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Accessibility Page Bespk.com is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability. We aim to adhere as closely as possible to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0, Level AA), published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). These guidelines explain how to make Web content more accessible for people with disabilities. Conformance with these guidelines will help make the web more user friendly to everyone. Whilst bespk.com strive to adhere to the guidelines and standards for accessibility, it is not always possible to do so in all areas of the website and we are currently working to achieve this. Be aware that due to the dynamic nature of the website, minor issues may occasionally occur as it is updated regularly. We are continually seeking out solutions that will bring all areas of the site up to the same level of overall web accessibility. If you have any comments and or suggestions relating to improving the accessibility of our site, please don't hesitate to contact our accessibility coordinator Guy Butcher by email bespkinfo@gmail.com . Your feedback will help us make improvements.

The Book Here is the story about a dream, a dream that first appeared soon after buying the first of many Austin 7’s in 1966. Inspired by Tschiffely's Ride (Buenos AIres to New York in 1925 with horses and mules), Coleman's Drive (Buenos Aires to New York in a 1925 Austin 7, 1959-60) and Austins over the Andes by Vince Leek. It tells of the designing, building and planning of the journey from Baltimore to Alaska and onto Punta Arenas in a 1936/28 Austin 7 during 2012/13 by the Authors. It takes the form of a diary: Eunice wrote a blog on the website and Guy used Facebook as a daily record. To reflect on the immense generosity of the many people without whom this would never have happened ALL the proceeds of the sales of the book are being donated to Dame Hannah Rogers Trust ( www.discoverhannahs.org ). Book Orders Copies of the book may be ordered from; Guy Butcher, Unit 17, Moorlands Industrial Estate, Forge Lane, Saltash PL12 6LX Email - bespkinfo@gmail.com Tel no - +44 (0)7974 024499 Book Biography How do you build an 80 year old car with the idea of attempting to drive it the equivalent of circumnavigating the world (24,860 miles/40,007 km)? You ask a friend. In this case John Sutton. Having written the specification out you circulate it to knowledgeable friends. After a surprisingly brief time you hear from Vince Leek who’s found just the car. Having bought the car, you take it to bits and rebuild it as (effectively) a new car to optimise the chances of reliability. Remember you’re on your own! Attempts are made to identify any weaknesses before it’s placed in a container to be delivered to the USA. Collecting the car in Baltimore; following a route that appears roughly like a reversed 7 you drive to Alaska, catch the Ferry down the Inner Passage to Bellingham. Urgent repairs are completed before heading south along the Pacific coast of the USA. A race across Central America, to escape very challenging border crossings, with arrival in Panama. With more very generous help the car is placed into another container for transportation to Ecuador. Meanwhile we visit the Galapagos Islands. Unpackaged in Guayaquil, the adventure continues south through; Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, before ending in Punta Arenas. We missed the turning to Tierra del Fuego! ​ ​

Contact us Please help our attempts to raise much needed funds for the Dame Hannah Rogers Trust (See www.discoverhannahs.org ). Our epic and inspirational book 'Austin 7 Around the Americas' may be ordered by completing the Contact Form below. Alternatively you can write us a letter or email. Thank you so much for your support! Address Guy Butcher, Unit 17, Moorlands Industrial Estate, Forge Lane, Saltash PL12 6LX ​​ Phone +44 (0)7974 024499 Email bespkinfo@gmail.com Social Media Contact Us First Name Last Name Address Email Write a message Submit Thanks for submitting to bespk The Newton Abbot Orchestra Concert to fundraise the cause with David Yandle. 23-05-2012 At Bob Brandon’s being introduced to the American Austin. 29-07-2012 We’re on our way from Joyce Beelman’s home after our enforced stop over. 12-09-2012 The Newton Abbot Orchestra Concert to fundraise the cause with David Yandle. 23-05-2012 1/3

