Unregistered Car No. 3
Ashley 750 (Austin 7)
Red
I first saw this Ashley 750 on eBay in October 2011, the car is located in Wirral, Liverpool, UK .
There was a lot of interest in it at that time and it sold for £501.00
The advert stated that:
This is an auction for a very rare 1950's Austin 7 special; an Ashley 750.
This body has never been completed into a car and so front headlight apertures have never been cut out nor has it had any cut outs for rear lights, etc. The body has been stored in Wales since manufacture in the 50's and for some of that time has been outside so the metal stiffening and hinges have suffered but all are simple metal bars, etc and extremely easy to replace and restore as required.
The fibreglass is structurally sound but the gel coat finish has shrunk over time in places but is very easy to restore with basic GRP skills. A couple of very localised bits of damage on the shell (small split at rear and damage around front air intake) but again very easy to restore and the piece for the front air intake which is with the shell and just needs bonding back in with some local repair work (see photo).
The real gem with the body is the optional hard top which is really really rare. This one has been sourced from another vehicle at some point as it appears to have had window rubbers fitted, etc, but is now stripped of it all. Great condition considering age and just needs small repair to lower section of front window surround.
The chassis is a matching 6' 9" Austin 7 from the late 30's (has rear hangers for the necessary rear mounted fuel tank so post c.1934). It has the chassis number plate and the number is still there but tricky to make out fully. There is no paperwork or registration number.
Its been strengthened and "boxed" (plating in of the underside of the "U" section chassis members to effect box sections) which is necessary to add rigidity into it and get decent handling with the independent front suspension system included. All in excellent order and whilst painted at some point I planned to have blasted and powder coated.
Flattened rear springs are included which are believed to be unused and NOS (new old stock). These, coupled with the IFS front suspension, drop the overall height of the car and massively aid the handling.
For the front I have a rare period accessory Bowden IFS (independent front suspension) beam which appears to be in very good condition and includes front stub axles. This has the points onto which modern type shock absorbers can be fitted that just require a frame for top mounting positions. Bowden offered one as an option but unfortunately I have not managed to source one to date as they are very rare! A pair of strengthened original radius arms are included to complete the installation onto the chassis.
I also have a really nicely made remote gear change which I picked up along the way and which is necessary to bring the gear lever back to the drivers position. Not sure if this a product from one of the many companies supporting special in the 50's and early 60's or something someone has made but eitherway its very nice, accurately engineered and well made.
I also have a huge array of documents, original adverts, books and information that I am including in the sale.
I tried to contact Philip Hilbert, the seller to get more details but he must have missed my message as I got no reply.
However I did manage to get in contact with the buyer Charles Fogg, he purchased the Ashley and relocated it to Cheshire, UK and he replied as follows:
Sorry for the delay in response. What did you actually want details of, if possible I am happy to help. I am proposing to fit this body onto a Spitfire chassis from the early 60s, but if it happens, it will not be for a while. I just bought it because it was there, the opportunity does not come along that often and a couple of others have sold for just short of 4k recently.
In January 2013, I decided to follow up on the restoration to see if it had progressed and was surprised to get a reply from Charles saying that he had sold the 750 and that it should now be under going a complete restoration/rebuild in Italy.
I am hoping that Charles will be able to send me contact details of the new Italian owner.
But
if the new Italian owner see's this page first
please contact me
or if anyone has any information about this
Ashley 750 car
(Based on a 1950's Austin Chassis)
please email me 0n
[email protected]
or use the contact page on this site to contact me