1933 Vintage Raleigh Safety Seven Works Race Car

My current car restoration project…

From 1933 to 1936, Raleigh of Nottingham, the world-famous bicycle and motorcycle manufacturer, branched into car production. Named the Safety Seven, 3000 economical 3-wheel cars were produced using a 742cc air-cooled V-Twin engine and gearbox made by Sturmey Archer. After 1936 the design was taken over by Tom Williams and formed into the Reliant, which continued making 3-wheel cars and vans until the late 1990s.

Only a handful of these original Raleigh cars now survive, but my example is believed to be totally unique. It is a 4-wheeler put together in the period as a race/trials car. The chassis is a one-off constructed from angle iron, two pieces welded together for those lengths that needed to be of box section, and the steel body supported by a wooden frame wraps completely underneath for aero efficiency. Both engine and gearbox remain in standard form, but have slightly tuned for performance and sit much further forward than on the production car, hence the remote gearchange linkage. The standard diff has been locked and modified to act as just a 90 degree drive gearbox sited just behind the pit and uses a single sprocket chain-drive to the solid rear axle, this being mounted using quarter-elliptic springs to maintain constant chain tension.

The car had been laid up in a barn for many years in the Chepstow area. An enthusiast is known to have acquired it and commenced restoration work during the 1980s, but he passed away before finishing. The car was advertised in a local newspaper in the mid 1990s and bought by a vintage car and motorcycle collector in Abergavenny. He completed some further work, but not yet to the point of having it running, and the car was mothballed for the next ten years in the back of his garage. I purchased the car in early 2009, and after wiring and refurbishing the engine have brought it back to life to the point shown in this video. Im presently completing work on the clutch and drive train, so hopefully it should soon be drivable (watch this space). Some cosmetic work (paint, seats, dashboard etc) should then complete this little fun car.

Duration : 0:4:44

Racing a vintage RC10 Team Car at RCHR in CT.

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