Austin 7

Michael Harrison speaking about his Austin 7


On Thursday 1st June our speaker was Mike Harrison of Lunesdale Rotary. Mike's very interesting talk was entitled "A brief history of my Austin 7". 
He began with the background of the founder Herbert Austin of the Austin Motor Company, who travelled to Australia and became involved with the engineering industry there where he patented a sheep shearing device. On his return to England he worked for Wolsey Engineering, before setting up his own company manufacturing vehicles mainly for military use in World war 1. After the war he made the Austin 20, a 3.6litre car, but it was  too expensive for a mass market. He used £3000 from his company to develop and build a prototype car with the same wheelbase as a motor cycle and sidecar. He launched the resulting Austin 7 on 21 July 1922. The car sold for £225 but as sales increased the price was reduced to £165. He developed van models of the car and allowed coach builders to add their own bodywork.
Mike bought an Austin Ruby as a restoration project for £125. The car was first registered in 1935. A full rewire was carried out. Body panels were restored and the car was resprayed to its original Westminster Green with Black Wings. The sunroof was replaced and the original seats reupholstered in leather.  
In July 2022 Mike took the car to the Austin 7 Centenary Rally held in Moreton in the Marsh. There were over 1000 Austin 7 models present at the week-long rally including 100 Ruby saloons.

Mike said 330,000 models were produced and currently there are about 10,000 still existing in various parts of the world.

Related pages...

William explaining the finds

Metal Detection

more The finds in fields

Renewable Energy and the Community

more Hydro Electricity etc

Polio and Me - A Survivor's Tale.

more By Steve Ragnall

A Busy Evening

more Youth Speaks, DG Visit and Poppy Making

Do You Care? We Do.

more Colin Bowman

Crime Writer

more Harry Navinski

Iceland and the Faroes

more Anthony Chick

The Wonderful World of Patents

more Trevor Blease

A snapshot of New Zealand

more Linda

The Hospice

more David Alexander

400 years on from the Lancashire Witches

more Charlotte Baker

S.E.N.D

more Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

A Busy Thursday Evening

more Two events

Ladies in Rotary

more The Potted History

Salvation Army

more by Malcolm Watkins

How the Spanish Civil War affected my Family

more Rique Llanares

After dinner Speakers

more How to speak

The Spanish Civil War

more by Ken Kay

Concert and Cakes

more Royal Northern College of Music concerts in Burton in Lonsdale

Lest We Forget

more WW1 Poetry

Rotary Moving Forwards.

more An interesting Discussion on how to move forward

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

more An thought provoking insight into Rotary

Everyday sayings from the Sea

more Peter Swarbrick gave an entertaining talk.

St John’s Hospice

more Sue McGraw - A potted history

The History of Pensions

more Speaker: Trevor Blease

Integrated Care & Community

more Hayley Clark

Yak Patel

more CEO of Lancaster and District Community Voluntary Solutions

The Music Hall recalled

more David Alexander entertained us with poems from the past.

Bells

Jubilee Bells

more Changing the church bells at Over Kellet

Medicinal and Poisonous garden plants

more What to look out for in your garden.

North West Cancer Research

more An insight into education about healthy living

The Hadze

more An insight to the life of the Hadze

St John's Hospice

more An outline of what they do

Lancaster Men’s Hub

more Is there life in Lancaster Men’s Hub

A History of Carnforth

more By David Parker

Malcolm's Journey

more An insight into the life of Malcolm

PetSave Charity

more Karen informed us about Save a Pet

DG Visit

more DG Kath spoke at our first meeting in 2023

The Covid Vaccine

more An insight into the development of the vaccine - speaker Brian Carmen-Meakin

Ron Nelson - Portrait of a Career in Ship Building

more A brief description of a life in ship building.

Janet Ratcliffe 6244 Over & Out

more A resume of a WPC's life

back to page above this...

Speaker Weeks

back A brief outline of the speaker topics.