Privacy Policy Last updated: June 14, 2022 This Privacy Policy describes Our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of Your information when You use the Service and tells You about Your privacy rights and how the law protects You. We use Your Personal data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, You agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy has been created with the help of the Free Privacy Policy Generator (https://www.freeprivacypolicy.com/free- privacy-policy-generator/). ​ Interpretation and Definitions ---------------- Interpretation -------------- The words of which the initial letter is capitalized have meanings defined under the following conditions. 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Austin 7 Around the Americas The Specification of the ‘bespk’ Austin 7 Special to travel 25,000 miles. This article is based on the version published in the Bristol Austin 7 Magazine, June 2013 I travelled to London to meet up with John Sutton (he of the Maclachlan Special) at his ‘works’; Camco Solutions in Greenwich during August of 2009. John’s original notes are in italic. Acknowledging that John Coleman’s 1925 Chummy had broken its chassis during his epic adventure in 1959/60 the obvious choice was to either use a modified (strengthened) early chassis or a shortened later chassis. Having received John’s document by email within a few days I sent it to a number of my Austin 7 Friends for their thoughts and comments. Within a few weeks all had replied with their interpretation of the ideal specification. Vince Leek went further and suggested he’d found a very suitable car. Following negotiations VJ 9212 arrived in the workshop during October, so the story begins. Chassis:- A short chassis will be modified by boxing in the front forging, adding a plate at the rear of the chassis to tie in the rear spring mountings and an additional flange on the fore and aft chassis member. It will also be modified to take a Ruby brake cross shaft. VJ 9212 arrived as a 1936 ‘short chassis’; (6’9” modified in the 1980’s to 6’3”); probably following a very serious accident. (See below). The chassis member supporting the brake cross shaft has a fabricated additional fixing at the front to minimise distortion during braking. The stub axles, steering arms and the drop arm of the steering box were crack tested and the steering arms were shot peened. Springs:- These will be standard Chummy type but with zinc interleaves and bound with cord after fitting additional spring clamps. The 3 springs are remanufactured to 1936 specification. All 3 springs required resetting after it was found that the rear axle bottomed out against the chassis/body in initial unloaded testing. Additionally spare main front and rear leaf were also manufactured and carried within the chassis rails, under the car. They are heavily greased and wrapped with ‘Denso’ tape. The initial road tests after the rebuild were very disappointing: the handling was very wayward. This I learnt later was as a result of increasing the ‘set’ of the front and rear springs. This effectively eliminated the castor angle of the king pins. The radius arm ball joint was lowered with a bracket by approximately 1” to restore the castor angle. The shock absorbers (S/A’s) are standard Austin 7 modified by seam welding the rear blades for strength; the friction discs were assembled with grease and set up to a tension of 25 lb/ft (measured with a spring balance). This gives stiction rather than friction. It also prevents moisture affecting the performance of the S/A discs An additional pair of star washers were placed under the coil spring on each of the rear S/As to give a more ‘gradual’ response. Front axle:- A late semi-Girling axle and radius arms to be fitted with oversize king pins (rather than closing down the axle eyes) if required. Hubs will be the late Ruby type and the bearings will be the sealed type. +10 thou oversize king pins are fitted. The bearings are standard size and sealed, the small front hub bearings were not available in sealed form. Rear axle:- A three piece narrow axle with 5.125 axle ratio. New half shafts and bearings with late Ruby hubs for additional strength. The outer casings to be machined to take semi-Girling brake back plates. The prop shaft flange will be modified to take a Hardy Spicer type. A D type rear axle is fitted modified for a short chassis by a welded 1” block to the axle case inside of the backplates and outboard of the rear spring with a re-welded inner fixing point. A new 5.125 crown wheel and pinion was used with new manufactured long half shafts featuring long tapers and a square key (A7 Components). During the rebuild it was found that the O/S axle tube and the torque tube were both bent beyond reclamation (due to the aforementioned accident damage). There is a hypothesis that the trouble with the multiple broken spokes was due to the N/S axle tube being bent. Steering box:- A Chummy type short column with a dished steering wheel for preference. The control levers to incorporate the horn button. A Chummy type column was rebuilt, including a ‘top of the tube’ bronze bush rather than the felt originally fitted . A splined 1929 type steering wheel with hand throttle and advance/retard levers were fitted with only the throttle lever connected. Brakes:- These will be semi-Girling modified to Girling specification. The cross shaft is modified with a rear facing grease nipple to allow greasing and reduce the chances of seizure The standard semi-Girling brakes were modified by making the adjusters in each backplate able to float in the backplate and the brake shoes are able to ‘self centre.’ Long levers are fitted. Wheels and tyres: The wheels will be 17 inch Austin 7 rebuilt and not powder coated and the tyres will be 400 x 17 Armstrong. A set of 17” wheels were rebuilt and (?) powder coated 4.00/4.25 17” Excelsior tyres were used. (11 covers used over 20,000 miles). After fitting the new tyres in Tulare; the ride was very lumpy and on the advice of Nate Jones (Long Beach, CA) he removed all the covers, balanced the wheels which made a vast difference to the amount of ‘faceting’. He also advised using talcum powder as a lubricant between the tube and cover. (The two front tyres were too worn to pass an MOT on our return). Radiator:- An early Chummy type steel cowl painted black. The radiator to be re-cored. A four bladed fan (mag type) for cooling. The radiator core was replaced during the rebuild. During the testing of the spare top fan pulley, before departure, it collapsed and the four bladed fan damaged the core, destroying itself. This required another replacement core. I decided to use a thermostatically controlled electric fan with a switched override. Using this was found to be necessary only when climbing long hills and when moving slowly in traffic. VJ 9212 had an overflow tank (?from Morris 1100) this was refitted during the rebuild. Engine:- To be built using a Magneto crankcase with a 11/2” Phoenix splash fed crankshaft and conrods. This will involve some machining internally to gain clearance for the big ends. The camshaft will be modified to give an output of approx. 25bhp. Cam followers to be standard radius. Various camshaft designs are available but the manufacture or re–profiling needs to be of a high standard. Timing gears to of standard type but carefully checked for mesh. Cylinder block to be 10 studded for extra security. Pistons to be decided but the new slipper pistons as used in the Maclachlan Special are recommended. The valves to be standard size with the inlets made with 30 degree seats. Oil pump to be standard size. The sump to be decided on during the rebuild but it is important to make sure it is baffled. A possible option is to make a steel plate to replace the sump gauze as this has the advantage of stiffening the crankcase. The engine was built by Alex Myall (Pigsty Racing) essentially as outlined above to his ‘Trials specification’ with 11/8th” inlet valves, an alloy cylinder head (similar to a 1937 type), a high volume oil pump, oversize oil jets (for greater flow rather than pressure) and an Alan Raeburn type alloy sump, a full flow spin off oil filter is fitted. The starter dog was modified to support/drive the bottom pulley machined to accept a polyV belt for the alternator drive. The housing for the dynamo was blanked off. The top fan pulley, similarly modified for the PolyV belt, was fitted with a pair of sealed ball bearings held in place by Allen grub screws. Clutch; It is recommended that cast iron linings are fitted with standard clutch springs. A reconditioned clutch withdrawal bearing to be fitted and attention to toggle arms. Pressure plate to have a good starter ring. A standard Austin clutch was fitted using a late type release bearing and clutch release arms. Manifolding:- It is proposed to fit a 3 branch exhaust manifold under the bonnet. The inlet manifold to be designed to take an SU carburettor. A custom built 4 branch exhaust manifold is fitted. A John Barlow semi downdraft inlet manifold is fitted with an 11/4” SU (Mini type). This is actuated by a Bowden cable with a modified bulkhead accelerator/hand throttle arrangement. A custom made KN air filter is fitted The silencer is a standard Chummy type. Magneto/Ignition:- This will be an ML magneto rebuilt to the highest standard with a spare for security to be carried in the car. The original engine set up used the rebuilt ML magneto (Magneto Magician). Once the coil conversion was available and modified by Willie McKenzie to overcome lubrication problems this was fitted and used throughout the trip. One magneto was carried. Starter motor:- A “bacon slicer” type with a starter button attached. A 12v ‘soft start’ motor was developed by ARK Racing and fitted after advice that the original type 6v motor run off 12v wrecked the flywheel ring gear in about 10,000 miles. Gearbox:- A three speed