Austin: Cars
Note: This is a sub-section of Austin
1905 The first car was the 25-30 hp conventional 5,182cc four-cylinder model with chain drive. Output was 2 cars per week with 270 employees. [1] Later changed the chain drive to quieter bevel gears.
1905 Produced a smaller 15-20 hp shaft drive car. [2]
1906 April. Details of their cars - 25-30 hp engine.[3][4][5][6]
1906 November. Details of cars for 1907.[7][8]
1907 Introduced the 18/24 shaft drive car. Joined soon after by 40hp and 60 hp models
1907 November. Details of their 40-hp and 60-hp cars.[9]
1908 July. Details of their GP car.[10]
1908 Competed in the 1908 Grand Prix at Dieppe with four 100hp 9,657cc six-cylinder cars - two were chain driven and the others had a prop shaft. Drivers were Dario Resta, Warwick Wright and John Moore-Brabazon with the fourth car as a spare. Two cars completed the race but were unplaced.
1908 November. Details of the 15-hp car shown at Olympia.[11]
1909 October. Details of the 10-hp car.[12]
1909 October. Details of the 7-hp car made jointly by Austin and Swift.[13]
1910 March. Details of their 15-hp car.[14]
1910 Won the Russian International Tour with the test driver Howard Kendall
1910 October. Details of the 'new' 10-hp car.[15]
1911 October. Details of the five models: 10hp (4); 15hp (4); 18-24hp; 40hp (4) and the 50hp (6).[16]
1912 April. Details of the 10-hp car.[17]
1912 April. Details of the 40-hp 'Defiance' model.[18]
1912 December At the Paris Show they exhibited a new 30hp and 20hp models
1912 December. Details of the 20hp car.[19]
1913 January. There are now seven models in the range; 10hp, 15hp, 20hp, 18-24hp, 30hp, 40hp and 50hp (6).[20]
1913 Rationalisation of the range left the 30hp, 20hp and a new 10hp models only
1913 September. Details of the 30-hp car.[21]
1913 November. Details of 10hp, 20hp and 30hp cars.[22]
1913-1917 For a list of the models and prices see the 1917 Red Book
1914 June. Details of the new 20-hp car.[23]
WW1 Austin grew enormously with government contracts for everything from artillery to aircraft and the workforce expanded from around 2,500 to 22,000.
After the war Herbert Austin decided on a one model policy based around the 3,620 cc 20 hp engine and versions included cars, commercials and even a tractor but sales volumes were never enough to fill the vast factory built during war time.
1921 The company went into receivership later in the year was re-formed with financial restructuring.
1922 To expand the market smaller cars were introduced with the 1,661 cc Twelve and later the same year the Austin 7, an inexpensive, small and simple car and one of the earliest to be directed at a mass market. At one point it was built under licence by the fledgling BMW of Germany (as the Dixi); Japanese Datsun; as Bantam in the United States; and as the Rosengart in France. The car was designed by Herbert Austin and Stanley Edge
1926 14,000 cars produced each year.
A largely independent U.S. subsidiary operated under the name American Austin Car Company from 1929 to 1934; it was revived under the name "American Bantam" from 1937 to 1941.
With the help of the Seven, Austin weathered the worst of the depression and remained profitable through the 1930s producing a wider range of cars which were steadily updated with the introduction of all-steel bodies, Girling brakes, and synchromesh gearboxes but all the engines remained as side valve units.
1928 Production figures were: 7-hp 22,709; 12-hp 13,714; 16/6 6,401; 20/4 927; 20/6 903. Total UK car production was 165,352 with 26,180 of these exported. Imports were around 23,000. Morris were the largest producer with 55,480 units followed by Austin with 44,654. [24]
1931 Production figures were: 7-hp 21,282; 12-hp 2,602; 12/6 9,529; 16-hp 5,558; 20-hp 705. [25]
1932 Introduced the Ten/Four with a 1,125cc engine producing 21 bhp
1935 The Austin 10 'Lichfield'. Reg No AOM 470. 27,000 of these were made. (Exhibit at Birmingham Thinktank museum)
WW2 During the Second World War Austin continued building cars but also made trucks and aircraft. The post war car range was announced in 1944 and production of it started in 1945.
