During the mid 1960’s I was a commercial traveller in the eastern area of Australias Victorian state. Since my teenage years I had an affection for Austin sevens and as the years passed I felt that if I was to ever learn anything about motor cars I should purchase one and attempt a restoration. Other friends during that time were also playing around with vintage cars and the lure to find an Austin, particularly around the 1929 coil ignition period and small to store was appealing.
By 1969 I had purchased my 1930 chummy and the restoration commenced, but as is often the case components were required to do the job and that is where my career path came to the rescue. In the same year my travels took me into a small town [Corryong] in north eastern Victoria in the high country. Languishing under a pine tree very much in the distance I noticed two small derelict cars which needed to be investigated and rescued. One of the vehicles was a 1937 green Ruby and the other was an Egan bodied [Geelong, Victoria] 1931 box saloon. The owner of the cars simply left them there as they became redundant and purchased another replacement vehicle, he was the local bus owner/driver in the community, namely Stanley Arthur.
Both cars were 99% complete and were purchased for $20 each. The ruby was still in it’s green livery and had been used by him for a much longer period than the box saloon thus contributing to it’s better condition. The box saloon was completely covered in brown surface rust but not a dent in sight. The tyres were inflated when rescued as they had simply deflated slowly over the decades.
Even though I was desperately seeking parts for my restoration I considered it sacrilege to remove bits from these two delightful cars so the following month my cousin and I collected them, I retained the Ruby and he the saloon. During the 4 year period I located a number of sevens in the bush and many times my company car returned to the office with engines and goodies to assist in my restoration but that’s another story.
Within months my cousin was conscripted into the army and his father told him to sell the Austin as he didn’t want to store it for the two year period. He sold the car to an elderly gent in Victorias south west who was looking for a retirement project and then we lost track of it.
In 1979 The Austin 7 club was organising a rally in the historic homestead grounds of ‘Ripponlea’ in Melbourne. A 1931 box saloon was entered by ‘ S Pearce’ which was a recently restored vehicle from Portland in south western Victoria. It was resplendent in it’s blue livery, polished timber trim internally and typical of an Egan manufactured car. Mr Pearce was the father in law of a western district chiropractor who was a keen collector of vintage cars and when mr. Pearce passed away not long after the rally it was inherited by him who by this time had moved to live in suburban Melbourne. During the early eighties the Chiropractor had an urgent need to cash up and a number of his cars came up for sale including the Austin, it just happened to be the same time that my wife and I were looking to buy a short wheelbase Austin to use in the winter months and we were happy to be it’s new owners.
For nearly thirty years we have been using this car but it was only in the last two years that I started to look for some answers to my thoughts. When the engine was dismantled every component has the same number, the car reappeared in a relatively short restoration time frame possibly due to it being so complete in the first place, it emerged from the same district as where my cousin sold it to, It is the only known 1931 Egan box saloon in Australia, It’s the same original colour[except for the rust] and has no signs of accidents from the past.
Could I have bought back the same car that I bought as a twenty year old all that time ago?, GO FIGURE!.
