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Ladies also drive ‘Sevens’
We see so many men driving, displaying and
working on, historic vehicles that it is easy think it is a ‘male thing’. We
have several lady owner/drivers in the Cornwall Austin Seven Club who drive
their ‘Seven’ regularly on Club events and attend rallies. Two tell their
story.
My Austin
Seven Experiences
- Jenny Gardner
I was learning to drive as soon as I was seventeen years old and on the
‘look out’ for an old ‘banger’. A school friend of my boyfriend had gone on to
London to university leaving a 1937 Ruby in his father’s garage. My boyfriend
and I bumped in to this friend’s father in Gloucester one day and we asked him
if we could buy the old car since he was grumbling about the space it was taking
up. It took several months of negotiation and eventually I paid 7/6d deposit
and agreed to pay seven pounds ten shillings for the car.
I had not
actually seen the car but our friend assured us it was a good runner but needed
a bit of doing up.
It was
spring 1962, snow was so thick that travelling was very difficult for weeks with
much ice on the roads and snow six foot high in places. My driving test was cancelled
because of the arctic conditions. When the snow eventually melted a little we
drove to Painswick to collect get my unseen purchase.
 We
were in for bit of a shock, the core plugs were projecting on ice pillars; one
side of the car had been stripped of paint and had had a coat of emulsion pain
applied to it, the rest was bare metal where paint had been removed.
We towed
her home with a bit of rope, no strict regulations for towing then, and I could
not wait to get started. My boyfriend and father did the mechanics and
electrics and I worked on the body. Being only seventeen I was not at all interested
in painting the car the original colour, which was dull grey so I bought a tin
of Valspar bright yellow gloss paint. My dad had a tin of proper coach paint,
black, which he gave me so I painted the wings with this and the body bright
yellow. I called her “Wopsie”, a Gloucestershire name f or
wasps. I cut up some old carpet for the floors and got some leather paint
to brighten up the seats. She was my pride and joy and I drove her to work
every day.
My father
then found another Austin Seven for spares, but when we got it home it was older,
a 1934
Box, and we decided to do her up. This one I painted maroon and black and
called her 'Lady G' as my surname was Gait. When she was finished I tearfully
sold 'Wopsie' to a young man and drove 'Lady G' to work instead.
I
subsequently married the boyfriend and we lived out in the country. I
found drivers kept cutting me up and made no allowance for my cable brakes!
My father in law was in the car trade and he found me a lovely frog-eyed Sprite
and suggested I might find it safer to drive and thought I might like a sports
car. He was right, so again I had a tearful sale of 'Lady G'. That was the
end of my Austin Seven fun for a long time.
When Bob
and I moved down to Bratton Clovelly we saw ‘Susie’ the car John and Elaine
Morgan
purchased at Treburley garage and I got all sentimental and enthusiastic about
Austin Sevens again. We did not buy Susie but later saw the 1936 Opel we
now drive.
When
we joined CA7C Andrew Jarmin kindly looked up both registration numbers of my
cars on the A7CA Surviving Chassis register and I was delighted to find that 'Wopsie' was
still listed. I made contact with the owners. They told me that in
1962 they had seen 'Wopsie' around the area where I lived and noticed that suddenly it
was no longer about. They went to see a relation of theirs a couple of weeks
later and there
was 'Wopsie' parked in the road by their relation's house. Apparently the
young man I sold her to drove her too hard and did some damage to the engine.
The couple then bought her from him and drove her daily for 20 years. They
restored her to her original colour and belonged to Bristol Austin Seven Club.
They still have the car and sent me a photograph of her taken some 20 years ago.
She is kept in a shed in their garden and has unfortunately been there for at
least 17 years and not touched. I asked if I could go and see her but they
declined.
'Lady G' was
not traced so perhaps she ended up on the scrap heap – I hope not, I am still fond of her
all these years later.
Sadly, Jenny decided to sell the Opal in Feb
2010, fortunately to another club member.
Fifty
Years with 'Tilly' - Lorna Blewett
In July
2008 I will have owned my special, TL1164, for exactly 50 years. This may look
like something of a record, but perhaps an even more surprising slant is that
during these years 'Tilly' has only been in use for 5 years. I used her from 1958
until 1961 when Ken and I bought our saloon, CG4191. We had hoped to keep both
cars on the road - a Summer Austin Seven and a Winter Austin Seven - but that hope never
materialized. Between September 2004 and September 2006 'Tilly' was rebuilt by
Lee Webster. According to my wishes he kept 'Tilly’s' body very similar but we
decided she needed doors. Other improvements included 12 volt electrics and
hydraulic brakes, both of which I knew Ken would have appreciated. After 45
years laid up, rotting in various garages, she passed her MoT in September
2006. That was her first ever test because the MoT wasn’t introduced until
after she was taken off the road in 1961.
