A 1937 Austin Ruby arrived on 25 October 2023 to reside at the Richard Roberts Archive. It is the very generous donation of the late Keith Niblett, who wanted has beloved car to go to a good home where it would be used and could bring joy to as many people as possible.
The Richard Roberts Archive, closely linked to but independent of the SAHB (Richard Roberts is on the board of the SAHB), will use the Ruby as a mobile advertisement for the archive – totally appropriate since it is an advertising archive (with a particular focus on motoring) and an educational charity that aims to make people aware of the contribution to social history made by advertising through the ages.
The photo below shows Paul Niblett, Keith’s brother, who had just driven the car up from Stoke-on-Trent.
The final photo shows the car safely inside the exhibition space of the archive; Paul is handing over the keys to Richard Roberts (left), with another trustee of the archive (and SAHB board member) Peter Moss between them.
My father’s first car was an Austin Seven Ruby, 1937, registration number COX 665.