Recollections

BOA 225, recollections of the building and running a 750 in the ‘60’s

Colin Usher has sent a recollection of how he built and used his SPEEDEX 750 in the early ‘60’s. His father worked at the Austin Longbridge works. Colin is still into this type of car, see his own website address at the end where he is building a Robin Hood, a Lotus 7 type derivative. Thanks Colin!

The original Austin 7 Ruby “BOA 225“ was purchased for £10.00 in quite good condition from someone in Northfield, Birmingham. I think it had been stored during the war and not run much since. We are of course talking about 1959/60 for the purchase of the Ruby.

I rented a garage opposite my home in Northfield and the Seven was stripped down to the last nut and bolt. Even the Gearbox and Back Axle were stripped. My father had started one of the first Motor Car Maintenance evening classes at Colmars Farm school, only about 1 mile from the Austin works, but apart from financial help never really got involved in the build. His classes did however give wonderful opportunities to visit many of the car factories in Birmingham and such delights as the Dunlop Tyre factory etc. My next door neighbours’ daughter was working as PA to Harry Ferguson with his four wheel drive system., later to go into the Jensen, while another mate went off to work as a test driver with Donald Healey. It was all going on.

As a matter of no interest in 1960 an Austin Healey Sprite was £631.10s 0d and a Lotus 7 £977 16s 0d A 2.4 Jag was only £1,533 19s 0d whilst a Ferrari 250 GT was £5,951 2s 6d with a Rolls Royce

Silver Cloud at much the same price. At that time I was earning about £15.00 per week.

Although my father worked at the Austin I could never got any parts off him, he was so honest he never pinched as much as a spark plug in his life. If I wanted parts, he gave me the money, saying it was cheaper to buy the bits than lose his job.

Most of the custom parts came by mail order from Speedex, Steering Wedge, Independent Front Suspension, Cable Brake Conversion etc. The total rebuild involved a large amount of Ball and Roller races, all from Ransome & Marles in Birmingham. I gave the list to my Dad who passed it onto the R&M Rep. Later I was told to go into the Sales Office where I was given a large box full of brand new bearings. When I protested that I could not possibly afford all these new bearings I was told they were FOC samples !! The crankshaft was re-ground and the big ends re-metalled by a local firm at a special price. Another favour.

There was a Garage in the centre of Northfield, opposite the Farm, that had those swing out fuel bowsers to pass over the pavement, O’ happy days. They had a large stock of Austin 7 spares, which by this time were just taking up shelf space, but a great source of all those 100’s of tab washers etc.

Slowly the car took shape under the guidance of “Austin Seven Specials“ by L.M. (Bill) Williams circa 1958, and Pitmans’ “The Book of the Austin Seven and Eight” @ 5/- net. 25p or 1/3 euro today, both books I still have in my possession.

I fitted twin SU’s ( SU = Skinners Union ) Not a lot of people know that but the cooling system was always a problem as I never fitted a pump, and still relied on a Thermo Siphon system. Also the car suffered rear wheel tramp as there were no shock absorbers and the back end was as light as a feather. Looking back, the car was a death trap, seat belts were in the future as was the 70mph speed limit, and I feel lucky to be writing this some 40 years later.

The time came to fit the body and my father bought me the Speedex body from Monkspath Motors over in Shirley, who must have been agents. They had a large garage not far from what is now the NEC. I seem to think it vanished into a Motorway !! as it is not there now. The “ Barn “ Restaurant was not far away and that still exists.

I am not quite sure how we got the body home, it may have been delivered by Monkspath Motors or on a roof rack. It was very light. Once this was fitted the car soon went onto the road but I never got around to fitting a Windscreen or Seats. Just a ply floor and a cushion. The Vehicle Inspector came to see the completed car, and checked the Chassis & Engine numbers and that was that. No MOT or SVA etc etc.

The longest trip was to Warrington and back in pouring rain, with no Windscreen. 200 mile round trip and of course no Motorways. Not many cars either. I stopped in Stafford to ask the way and no one knew where Warrington was.

One day I was working on the car outside my home when “Beefy “ Badham came past in his MG TB. (1938) How about a swap. So I acquired a rather clapped out MG TB and over the next few years did literally 1,000’s of miles in this superb little car. It was sold for £70.00. But that’s another story.

I have never seen BOA 225 since.

Colin Usher.

Currently building a Robin Hood, see his web site at http://www.colinusher.info/

Warrington August 2003