From: Courtenay Rumble www.austin7.ipfox.com
[email protected]
Date: 30 Aug 2002
Time: 18:17:06
Remote Name: 203.212.129.69
Some interesting thoughts coming out here- nothing like mentioning "hot rodding" on a vintage enthusiast's site, huh? At the recent Australian National Austin 7 Rally a very keen lady drove a pristine Meteor in a spirited fashion, but it didn't sound "right" to many of us. It was soon discovered this machine is used every day, and is fitted with a Datsun 1200 power plant. It was a very easy engine to fit apparently. She just wants to get the handling better so she can do 90 kmh. The car I was driving was also capable of this sort of speed, but could not be trusted to stay straight over 80. (This was sorted by adding a leaf to the front spring, a little more camber, and welding the radius arms in place) The Meteor has hydraulic brakes like many "original" and sports\specials at the rally. As for V8 A7's - at least 2 exist in NZ. One is a pink Ruby bodied Rod set up for drag racing, while the other, a Ruby also, sports a 327 cu inch Chev! (approx 5.4l) The scary part about this later rod is that it was sat on the orig chassis and front end!!! The owner offered to sell me the front axle assembly, as he had realised it's total lack of suitability. Another Special had kind of evolved from a chummy radiator shell... the Vauxhall Viva front end had been welded to a boxed Ruby chassis by a previous owner. The power plant, Mk1 Cortina "Kent", and a beautiful fibreglass over steel body were the work of the then current owner. however, he had yet to drive it, and I would not like to see his face when he got to the end of his long, steep and VERY rough farm track that was the only access to the garage where it stood! One can just imagine the shards of glass fibre hanging of cracks after just a few passes of this punishing track. O.T.Y...