Sunday 1st July will mark the 90th birthday of the Austin Seven motor car at a major rally in the grounds of the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, Hampshire.
The date will also mark the fiftieth time Austin Seven aficionados, Ken & Eileen Cooke, from Stevenage in Hertfordshire have attended National Austin 7 Rallies at Beaulieu since their inception in 1963.
The Austin Seven also marks another special place in the couple’s hearts as Ken’s purchase of the model led to a chance meeting with his future wife.
“In 1950 I bought my first Austin Seven for just under £30. It was a 1927 Chummy and pretty rough but I heard that the 750 Motor Club catered for these funny little cars and that some members were converting them to sports specials,” said Ken.
“In 1952 I built a two-seater body for it and for its first outing I drove down to the Isle of Sheppey with a friend. We came across a young girl struggling to get her bike over a style and stopped to give her a hand. My friend took her address, but it was me who followed it up. By the end of 1953 I had joined the 750 Motor Club and married Eileen, the young lady from Sheppey!”
“In 1965 we bought the bones of an open top Austin Seven Chummy and worked on it over the next 9 years. We got it on the road by Easter '76 and called it Dingo – after a famous Austin Seven racing car. Dingo has taken us to 9 European countries as well as from coast to coast in the USA, on the 3,500 miles of the famous Route 66. It has done over 140,000 miles in our hands and through it, and the 750 Club, we have made firm friends all over the world.”
Organised by the 750 Motor Club The National Austin Seven Rally is expected to be attended by hundreds of the vehicle’s most ardent fans from all over the United Kingdom and Europe.
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