon

Stradsett Park Vintage Rally Stradsett Park, Downham Market

01366 388907http://www.nvtec-ea.org.uk/rally/

17 Sun Classic Car & Bike Rally Skeyton Goat 01692 53860017 Sun Molentocht 2015 Dutch Windmill Run

www.molentochtgoes.nlDave Dickson 01423780060dickinson@btinternet.com

19 Tue NA7C Meeting Jubilee Hall, East Tuddenham - 7:30pm

Dave Rix

232425

SatSunMon

Strumpshaw Steam Rally Strumpshaw, nr Norwich Paul Worbey 07850 195622

24 Sun A Saunter Through the Saints Mettingham Old Victorian Tea Rooms (NR35 1TL) 10.00-10.30

Paul Maulden 01986 872537 paul_liz@maulden21.plus.com

What’s On

24 Norfolk NA7ter

Please Note: All the above events and dates are subject to change. Visit our website at www.na7c.co.uk for the latest information

Jun 7 Sun Euston Rural Pastimes Euston Park, nr Thetford 07880 797891kevin.burton.cfb@btinternet.com

16 Tue NA7C MeetingDrive It Night

Jubilee Hall, East Tuddenham - 7:30pm

Dave Rix

2021

Sat Sun

Swanton Morley Tractor & Bygones Rally

Village Hall, Swanton Morley

Ian Spooner 01362 692365 ian.spooner@btinternet.com

20 21

Sat Sun

Vintage Rally & Country Fair< Goodrich Park, Palgrave, Suffolk IP22 1BA

Dave Rix www.throughtheages.co.uk

Jul 45

SaSun

Vintage Transport Festival North Norfolk Railway 01263 820800

1112

SatSun

Wings & Wheels Heveningham Hall 01728 832363mike.rolf@talktalk.net

12 Sun Buxton Bash Buxton Recreation Ground Just turn up!19 Sun Lynn at War - organised by Gressenhall

Farm & WorkhouseTuesday Market Place, King’s lynn

01362 869259more info to follow

21 Tue NA7C Meeting Jubilee Hall, East Tuddenham - 7:30pm

Dave Rix

20 21

Sat Sun

Holkham Country Fair Holkham Hall www.holkhamcountryfair.com

Aug 12

SatSun

Old Buckenham Air Show Old Buckenham Airfield Dave Rix www.oldbuckenhamairshow.co.ukhttp://www.oldbuckenhamair-show.co.uk/classic-car.html

9 Sun RAFA Day - Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum

Flixton Dave Rix www.aviationmuseum.net

15 16

Sat Sun

NA7C Rally at Norwich Motor Show Royal Norfolk Showground

Dave Rix

18 Tue NA7C Meeting Jubilee Hall, East Tuddenham - 7:30pm

Dave Rix

29 30

Sat Sun

King’ Lynn Lions Charity Event Norton Hill Railway, Hall Farm, Snettisham

John Groom01945 474196

30 31

SunMon

Village at War Gressenhall Farm & Workhouse, Dereham

01362 869259more info to follow

Sep 15 Tues NA7C Meeting Jubilee Hall, East Tuddenham - 7:30pm

Dave Rix

19 20

Sat Sun

Henham Grand Steam Rally Henham Park 01502 714083www.henhamsteamrally.com

Oct 20 Tues NA7C Meeting Jubilee Hall, East Tuddenham - 7:30pm

Dave Rix

Nov 17 Tues NA7C Meeting Jubilee Hall, East Tuddenham - 7:30pm

Dave Rix

Dec 8 Tues NA7C Christmas Dinner TBD

Date Event Venue Contact

And Finally...Tools You Didn’t Know You Needed

For Jobs You Never Thought You’d Do!

1

1. Brake Pedal Depressor – wedged between the front of the seat and the brake pedal2. Synchromesh Sub-assembly Guide – the balls and springs are inserted through hole “A”3. Gearbox Vice Support – screwed into the gearbox drain hole4. Roller Bearing Outer Race Puller – for removing the outer race of the bevel pinion roller bearing on post-1935 rear axles5. Amal Choke Tube Extractor – Amal Carburettors were fitted for a brief period in the early thirties

2

3

The Austin Motor Company supplied many Service Tools for “Sevens”These are some of the more obscureNo prizes for guessing their purpose

4

5

Club SalesThe following items are available from Paul Mauldon

(01986 872537 or paul_liz@maulden21.plus.com) or at Club meetings

Posters – £5 Only a few left!Will not be reprinted

Binder for “Grey Mags” or “Natter”

holds 12 copies – £5

AUSTIN SEVEN BOOKSfrom

MARGARET MOTORS BOOKSHOPBessingham, North Norfolk

A Huge Stock of

New and UsedBooks Relating to Austin Sevens

Plus many other books on old cars and related subjects

Contact Henry and Jennifer Thorne01263 577366

Club Clothing

Fleeces – £29.50 Polo Shirts – £12.50

Baseball Caps – £11.00

All available in a variety of colours and sizesDetails from Paul

90th Anniversary Tea Towel£4

Stainless Steel Radiator Badges – £9.95

Also availableVinyl Windscreen badges

One large and one small badge – £1.50 per set