with a high second gear and vertical speedometer drive. The output shaft to have a flange to convert to a Hardy Spicer prop shaft. A late 4 speed gearbox (2 SYN) was rebuilt and fitted with a vertical (3 speed type) speedometer drive. A new manufacture Hardy Spicer prop shaft was fitted. Body:- An approach to be made to Rod Yates for a Chummy type body to incorporate the proposed scuttle fuel tank. Failing this Keith Roach will almost certainly be able to make one to our specification. The body should also have reinforcement in the rear section to allow for carrying the additional weight. VJ 9212 came with a Keith Roach Chummy body built in the 1980’s (flat floor) This was modified; the woodwork was bonded to the aluminium skin with Sikaflex to create a stressed skin structure. A false floor was created to enclose the space under the rear seat which was removed/not fitted. Additional lockers were created to support the rear of the driver and passenger seats. All the trim panelling was discarded and replaced by high density polyurethane foam covered with aircraft quality aluminium (0.20” thick) A formed, hinged, lockable aluminium cover was made behind the seats for security and to provide a platform for our day to day luggage which was held in place using an elasticated net with fixed ‘hooking points’. Seats:- These are standard Chummy pattern upholstered in leather. The hood was remade and fixed to the body at the rear using ‘Lift the Dot Fasteners’ which allowed us to roll up the vertical panel whilst keeping the hood up and with the front screen held open, the thickness of a cork, to have a through flow of air; ‘air-conditioning’. Electrics:- An alternator (Kubota digger; 40A below 4,000 revs) driven by a poly V belt). Voltage regulator is integral to the alternator. Batteries Two 6 volt MGB type batteries one fitted as per Chummy and the second fitted under the driver’s seat. These can then be used for 12 volts or tapped off for 6 volts if required. Two 12 volt batteries (that fit into a standard A7 battery box) are fitted. The engine battery is under the driver’s seat. The other, under the passenger seat, was for running the sat nav. and the iPad. A split charging unit is used. A 12v CAV windscreen wiper motor, driving a single blade, is fitted. Scuttle lamps are fitted with LED lamps as indicators/hazard warning lights. The rear lamps are Model A Ford type fitted with LED indicators, conventional stop and tail lamps. Additionally high intensity rear lights are fitted for higher visibility on Freeways and for hill climbing in poor visibility at high altitude. Headlamps:- To be decided. VJ 9212 had Bosch type 51/2” headlamps with quartz halogen bulbs mounted on the front wings. Instruments:- Switch panel for coil engine (ammeter not connected) A speedometer calibrated to suit the axle and tyre configuration. An oil pressure gauge. A water temperature gauge A voltmeter. An additional switch panel was fitted to the steering column. The wiring used ‘switched earth’ to reduce the load on the switches. This included direction indicators/hazard warning lights, magneto on/off, fuel pump, alternator on/off, spare, electric fan, high intensity rear lamps. Fuel tank pressure gauge/air pump and taps for front/rear distribution. Taps for front/rear tank selection. See below. ​ Fuel tanks- This to be made full body width (similar to those on a TT car) so that it forms the scuttle onto which the Chummy bonnet sits. It should have a sump below the tank so that the tank does not run dry on steep hills. A standard Chummy front tank is used with a ‘Nippy’ type rear tank fitted to chassis extensions. It is possible to use either tank with the electric pump (or the hand air pump in case of failure). Both tanks have separate glass bowl filters. Oil Selection Alex Myall was adamant that only Castrol GP1 should be used (after 250 miles using ‘running in’ oil). This is based upon his experience and that of his father’s; Tim Myall, both of Pigsty Racing. Having run ‘old engined cars’ since 1966, I have a conviction that oil selection can be a really cheap form of engineering if you make wise choices. Having researched oils prior to the trip I was fortunate enough to find a book; ‘Which Oils’ written by Richard Michell, an Australian Oil Engineer (who owns an Austin 7) and published by Veloce Publishing. I made contact with the author by email. We had a very interesting correspondence. What I learnt is that oils for old engines of this type require high levels of Zinc and Phosphorus to cope with the high rubbing forces. In extremis (when the oil of choice is not available) Richard advised the use of straight 40 grade diesel oil in the engine/gearbox and 50 grade diesel oils for the back axle. I wrote to all the suppliers/manufacturers of ‘old car oils’ in the UK. Whilst receiving a couple of replies that were not very encouraging with my thinking; I had a visit from the local Morris Lubricants representative for Cornwall; Bruce Mccann. Extensive discussions with their technical team; Andy Brown, evolved a specification of oils; 15w50 Golden Film Motor Sport oil for the engine, Lodexol 80/90 for the gearbox and AG 140 for the back axle. It was not long before cases of oil arrived at the workshop. Introductions were given to their agent in the USA; Robert Bauer of Classicoils and another company who supplied oils from their base in Santiago, Chile. ​ ​

