Austin Seven Documentary first shown on ITV in 1984 featuring Stanley Edge
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- Опубликовано: 16 авг 2018
- Austin 7 Centenary. Born in 1922. Happy birthday little Austin! 2022.
Take 30 - Austin Seven Documentary first broadcast on the 18th of June 1984 by Central TV in the UK. It features Stanley Edge the draughtsman who Sir Herbert Austin had employed at his home Lickey Grange in 1922, to draw up his plans for a little car that was to save the Austin Motor Company from bankruptcy. Also, Colonel Arthur Waite appears in this video who developed the Austin 7 for racing. I believe this programme to be of great historical interest. Please note that this is an original ITV programme and ownership and all copyrights belong to ITV. 
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A charming man.He gave a talk at the Victoria Hotel some years ago and brought his drawings to show us in the local A7 Club.
Yes, he comes across in the film as a really likable person. He had a very interesting story to tell. They certainly don't design cars in the way he did today. The Austin 7 is a great legacy to him.
my grandfather own Austin Seven here in Malaya before independent of Malaysia , he got contract with Osborne & Chappel Company
Wonderful film, makes me hanker for a past age.
Hello, thank you for watching, pleased to hear that you enjoyed the video. As time passes we seem to hanker much more for those golden days of the past, even the 1980s when this film was made. Like the old Austin Seven things were less complicated back then.
Herbert Austin did an apprenticeship in Australia as an Engineer and was employed by Fredrick York Wolseley of the Wolseley sheep shearing machine company Sydney Australia to design shearing machines which he did successfully, similar machines are still used today, my early relations from the company Dangar Gedye and Mullock sold and promoted these machines in Australia,the first machines being powered by a single horse on a tread mill, Wolseley was interested in building cars and Austin designed his first car in the late 1800s for Wolseley which was a three wheeler with a horizontal opposed twin cylinder engine.
Thank you for adding this very interesting information to the comments section. Amazing to think of a horse providing the power for his sheep shearing machines. Interesting too is your family connection in selling the products developed by Herbert Austin and Wolseley.
Dad's family would go on holidays to Wales. Five of them in an Austin 7. Dad never forgot his Welsh lamb baked dinner.
I've got a Suzuki Jimny. Goes outback regularly.
Amazing to think of a family of 5 in the little Austin. I can imagine on those Welsh hills with 5 people in the car, braking would have to be well planned ahead to stop in time.
Amazing piece of footage..
Thank you for your comment, glad that you enjoyed watching.
My uncle bought one in the 1930s. My Aunty refused to ride in it saying she wasn’t going to be seen in a pram.
They must have seemed quite small compared with the other cars of the day. Especially the Chummy versions.
@@radiowyn1703 not sure what chummy means but I know he replaced it very quickly with a Chevrolet.
my dad’s fathers in this video (: he was one of the ones talking on the film
Pleased you spotted your grandfather in the video. Did he have an Austin 7?
@@radiowyn1703 yes!! he had a few actually
@@ionaberyl He played his part in preserving a little bit of the Austin Motor Company's history.
That was when Britain was Britain. Six weeks to get it in production! I have often thought that the Austin 7 and the German Beetle could have kept on forever with periodic
upgrades to meet current safety standards. Great stuff, thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it. Yes, they just seemed to get on with it in those days, and they got the car right!
@@radiowyn1703 Remember that there was far, far less to 'get on with.' The simplest motor vehicle anyone could possibly imagine - and in successive series, it continued in production until 1938!
@@colinmcdonald8521 Simple indeed, but it had an inbuilt charm and character which continued throughout the different variations of the car - Chummy to Ruby. I suppose you could say that it was a big car of the time miniaturised. I believe this character was one of the reasons that the car was so successful and long lived. Something the later Austin Mini had too with a more revolutionary design. Both the Austin 7 and the Mini were classless vehicles loved by the British public and in some other countries, but not all liked the small size of these cars.
You don't know what made Austin Great because you think it was Britain,what made Austin great was his good education in Australia and associating with the right people,later I believe he struck it lucky by employing ALEC ISSIGONIS and it was innovations like Issigonis designs that could have saved Austin, British and Australian Manufacturing, but of course all the cars we drive today are inspired to a certain extent by his designs, in particular the Austin 1800 and 1100 and the mini. the industry now is all about price but innovation will always prevail if you can protect your intellectual property.
Lovely to see this film - a period piece in it's own right! I remember attending one of the Austin 7 events in Shropshire in the 1980s where Stanley Edge was in attendance. There was also a 1920s Bentley at the event, surrounded by the Austins - the Bentley looked even bigger than usual! Thanks for posting.
Thank you. Pleased you enjoyed watching it. Must have been great to have seen Mr Stanley Edge. It is hard to believe that the first Austin 7 cars will soon be coming up to be one hundred years old.
Amazing ... thank you for this record!
You are welcome thank you, glad you enjoyed watching it. A little gem of Austin 7 history.
