JENNIE BROWNSDON’S AUSTIN 7 RUBY REGISTERED CCE 73 -19 FEBRUARY 1937
Jennie’s mother Alice bought a new Ruby for travelling to Newmarket where she owned a hairdresser’s. Says Jennie, ‘My grandfather lent my mother the £145 purchase price and she repaid him weekly. In those days there was no driving test, so she taught herself. Four years later it was parked outside the salon when a German plane went over, strafing the High Street. One bullet went through the scuttle. Bombing followed which destroyed the salon, killing several people and trapping my mother. Luckily she wasn’t seriously hurt. The Austin’s bonnet was dented by shrapnel.’
Later Alice married and taught her husband to drive. Jennie reminisces, ‘Sometimes the roof leaked and we had to put an umbrella up. I remember as a five year old sitting in the bucket seat with my legs hanging down because the seat was sagging.
‘My mother used it until 1958 when the radiator developed a leak. It languished in our garage for 53 years. In 2011 a cousin, an antiques specialist, saw it and suggested it was worth rescuing, so I contacted the Cambridge Austin Seven Club for help.’
Club member Robert Leigh recalls, ‘It was straightforward enough to get the car running again; after 75 years and 73,711 miles it passed its MOT test in February 2012 with no advisories. By then Alice was 97 but did drive it occasionally. When she died at 100 years old, Jennie had the car taken to her home.’
Jennie takes up the story. ‘The seats are original; when we took them out we found all these walnuts that must’ve been stored by squirrels. We decided to keep the car original so it’s not shiny bright like some. But I like it and it’s fun to drive although not in London traffic. Soon we move to Kent and I’ll enjoy it more.’