This is the First Taster of the e-version. Below is an example of the format of the Austin 7 Around the Americas book with the end notes. We’ll be adding more entries over time before releasing the whole book with the included end notes. Thus if you see a topic in the body of the text of interest; click on it; this will open a new page and take you to the endnote (and often the Wikipedia link). e-version Page from the eBook 20th September The Evergreen Museum at McMinnville is where the Spruce Goose ( Howard Hughes ’ wooden flying boat) is to be found and is simply amazing. We started in the section on Space, not knowing any better. The history of rocketry leading to the race into space is told as honestly as possible. Did you know that to fulfill the rules of space travel the Astronaut has to land with the capsule? That Yuri Gagarin parachuted from his capsule when it was at 20,000 feet; this was only revealed by the Russians recently. To see the awesome technology up close was quite fascinating. Then we walked over to the Aeronautical section. It’s all there, from replicas of the Wright Flyer, Bleriot's cross channel plane, albeit with a modern radial engine, through many of the planes that made aviation history; The Spirit of St Louis, a DC3, the ever present and beautiful Spitfire alongside a Messerschmitt Bf109, the list is vast. But all are dwarfed by the Spruce Goose . It was and is HUGE. It has a wingspan (98m, 321ft) greater than an Airbus 380 (80m, 262ft) or a Boeing 747 (60m, 195ft). A really special day. Oh and to give some scale we took a picture of the Austin in front of the exhibition hall Eunice had no luck in persuading Guy to go to the water park alongside the museum, where the slide passes through a Boeing 747 (spoilsport!). They also grow and bottle their own wine, as do many places in that area, but we could not stop there either, as there are very strong local drink drive laws. The pace has slackened a little for there is much to see along the coast. By the time we left McMinnville it was raining there too, so we decided to head back towards the coast on Highway 18, as we had been told that the area between Newport and Florence was the most picturesque on the Oregon coast. It was well worth the trip and lived up to all expectations. Fortunately the mist had lifted and it was somewhat warmer. There were so many spectacular view points, it would have been easy to spend the whole day going very little distance, so Eunice tried taking photos from the travelling car. (It is a good job we don’t go fast and some of them were very OK). ​

About Us Finding Inspiration in Every Turn Guy Butcher : ‘silly Sussex born and bred’, attended schools in Sussex before becoming an undergraduate at Guy’s Hospital, London (1966). The first Austin 7 made its appearance in 1966 and there have been numerous different old cars (mostly Austins) since then. Progress through the ranks of the Hospital Dental Services ended with a consultant appointment in Plymouth (1989). As retirement approached he met and fell in love with Eunice Kratky who encouraged him to fulfill the dream of a long distance adventure in an Austin 7. Little did she know what she was letting herself in for ……… Eunice Kratky ; born and raised in Kenya of the 50’s and 60’s; educated in Kenya and the UK chose to study nursing at Great Ormond Street Hospital. A remarkable career in children's nursing, Social Services, education and the Child Development Centre, Plymouth also drew to a close about the same time as Guy’s career. The idea and practice of travel is a feature of their lives together. The possibilities for a shared big adventure seemed to hold great potential. Our Story This is a story of discovery. The life lesson that the ability to achieve almost anything in this life depends on the kindness of family and friends. But more importantly it depends on the amazing kindness of strangers. The often-awesome generosity of the people who we met on the road. The people who owed us nothing but showed a kindness that was/is breathtaking and inspiring. Intriguingly, it often felt that those with the least gave the most. All proceeds go to; Dame Hannah Rogers Trust Our Clients

