The only tour is Essex (and Suffolk)

Members of the Essex Austin Seven Club are preparing for their first ever tour of its kind. Organised by a few members of the club, which has been in existence now for over 40 years, invites have gone out to Austin Seven owners across the country to take part in a week long tour exploring the beautiful countryside and villages of Essex and Suffolk.

Fifty cars will be taking part, the majority being a wide array of the many variations of Austin Sevens produced between 1922 and 1939.

They have small sidevalve engines of just 750cc producing 10.5HP, 3 or 4 speed gearboxes, some with no synchromesh, cable operated brakes and the cumulative width of it’s 4 tyres doesn’t even equal one modern tyre. However, 80 to 90 years on there are thousands around the world still going strong.

Entrants are coming from as far as Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Dorset, France and Holland and we intend to showcase the beauty of our county and dispel the unfavourable image Essex has received with reference to white stilettos and fake tans. However we couldn’t resist capitalizing on the infamous TV show TOWIE and hence we are now abbreviated to TOTIE.

We will be based for the week at the Essex Golf and Country Club in Earls Colne and each day we will be touring different parts of our region and visiting various towns, villages and attractions.

The tour runs from 12^th to 17^th June and readers may spot us during the week as we head in all directions of the compass. Our mid-day stops during the week if you’d like to see us will be at Audley End on Monday, Lavenham on Tuesday, Ingatestone Hall on Wednesday, Dedham on Thursday and Maldon Promenade on Friday.

If you would like further information on either the TOTIE tour or the Essex Austin Seven Club you can visit our website and someone will contact you. You don’t need an Austin Seven to join the club, just an interest in them is enough, but you’ll be very tempted to get one once you get involved with our very friendly and sociable members.