Gerald Flockhart reports on a 65, body number 59. The gearbox is a proper 4 speed close ratio crash box but it doesn’t have an “S” stamped on the rear, instead it’s marked x85x which is carried over to the … Continue reading 65 gearbox markings
Mark K has just got wings of a ’65’ body back from the sandblasters and noticed some letters stamped on the both front wings. There are 2 very small letter ‘k’s and a large letter ‘Z’ on each. Do these … Continue reading Nippy wing marking stamp codes
PO 9515 is one of the most well known 65s as it is featured in the Rinsey Mills book ‘Original Austin Seven’. One time owner Chris Keevill, Editor for the Early M.G. Society recounts: it’s a 65 Sports, not a Nippy. I … Continue reading PO 9515 memories
EP 5802, a 1934 aluminium car originally registered in Montgomeryshire, was alerted to the archive. The previous owner passed away and new owners Janet and Steven Swallow would like to appeal to anyone who knows more about its earlier life … Continue reading a late 65 – EP 5802 body 328
David Hawker contacted the archive about an article for publication on his 1964 trip with a Nippy to Nice – via various Alps. He sent one picture, which started balls rolling… John Raeburn also made contact – he had found a car BMP 982 in a garage in Welwyn Garden City in 1968 – the same! “I bought BMP from a garage just outside Woolmer Green, where it had been abandoned by the previous owner, and it became my sole form of transport, up and until then I had a ’34 box saloon. The car was fairly original except for the engine which … Continue reading BMP 982 – an early 65
Patsy Figg posted on Austin Classic Cars Facebook group “Thanks for accepting me to your group! This is my late father in his first car – an “aluminium prototype Austin Nippy”. Does anyone have anything like this? My mother passed … Continue reading AKN 625 – rediscovered past of a ’65’
Bill Sheehan in Australia suggested chasing up the history of AAR 810 as what he remembers was probably an early Nippy. David Howe remembered the car, owning it 1974-5. He got it from a chap who lived in a flat virtually … Continue reading Reminiscences of Nippy AAR 810
Austin literature and press images for new cars did not appear to show ANY sign of rubber for the bonnet rest area. The first cars photographed by the factory did show a rubber. This was used for the Light Car road test of the 65 in June 1933. This section was found on a car which must have been once-restored, and is wrong! This is the proper section, and please make contact if you have original examples, or wish to propose a different hypothesis! It would be helpful to know who has this in stock currently; please add a comment. … Continue reading bonnet rest rubber section
David Barraclough writes to inform of a 60’s Motorsport advert. It was followed a few weeks later by a delightful spoof letter printed in the correspondence pages in which the writer commented on how well his Nippy was running – but … Continue reading Basildon Bond ALM 971?
Body 10 has surfaced in Kent and Wayne Horn has kindly confirmed the stamped number. Chassis 167602, it is registered in January 1933 so makes it far earlier than the likely July/August 1933 of the road test car ALE 578. You can see the advert here. We wondered whether there might be evidence of the knife edge to the dash top, but Wayne thinks possibly not, despite some work in that area. Here is some evidence from the early body owned by Greig Smith in South Africa and you can see other posts with the CZ registered car in USA … Continue reading early and late 65s for sale
This car was registered in Kent, probably in March 1934 so a late-ish aluminium 65. We are assuming that the photo was taken during the war years 1939-45. Note the characteristic white paint markings on the sills and front wings – very smartly done. The driver, Phyllis, married Jane Turner’s uncle in 1936. We don’t know whether the car was registered in the name of Longman or Jeremy, as Phyllis Longman or her family may have owned the car before she married Derek Jeremy (Jane’s mother’s brother). I wonder if AKT 106 still survives? Keep your eyes open… Continue reading a late 65 in wartime – is it still around?
This car surfaced for sale in the US. It is an early car, chassis 177458, and the former CZ 3705 has the same knife-edged scuttle/dash top as we discussed here. The car is shown here in Pensylvania. If anyone is close … Continue reading another early dash top emerges!