 When
we bought 'Tilly' she cost £25 and we started using her straight away. I was 28,
the same age as 'Tilly', but she was my first car and I hadn’t passed the test. Ken
had very bad eyesight and no licence but I used to drive all over London with
him in the passenger seat. Several times I was stopped by the police asking to
see my provisional licence. Amazingly no-one ever asked for Ken’s licence!
However, I took a course of lessons with the BSM and passed the test. As well
as using 'Tilly' to go to work in Knightsbridge where I left her in Hyde Park,
visible from the office windows, we used her for holidays in Cornwall and to
visit my family in North Wales.
 In
1959 we took her via Germany to Prague in Czechoslovakia. We saw no vintage
vehicles in Germany where 'Tilly' was considered a joke, but quite a few in
Czechoslovakia where she was loved. The Czechs had recently got vintage cars
out of garages where they had been stored during the war. Ken used a Bolex 16mm
camera perched on a tripod as he sat beside me. I still have the rolls of film,
the quality is excellent but it remains unedited; I might yet make something of
it.
I do
cherish a few photos taken by two Czech students touring on a motorbike. We
stopped by a vineyard and they dived into the field to pick armfulls of grapes
which they gave us. Later we received a letter from them with prints of their
photos.
In 2007 we
drove both my Austin Sevens to Beaulieu, but that is a trip best forgotten
because of appalling weather and several problems with the cars. 'Tilly'’s 12v
conversion has been a continual source of problems. Otherwise she goes well and
I use her here on runs with the Cornwall Austin Seven Club and Cornwall Vintage
Vehicle Society.
 Through
research I have discovered that 'Tilly' was originally registered in 1930 in
Lincolnshire, a black fabric saloon!
I am very
pleased to have both my Sevens on the road. They are no longer my everyday
transport which is the job of a new Toyota. Lee and I manage to keep up with
the maintenance but with him several miles away and us both getting on a bit it
can be a struggle!
Some of our other Lady Drivers
 Another
lady clocking up the miles is Regi Jarmin of Stithians who bought a 1933 RP
Saloon as a wreck in 1989. After much work by husband Andrew it was on the
road in 1992 and with barely 50 miles of ‘Austin Seven’ driving experience
she drove from John O Groats to Lands End
(the JOGLE) in 44 hours, and since then has made two double End to Ends, the
last return trip in 23 hours and 13 minutes. Regi has also been on
holidays to Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France and Jersey plus several
holidays in Devon, and as a regular on Club events she has driven just over
33500 miles to date. In all that time only a condenser has been
replaced at the road side, also one puncture and a few blocked jets!
Regi also owns a 1929 Van Type AD manufactured by Thomas Startin of
Birmingham, which is also driven on events.
 Dorothy Murrish of Chacewater purchased her
1933 RP Saloon in 1986 from a family in Falmouth. Being another avid
‘Seven’ owner/driver Dorothy is a regular on Club events and has enjoyed trips
to Holland, Brittany, Southern Ireland, Wales, Le Mans in France where she
drove round the Bugatti circuit, and other Club holidays in Devon. She also did the JOGLE in 2000 driving through
the night to complete the journey in 22 hours and 30 mins. Dorothy
averages 3000 miles per year and has had no major breakdowns although will admit
to once putting diesel in the petrol tank and having to be towed home!
Ann Brown of Carnkie, Wendron still takes
her left hand drive 1934 Tourer on Club events after enjoying many years of
‘Sevens’ with her late husband.
Other ladies in the hot
seat are Sue Doyle of Camborne who has to combine driving her 1937 Ruby with
being a mother of a young family.
Tamsin Coxen of Truro has a 1931 RM Saloon
which she drives when work commitments allow.
Freda Capel of Collumpton has a 1933 RP Saloon
supporting CA7C and Bristol Austin Seven Club events.
Wendy Waters of Goonhavern drives a 1935
Ruby and several other ladies also drive
occasionally, but are not necessarily owner/drivers.
The pleasures of owning and driving an
Austin Seven can be enjoyed by both men and ladies. CA7C offers a lot of
technical support for the ladies who are not so mechanically knowledgeable
or able. So long as the owner/driver can carry out the basic maintenance
checking and topping up the oil and water, the tyre pressures and a few other
minor things, then any lady driver can soon be
enjoying the freedom of driving an Austin Seven.
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