This old Austin Seven was seen at the All British Field Meet in Vancouver BC several years back. Nick & I went up for the day in the 65E, toweled off the car, and pretty much abandoned it as we wandered all over the grounds of Van Duesen gardens admiring the cars. I love to look at pre-war cars, and someday would love to be the caretaker of one. These little Austins are not really my style but this car came with a bonus, which you can see behind it…
Near the little Seven was shown this cutaway… I love looking at engines. What gearhead doesn’t?
Nick relished this display for the cogent illustration of the basic functions of the drivetrain components of a car. Cutaway engines are fairly common but this one also included the clutch and gearbox so it really does a far better job of showing the process. Nicholas learned about timing, fuel-air mixture, bore & stroke, lubrication, intake and exhaust cycles, the transformation of reciprocal into rotational motion, the purpose of the flywheel and clutch, and how gearing works. Seeing this in the flesh, and turning the engine by hand does so much more for illustrating the process than my standard “go to” Animated Engines. This old side-valve engine of course is primitive, but the concepts remain the same to this day. From this basis I was able to show Nick the engines in other cars on the field and explain the subtle differences, such as overhead valves, various cam-driving solutions, and of course cylinder configurations.
What a neat thing to bring along to a show.