The Car I travelled to London to meet up with John Sutton (he of the Maclachlan Special) at his ‘works’; Camco Solutions in Greenwich during August of 2009. John’s original notes are in italic. Acknowledging that John Coleman’s 1925 Chummy had broken its chassis during his epic adventure in 1959/60 the obvious choice was to either use a modified (strengthened) early chassis or a shortened later chassis. Having received John’s document by email within a few days I sent it to a number of my Austin 7 Friends for their thoughts and comments. Within a few weeks all had replied with their interpretation of the ideal specification. Vince Leek went further and suggested he’d found a very suitable car. Following negotiations VJ 9212 arrived in the workshop during October, so the story begins. Chassis:- A short chassis will be modified by boxing in the front forging, adding a plate at the rear of the chassis to tie in the rear spring mountings and an additional flange on the fore and aft chassis member. It will also be modified to take a Ruby brake cross shaft. VJ 9212 arrived as a 1936 ‘short chassis’; (6’9” modified in the 1980’s to 6’3”); probably following a very serious accident. (See below). The chassis member supporting the brake cross shaft has a fabricated additional fixing at the front to minimise distortion during braking. The stub axles, steering arms and the drop arm of the steering box were crack tested and the steering arms were shot peened. Instruments:- Switch panel for coil engine (ammeter not connected) A speedometer calibrated to suit the axle and tyre configuration. An oil pressure gauge. A water temperature gauge A voltmeter. An additional switch panel was fitted to the steering column. The wiring used ‘switched earth’ to reduce the load on the switches. This included direction indicators/hazard warning lights, magneto on/off, fuel pump, alternator on/off, spare, electric fan, high intensity rear lamps. Fuel tank pressure gauge/air pump and taps for front/rear distribution. Taps for front/rear tank selection. Wheels and tyres: The wheels will be 17 inch Austin 7 rebuilt and not powder coated and the tyres will be 400 x 17 Armstrong. A set of 17” wheels were rebuilt and (?) powder coated 4.00/4.25 17” Excelsior tyres were used. (11 covers used over 20,000 miles). After fitting the new tyres in Tulare; the ride was very lumpy and on the advice of Nate Jones (Long Beach, CA) he removed all the covers, balanced the wheels which made a vast difference to the amount of ‘faceting’. He also advised using talcum powder as a lubricant between the tube and cover. (The two front tyres were too worn to pass an MOT on our return). ​ Radiator:- An early Chummy type steel cowl painted black. The radiator to be re-cored. A four bladed fan (mag type) for cooling. The radiator core was replaced during the rebuild. During the testing of the spare top fan pulley, before departure, it collapsed and the four bladed fan damaged the core, destroying itself. This required another replacement core. I decided to use a thermostatically controlled electric fan with a switched override. Using this was found to be necessary only when climbing long hills and when moving slowly in traffic. VJ 9212 had an overflow tank (?from Morris 1100) this was refitted during the rebuild. ​ Click to see the full Specifications The Build Rebuilding and modifying a car for any long distance trip is challenging, especially if you choose to travel without support or back-up. Undertaking a 25,000-mile trip through the Americas would stretch the ability of any car, especially one that was built nearly a century ago. 1936/28 Austin 7 Car Draw We raffled our 1936/28 Austin 7 for Dame Hannah Rogers Trust on 14th December 2022 having raised more than £26k. The lucky winner is: Matt Fowles of Dursley, Gloucestershire. Whilst you can no longer win the car you can continue to contribute to our fundraising efforts on the Just Giving page (click the Just Giving Logo to the right or Here ). You can Gift Aid as you are solely making a donation. Arrow pointing to the link Logo JustGiving to obtain a Raffle ticket with a chance to WIN the Austin

Treburley Garage Last Saturday, Rosamund and Richard Rowe opened their garage; Treburley Garage, to enable us to continue with our fundraising efforts. With the help of publicity (BBC Radio Devon; Pippa Quelsh 02-12-2022 14.00-18.00, the Cornish Times, Scarlett Hill-Brooks 03-12-2022), and various social media postings, there was a very good turnout. Indeed with the help of Rosamund's earlier book and raffle ticket sales, £1.1k was raised. Incredible! Thank you; everyone, for your great generosity. Our current total stands at £26.5k. Remember that the last day for buying raffle tickets will be Monday 12-12-2022.

