Baby Bentley: 1937 Austin 7 Nippy Roadster
The Nippy was a 2-seat roadster based on the Austin 7 (or Seven), built in England between 1934/35 and 1937. Production numbers were low, so the quantity of survivors today can’t be large. Due to their low weight and decent horsepower, they were popular in racing, and it appears this one saw its fair share of competition back in the day. Said to be in good operating condition, this Nippy is available in Orange Park, Florida, and here on eBay for $18,500 OBO.
Why Austin only built fewer than 700 of these cars isn’t known, but that makes them more desirable today – in any condition. The roots of the Nippy lie in the Austin 7, which covered many types of body styles back in the day. They were small cars to begin with, but the Nippy was perhaps the smallest with a curb weight of about 1,000 lbs. Initially offered with a 750cc Austin engine, a 1,100 came later and that’s what’s under the hood of this example.
What makes the seller’s sports car particularly special is that it has left-hand drive, meaning it was built for export and not for domestic consumption on its home turf. The engine in this auto was built for competition in the autocross kind of world and has had its front suspension modified for cornering. We’re told this vehicle was purchased by a U.S. service member before World War II and was brought back to the U.S. before or after the campaign ended.
Some work has been done on the Austin, both mechanical and cosmetic. The leather seats are new, and the brakes have been redone, so it should be comfortable to ride in and then stop after a jaunt around the course. It sports real wire wheels and we’re told it’s eligible to join in pre-war rallies and other forms of racing. Though its history, as we know, is limited, we’re told the car only changed hands three times before this listing. Who’s ready to rumble?!
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Comments
How rare can you get? Have seen pictures of these cars before but never saw one on person. As I sit here with two AH Sprite race cars I looked at the engine shots and admit the Brits sure got their use out of the engine design as you see it here in a 1937 car and the engines carried into the ’90s. We are using the 948 and 1275 versions of the engines here in 2024. Neat old car.
Car is a FAKE – only the body (may be) a pre-war Austin. Everything else is on a much later chassis – MG Midget, Triumph Spitfire? One of the two.
The original 7’s had a sidevalve engine. I had one about 10 years ago.
I, personally, would find a Right-Hand driver more desirable. My own, personal opinion.
Very Cool Car regardless!
That’s not an Austin 7. Never had an A series, never had a steering rack. Sevens had 1.4-elliptic rear springs and the road wheels are too small diameter and too wide.
Etc, etc, etc…!
Midget or Minor-based special, maybe?
1/4 elliptic…
You are 100% correct – a grossly mis-represented Special.
Plus the Austin Seven had cable and rod brakes and the wheels only had three lugs that were manufactured so thet the wheel nut only had to be backed off a little way and then the wheel was rotated anti clockwise and removed from the axle. Opposite procedure for re fitting.
I think that the Austin Seven had a transverse leaf suspension front and rear, as did Henry’s Model T!
Derek, beat me to it. That engine is an “A-series”. The “A-series” did have an incredibly long production run, starting in 1952 and lasting incredibly right until 2000, but was obviously not around when Austin was making this “Seven”.
The original Austion Seven had a 747cc four-cylinder flat-head engine, with only two main bearings and a very spindly crankshaft !
They were all 750 sidevalves (hence the 750MC racing club/series); what you want is a Phoenix 2-bearing crank in a 3-bearing crankcase as a starting point to making your Seven quicker!
The Nippy was special – I think – because it had an end-fed crankshaft, whereas other Sevens were splash/spray oil feed.
The boot profile’s about right, though!
This car is an outright FRAUD! Anyone familiar with little British cars of the 1960s will see that this likely is a Triumph Herald or Spitfire chassis, (but the front suspension looks more like an MG Midget/Sprite set-up) with an Austin/MG/Sprite engine. If there are any pre-war Austin parts on this car, they may be body pieces attached to this otherwise terribly mis-represented fantasy special. There is nothing wrong with specially constructed Specials – I have owned a number, but I would never ever try to present it as something it’s not! If eBay had any integrity, they would remove this listing at once!!
Speaking of eBay’s presentation of FRAUDS – in a very similar fashion, (although incredibly ugly) here is a re-bodied Triumph being represented as a Bentley!! You will note, the seller posted a VIN for a 1982 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur yet eBay doesn’t care and has done nothing. There is a Bentley bumper emblem on the dash board of this car but that’s the only “Bentley” thing about it!!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/196362158121
Looks more loike a coffin on horrible wheels! Fugly as hell.
