Lot Ended
Description
Young William, a delightful Vintage Chummy who wears his 97 years
exceedingly well; sympathetically restored about 25 years ago and owned by a
well-known Austin 7 aficionado ever since; utterly charming in all
respects
Affectionately known as ‘Young
William’, this gorgeous Vintage Chummy was first registered in London in May
1928, and has been owned for the last 25 years by well-known Seven aficionado,
Trevor Tarring of Cobham. It seems from invoices and
undated photos on file that he was treated to a body-off restoration either
shortly before or after Trevor bought him in
c.2000.
There are various bills for
subsequent upkeep including one for an engine strip and rebuild in March 2023
when the timing gear broke. This was carried out by Austin Seven specialist
Steve Hodgson of SMH Services in West Sussex and cost £876 including new timing
gear, bearings, gaskets and a thorough clean of the engine internally. It can’t
have done many miles since.
Our vendor acquired Young
William from Tarring’s daughter in January this year, shortly after Trevor sadly
passed away. She was planning to use him on VSCC events but her circumstances
have now changed and Young William has to go.
The history file
includes two buff logbooks covering the period from 1956 – 1961 when he never
strayed far from Sussex and Surrey, plus various invoices back to the early
1990s when he was owned by a Nick Lacey Hulbert of East Sussex.
There are also various parts catalogues, maintenance manuals, VSCC
Bulletins, wiring diagrams etc, some of which are shown in the photos, along
with copious notes from Mr Tarring on how to look after the car properly, plus
useful tips on driving and a handy bag of tools.
An old MOT from
1990 shows that Young William had 906 miles on the speedo back then, while a
check of the MOT history online shows it rising gradually to today’s total of
6,740 miles.
As you can see in the photos,
Young William is in fantastic shape for a 97-year-old, with a mellow patina
developing nicely. The full set of weather equipment is all in fine
condition too and we are told that he drives as well as he
looks.
The icing on the cake is the
original London-issue number plate, YW 2015, which is transferable according to
the V5C, but that would be a crime neither we nor Young William could
never forgive!
Consigned by James
Dennison – 07970 309907 – james.dennison@brightwells.com