Terry McGrath mentioned a 65 with former links to Jersey/Guernsey. In 1968, he found, bought and towed it back from Merseyside to Warwickshire; 100 miles in sub-zero condition on a short rope and with no windscreen. The awful paint-job was red, … Continue reading Did you buy a mustard yellow 65 in 1986?
We talked about the early press car here. It is on the register but despite appeals to the club noted and their extensive investigation of club records, we never found any evidence. If you have contacts with Jersey or those … Continue reading ALE 578 (early 65) where are you?
Anyone know a white aluminium Austin ’65’ registered TH 4603, a Swansea number plate, first registered 7th July 1934, car no. B9-4607, Engine no. 190899, with sports head and manifold, synchro on 3rd and 4th only. The then-owner says “It … Continue reading Lost in Wales?
From a 1990 Association mag, this is actually a 65 – chassis 189876, which is probably now owned and registered in Italy. Be lovely to know the stamped body number as it is quite a late one. Anyone know the … Continue reading Coppa d’Oro delle Dolomiti competitor
A short film showing a restored original engine with an original VE1 carb on a test bed, shortly destined to be re-united with an Austin 65. Continue reading 65 engine on the test bed
Nick Boorman’s early 65 restoration now nears completion, but these two photos show the extra strengthening members connecting the rear with the main floorpan very well. Ian Williams notes: remember that with the 65 the upper part of the body, above … Continue reading 65 floor pan structure
Note the artist’s impression for the front seats… Continue reading “65” Roadtest: Autocar, June 23rd 1933
Robin Hanauer reports on DM8750, body 312, which the Survivors’ Register last records in c.2000. “We owned it and home restored it between about 1985 and 1991. I can’t find any of it after our efforts but it definitely had … Continue reading Where is DM 8750 now?
These pictures show gusset plates on an early 65. With restorer’s guide books like Rinsey Mills – its featured 65 is ironically a very late one – some early 65s have lost these plates, perhaps as presumed unoriginal, to be … Continue reading scuttle to lower panel gusset/strengthening plates
A very interesting car has emerged in South Africa. Rod and Greig Smith’s car is undoubtedly a 65 body from the evidence of an alloy skin and no holes in the front wings for sidelights. A Bluemel wheel is also … Continue reading Dating an early car with no history
Photographs from the first 15 years of cars’ lives are more likely to show original detail. Click on images to access larger slideshow. New cars: Cars from old-ish photos: September 1935 picture of Robert foreman’s father John at Randall’s Garage, … Continue reading 1930s and 1940s images
Chris Gould knows of several people wanting Nippy mirror brackets for either of the sides of the car. He has the equipment for making them but not the time. A friend of his made several, subsequently giving Chris the equipment … Continue reading Mirror bracket
This picture (left) is from a 1933 article on the new 65, and is drawn from a LHD car. This 1935 car (below) shows the Lucas battery which has integral lugs/flanges to connect up with the retainer post on either side … Continue reading Battery retainer brackets
The cowl brace protects the brass radiator cowl from distortion brought on by the weight of the headlamp supports and front wings. Many have been lost or replaced with badge bars across of the front of the car. The bar … Continue reading radiator cowl brace
Use Chris Gould’s Nippy/65 book as a first point of call, but post any questions here that need answering for benefit of all. on Nippy Head gaskets A member sent Chris Garner an A7 Spares list from Witham’s Motors of Balham, … Continue reading Engine
from a 1933 ’65’ from an early 1935 Nippy; the brown matches the wood dash. from a 1936 car (carpets screwed or riveted down) Continue reading Rare parts: Nippy dash carpet set
Some period images of cars when near new: Chris Gould notes: To quote from the book “The Austin Seven”: The Nippy was in fact a new name for the 1933 “65” sports model and the only difference in the outwards appearance … Continue reading Hoods, Sidescreens and mountings
The Bill Williams book on Austin 7 Specials notes: “for simple general purpose layout with adequate performance, there is very little to beat the single downdraft carburettor. Many well know Austin Specials have performed most creditably with a downdraft Zenith … Continue reading Downdraft Zenith carburettors
This early car is still on the register. Does anyone know of its whereabouts as it potentially has a similar dash top strip to another early car currently being restored. Continue reading “65” Roadtest: Light Car, December 29, 1933
June 2016 Update: This is the new rubber that Chris Gould sourced from a tiny section of his original rubber and has now had manufactured.