FRAUD! Many components appear to be from a @1967 Spridget.
Here are two genuine early Austin roadsters for sale – as you can see, the car on offer here appears to have only some old sheet metal on a much more modern chassis:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/176360519174
and
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335373526334
This car is right down the street from me. I looked at the other items he has for sale and noted the photos background details etc plus the feedback. He offered me a substantial discount as well. What i can glean is that he’s an old very eccentric antique collector possibly an engineer of yore and of some wealth who is quirky to be polite. I’m familiar with Triumph motors and yeah looks alot like a spitfire engine. Sure wants a lot of $ for his stuff that few want. I value the little car at about $5k IMHO and at that price would be a fun toy. Be prepared to fabricate and harvest old brit replacement parts as time rolls on.
I looked at his other ebay listings, after the blatant misrepresentation on this one, I’ll never buy a thing from him.
Tony, it’s off eBay. And I’ve been down with cataracts surgery. If you were able to, would you try to get his contact information or find out something so I could contact him assuming it is completely free of eBay at this point. Thank you. Dinty
The engine is clearly a BMC engine as used in the Morris Minor, Austin Healey “Sprite,” and MG Midget prior to about 1979. When transversely mounted, they powered the original Mini and were built in a variety of displacements. In USA we most commonly see the 948cc, 1098cc and 1275cc versions. The engine shown is clearly one of these. Even the brake and clutch master cylinders are 1970s vintage and the steering wheel is perhaps from a Herald or Spitfire. The closest thing to a LHD version built back then was the American Austin Bantam out of Butler, PA and this clearly isn’t one of those either. Somebody had a pile of parts and put them all together.
Unbelievable fraud. While eBay might not do anything about it, Barn Finds shouldn’t be promoting this sale.
I think that by promoting this vehicle a prospective buyer will glean a lot more information as to it’s authenticity and general condition than if they were to just contact the seller, part with their money, and regret it for ever after!
Right on!
Too bad about being misrepresented. It caught my eye having owned a TD and TF for 35 years. I’d be curious if the body is all steel or not. It’s well done. So if it disappears off eBay, I’m a serious buyer ant a reasonable price; and gladly pay the commission to Barnfinds. The great thing about barn fines is that members like you vet out the frauds.
If you are a serious buyer you can and should contact the seller through ebay now. But keep in mind, he has chosen to misrepresent this on a public forum, so can you rely on ANYTHING he says??
here is the story of the restoration of a original Austin Nippy and the car does not look anything like the one selling on e bay.
https://www.classicandsportscar.com/features/your-classic-austin-seven-nippy
Relax, people. It’s not a fake, just not an Austin 7 Nippy. It’s a recreation that looks to be based on a MG Midget/AH Sprite. Much bigger than the Nippy. But it looks to be quite nicely done. With a 1275 BMC A engine with dual carbs, it should move quite well. It’s probably a blast to drive. The $18K price tag is though very unrealistic. Even a genuine Nippy would not get that much.
Relax? Is he selling it as a reproduction?
Fine if he’s listing it as such- but the seller is trying to pass it off as the real deal.
Barn Finds, please remove this fraud from the site!
I left a report on eBay about the “Bentley.”
Here’s the response from eBay about the “Bentley” that George mentioned:
“We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy. This determination was made by a customer service agent.”
So go ahead and advertise your fake Rolexes there!
eBay only gets involved if they feel their commissions are at stake. They’re as bad as the Scammers – indeed they could be considered scammers as they are always touting their $100,000 – gee, it’s not a warranty, not really insurance, I guess it’s just another marketing ploy. It would be nice if Bentley themselves went after this charlatan.
Here we go again, my comments on Barn finds I made earlier is not appearing or deleted. all i did was show a original Austin Nippy with photos in comparison to show what a original Austin Nippy should look like. They did the same thing to my comments when the 1952 Austin A 40 sorts came up for Auction. whats up Barn finds. do you delete comments for no apparent reason ?
Nope, photos are always moderated. It’ll go live once we review it. Thanks!
I don’t think that anyone who actually knows what an Austin Seven is, is going to be deceived by this car. It’s a mixture of parts, but it’s still a cool build.
Exactly Jesse!
It looks nice nonetheless