The trip up the Cape York peninsula to Bamaga, the most northern place in Australia, is usually undertaken by large four-wheel drives fitted with thousands of dollars worth of aftermarket accessories.
One guy in the 1980's fitted off-road motorcycle tyres to his Austin Seven and just drove up and back.
Amazing story, thank you for sharing.
something has to be wrong, some how. are we all victims of our own vanity?
I went to a vintage trialling event and was amazed at how Good they were off road.
Indeed, Edgar, these machines were made for their times and there were just as many clever engineers and mechanics as there are today.
@@kevinmoor26 I had the chance to buy a Chummy. I regret not jumping at the chance.
Great video many thanks for sharing. I have a photo being presented with a model car from Stanley Edge after winning a colouring competition probably in 1980 approx. I still attend longbridge rallies when they are on 40 years later . 2022 is 100 years since the first one !
Thank you, pleased you enjoyed watching it. Must be great to know that you actually met the man himself, a true legend of the British motor industry. I am sure Longbridge 2022 will be one not to miss.
@@radiowyn1703 Just to clarify I was 8 when I won the competition. I still have the corgi car I won as a prize ! Cheers
wish i could go back to 1894
I watched it the first time round whilst on holiday in the Cotswolds. had a lasting effect on me I am going to build a special in the near future before they get too expensive, the classic car prices have started to go daft these last few years.
That's great, very pleased to hear this video has inspired an Austin Seven project. To think that in the 1950’s they could be picked up for £50. Those that survived that period and the introduction of the MOT in 1960 seemed to have been preserved and are now commanding a high price.
Worked on those when i was a kid they were a lovely old thing.
DId you have one in the family? I used to have one, great little cars. They provided cheap first car motoring in the 1950's until the MOT test killed many off.
I love Austin 7s, especially the racing cars in the 750 club. I gad one roll at my post at Brands a few years ago. The driver ducked down in the car and got out completely unharmed. They are great racing.
Great cars, I used to have an RP Box saloon, loved them from being a child. My dad used to have them in the 1950's, very cheap to buy then, he had a Box saloon, Ruby and a Swallow.
thanks for uploading this
Thank you, had it on VHS since 1984, thought I should share it.
Fascinating! Thanks.
Thank you.
I think they started out as a two bearing crankshaft with ball bearings. Later a three bearing crankshaft the little side-valve engine was so powerful that a newer Overhead cam engine was abandoned and Austin reverted to this block but with a new very good over-head valve head used in some of the MG's, the Mini and many other cars.
I read about Morris and Austin long ago and may have got the detail wrong - But the new 1940 head caused the crankshafts in the MG TC to break until they were replaced by a stronger forged crankshaft.
I have from time-to-time tried to check this story but I have not been able to other than to add that the new OHV head was developed by a designer from Jaguar cars seconded to Rolls Royce to design the Merline engine (1933) then later he went to Austin and developed a lorry engine (about 1935). The other version of the story is that no-one was seconded from Jaguar Cars?
Thank you for sharing this information. I know the original Austin 7 had a two bearing crankshaft and the later Ruby cars had the 3 bearing crank. I believe in the 3 bearing version - the centre bearing tended to wear prematurely.
A lovely glimpse of history , joy to watch.
Thank you. Pleased you enjoyed watching it.
There once was a man from Boston
He bought a little Austin
He had room for his ass
A gallon of gas
His b…lls hung out
And he lost them
Great! I bet he lost a gallon of gas from his ass when he pressed the brake pedal to find it didn't stop his little Austin. Those cable brakes don't have much in the way of stopping power.
Can anyone a vise the weight of the A7.?
Too bad the volume is so low, couldn't finish it
Sorry about that. Seems okay on my device.
@@radiowyn1703 mine too. Has he heard of a volume control?
In America they were assembled and sold through "The American Bantam Company". Their the company that first developed the Jeep.
That’s interesting, it seems the Austin 7 was the forerunner for quite a few car manufacturers such as Jaguar with the Austin 7 Swallow, and Dixi for BMW.
@@radiowyn1703 Also Nissan/Datsun in 1920's, Sevens were built under license in Japan.
@@jackpontiac52 Sad to think that the Austin company is no more. Nissan, Jaguar and BMW are still going strong, in part thanks to the little Austin Seven. At least we still have a few little Austin Sevens running around here in the UK.
@@radiowyn1703 Sadly people ridicule post world war 2 governments for saving some of these many car, aeroplane and other manufacturers. They could not of cause all carry on and BL had too many engines and many teams that carried on designing more good designs than they needed.
Between 1950 and 1980 all these things were sorted out well and things came right. People changed though they were not interested in industry but in financial services. Easy money creation has ruined so much of it.
In retrospect, Britan saved a lot and did well until policy changed and we sold off and chose to buy the same things in but made elsewhere. That was the mistake of the 1980s - it was popular and democratic.
The US Austin 7 was Austin running gear but the bodies were Bantam design & different to the British design.