Here is a period drawing of the screen rubber in a 1933 roadtest. It appears to be flat rather than curved, and coming from the centre of the attachment profile. Any thoughts on choices from the selection of modern profiles listed below? What have you used? Continue reading “Windscreen rubber for Nippy & 65”
There are variations in the size of windscreens, in addition to the shape of the mounting stanchions which are well documented in Chris Gould’s guide. The earliest cars seem to have a glass height at the very centre of the screen of … Continue reading Windscreen
These images act as a developing set of sources for locating the original wiring routes around the engine bay. Original cars are best if they can be found, but the restored cars featured are used for the strength of their own … Continue reading Nippy and 65 engine bay wiring
These images act as sources for locating the original wiring routing down the driver’s side (RHD) to the rear of the car. Click images for larger slideshow. Send images if you have anything which adds to the material here. 1933 car … Continue reading Nippy and 65 O/S wiring loom run
It seems reasonable that after 80 years, the surviving cars should give a good basis for extrapolation and comparison to the perceived total production figures, without much knowledge of anything else. Statements made in respected Austin Seven texts can be tested using the statistics available. It seems that the number of Nippies producted was massively over-estimated.
Meeting Chris Gould for the first time, he was hard at work on the orange TT Ulster Replica he had been campaigning at Wiscombe the weekend before, where it had developed a misfire. At a tea break, he showed me … Continue reading Chris Gould, Special Builder and Car Restorer
There are plenty of images floating around on the web, and with a little interrogation of the Survivors Register, here are alloy-bodied cars shown in ascending chassis number order, left to right. Continue reading “photo register of Austin 65 EB65 Sports”
This auction result from 2011 suggests a Nippy, but its body number equates to B9-2020, which sits it firmly as a 65. I wonder what its chassis number is, which would confirm things. Its Bluemel steering wheel also hints that … Continue reading Whatever happened to BDH 24?
Nick Boorman is restoring an early 65; especially intriguing as it is in the first 15 or so cars still in existence on the Survivors’ Register, but it was not registered until 1934 – towards the end of the 65 … Continue reading Early 65: knife-edge dash top
My pencil notes show the earliest steel body Nippy as body number 358, chassis 196018. Similarly, the last body number recorded on the Survivors Register for a 65 is about 337, although there are a few cars after that without … Continue reading The earliest Nippys – 65s in all but name
Vehicle Registration particulars recorded over the last 80 years can be seen from the headings on logbooks from 1930 and the 1960s (left). We see the latter in many of the continuation books still present with vehicle histories. The addition … Continue reading Logbook document variations
Bob Drewitt bought the car, AYU 517, from a D.J.Hunt in late 1966 for £75; sold in 1968 to Bernard Humphrey of Rochford, Essex who later sold it on with another Nippy as spares. The last known colour was cream … Continue reading Is Type 65 AYU 517 still around?
Tim Braby in Brisbane owns what was sold as a 1934 Nippy Sports. It originally was registered as CPA208 on the 8/11/1934. A buff Registration book dates from 1955 and was issued by the Surrey C.C. Chassis number is 204570, … Continue reading Anyone remember CPA 208? A former 65 body?
A few alternative colour schemes; click on any for full size slideshow. Continue reading Nippy & Type 65 non-standard colour schemes
The first Special Sports Parts list by Austin, reproduced in full here courtesy of Squeak on Austin Seven Friends; forum here.
Click on images for full screen gallery and to comment on individual pages. This one printed in 1936, but dealing with 1933/4 cars:
Continue reading “Austin Seven Sports Two-Seater Spare Parts List 1169 (Type 65 EB65 & Nippy) pub. 1936”
Images are now up on the A7CA archive:
There is also a Speedy body drawn on 3rrd November 1933.
The hawked images available elsewhere on the web are pretty poor – these are slightly photoshopped to improve what is available online. Click for larger images. Continue reading “Austin Nippy Chassis & Body Blueprints”
Austin 65/Nippy Archive 