19th - 24th July 2022 Austin 7 Centenary Rally BESPK team received a huge boost Report with photos 9th December 2022 To Date we have Raised £26.5k Treburley Garage Book & Raffle sales Report with photos

BESPK fundraising takes off at Austin 7 Centenary Rally Last week the BESPK team received a huge boost for their fundraising at the Austin 7 Centenary Rally, selling nearly £10,000 of books and raffle tickets. All of the money raised will go directly to Dame Hannahs, (see www.discoverhannahs.org ) a Plymouth based charity that supports children and young adults living with special needs and their families. Both Guy and Eunice had careers that involved supporting young people with special educational needs, and so the pair are passionate about raising as much money as possible for Dame Hannah’s. Someone said “We’re delighted to have raised so much already, but we’re hoping to be able to raise another £25,000 (making a target of £35,000), which will make a real difference to the young people and families who use Dame Hannahs. The money was raised by selling copies of “Austin 7 Around the Americas”, the recently published story of Guy Butcher and Eunice Kratky’s epic 20,000 mile journey from Baltimore to Alaska and then onto Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of Argentina in a 1920’s Austin 7, The book has just been given a 5 star review by Auto Express. If you would like to buy a book, you can do this by sending an email from the www.bespk.com website. The rally was held at Moreton in Marsh from 19-24th July 2022. The BESPK team was made up of Guy Butcher, Eunice Kratky, Hugh and Eve Gregg, Ruth and Charlie Murray. Guy drove the BESPK car on the 200 mile drive from his home in Cornwall, and Hugh drove Alice - one of Guy’s first Austin 7’s - 150 miles from Budleigh Salterton. The only drama on the drive up was a blocked carburettor jet on Alice which was quickly remedied. Guy said “I found driving the BESPK Austin really enjoyable - it still amazes me at how this car does anything and everything that I ask of it”. The BESPK team were also selling tickets for a raffle to win the Austin 7 that carried them on this incredible journey. The car - which is valued at about £18000 - was fully rebuilt before the trip and is in full running order and will be fully serviced and MOTed for the new owner. The winner will also receive all of the tools and spares carried on the Adventure to be able to maintain the car with minimal expenditure. If you would like to buy a raffle ticket, you can do this by visiting www.bespk.com and using the Just Giving page During the rally Guy was also able to meet up with many friends from his youth, including Chris Gould and Mike Hodgson. Guy learnt how to fettle Austin 7’s with them in various friends and family garages when he lived in Worthing, beginning to learn the skills that he would later use to keep the Austin going in the Americas. ​ ​

Eunice Kratky & Guy Butcher Bespk Austin 7 Around the Americas Book front cover Bespk Austin 7 Around the Americas Book back cover Bespk Austin 7 Around the Americas Book front cover 1/2 Austin 7 Around the Americas The book The amazing story of the design, rebuild and driving of a 1936/28 Austin 7 from Baltimore to Alaska to Punta Arenas in 2012/13. In the footsteps of Aime Tschiffely, John Coleman and many others! now Bespk. All the proceeds of the book are being donated to Dame Hannah Rogers Trust ( www.discoverhannahs.org ). A charity supporting young adults with learning disabilities and their families. The car is to be raffled (essentially as it returned from the adventure) with all the tools and spares to raise further funds for Dame Hannahs.