A JOYFUL REUNION
Austin 8 pedal car meets its first driver at Longbridge
Aprototype Austin pedal car has been reunited with its original ‘driver’ more than seven decades after she helped to develop it.
Marcia Blake, who sat in the car as an eight-year-old in 1946, was reintroduced to it at an Austin 8 meet held at Longbridge on 22 June.
Marcia’s father, Alfred, who was an Austin production engineer, was one of the team that designed the original J40 pedal car, and the prototype, ‘JOY 1’, around her. However, the car is a one-off; the design was subsequently simplified and lightened before being produced as the Austin J40, well known now
for its starring role in the Goodwood Revival’s Settrington Cup races. The car disappeared for more than 40 years until an antique dealer in Chichester started bringing an unusually heavy Austin pedal car to rallies in the mid-1990s. A reunion was arranged with Marcia’s father who confirmed that it was indeed the genuine ‘JOY 1’. After a rush, the JOY 1 Trust bought the car, which is now on display at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon.
Marcia said: ‘My dad took all my measurements – arms, legs, back, everything! Out of the team dad was the only one who had a child of a suitable age for it. I was a little old, being aged eight, but I was quite petite.
‘Then, when it was finished, he took me down to the factory one Saturday morning, in secret, in June 1946 to see if I could actually pedal it. It was okay on the flat, but I struggled as soon as I tried to go up a slope because it was too heavy, which is why the J40 is so much lighter.
‘Dad was delighted when we found ‘JOY 1’ again in 1995 and I always love to see it because it reminds me so much of him. He eventually worked all over the world planning factories for Austin/BMC and I’m proud of what he achieved.’