The immediate post war range was mainly similar to that of the late 1930s but did include the 16 hp significant for having the companies first overhead valve engine.
1950 Produce 3,400 vehicles per week with 18,000 employees. [26]
1951 Exhibitor at the 1951 Motor Show in the Car Section.
1952 Austin merged with the Nuffield Organisation (parent company of Morris) to form the British Motor Corporation (later British Leyland) with Leonard Lord in charge. Austin were the dominant partner and their engines were adopted for most of the cars; various models amongst the marques would soon be badge-engineered versions of each other.
1952 Austin entered into a legal agreement with Nissan Motor Company of Japan, for that company to assemble 2,000 imported Austins from partially assembled sets and sell them in Japan under the Austin trademark. The agreement called for Nissan to make all Austin parts locally within three years, a goal Nissan met. Nissan produced and marketed Austins for seven years. The agreement also gave Nissan rights to use Austin patents, which Nissan used in developing its own engines for its Datsun line of cars.
In 1953 British-built Austins were assembled and sold.
1955 The Austin A50 – completely built by Nissan and featuring a slightly larger body with 1489cc engine – was on the market in Japan. Nissan produced 20,855 Austins from 1953-59.
1959 Launched the Mini. With the threat to fuel supplies resulting from the 1956 Suez Crisis Lord Nuffield asked Alec Issigonis to design a new small car and the result was the Mini. The Mini embodied a number of unconventional ideas including the transverse engine with gearbox in the sump and driving the front wheels and a novel suspension designed in collaboration with Moulton Developments. The principle of engine/gearbox was carried on to larger cars.
1961 Manufacturers of motor cars. 21,000 employees. [27]
1963 Motor Show exhibitor. Showed Mini, 1100, A40 Mk II, A60 Cambridge & Countryman, A110 Westminster. [28]
1963 Launched the 1100.
1964 Launched the 1800.
1969 Launched the Maxi.
1973 Launched the Allegro.
1980 Launched the Metro.
1982 The car division of the British Leyland company was re-branded as Austin Rover Group, with Austin acting as the "budget" and mainstream brand to Rover's more luxurious models. Sports models were often badge-engineered Austins with an MG badge. However, the continuing bad publicity associated with build and rust problems on the Metro, Maestro and Montego models meant that the badge was dropped, with the company becoming the Rover Group.
1989 The last Austin-badged car was built.
The rights to the Austin badge passed to British Aerospace (BAe) and later to BMW when each bought the Rover Group. The rights were subsequently sold to MG Rover, created once BMW had tired of the business. Following MG Rover's collapse and sale, the Austin name is now owned by Nanjing Automobile Group — along with Austin's historic assembly plant in Longbridge. At the Nanjing International Exhibition in May 2006, Nanjing announced that the Austin name might be used on some of the revived MG Rover models, at least on the Chinese market. However, Nanjing are for the moment concentrating on reviving the MG brand.
2005 Car manufacture ended at Longbridge.
List of Models Pre-WWI
- Austin: 25-30 h.p. 1906-07
- Austin: 15-20 h.p. 1906-07
- Austin: 18-24 h.p. 1907-10
- Austin: 40 h.p. 1908-11
- Austin: 60 h.p 1908-10
- Austin: 15 h.p. 1909-10
- Austin: 7 h.p. 1910-11
- Austin: 50 h.p. 1910-13
- Austin: 10 h.p. 1911-12
- Austin: 15 h.p. (1911) 1911-13
- Austin: 18-24 h.p. (1911) 1911-13
- Austin: 40 h.p. (1912) 1912-13
- Austin: 10 h.p. (1913) 1913-14
- Austin: 20 h.p. 1913-14
- Austin: 30 h.p. 1913-14
WWI
List of Models Post-WWI
- Austin: Twenty 1919-39 - (15,287 produced) - Models 20/4 and 20/6
- Austin: Twelve 1922-39 - (110,000 produced) Models 12/4, Light 12/4 & 12/6
- Austin: Fourteen
- Austin: Seven 1922-39 - (290,000 produced)
- Austin: Six
- Austin: Ten 1932-47 - (290,000 produced)
- Austin: Eight 1939-47 - (56,103 produced)
- Austin: Eighteen 1938-39
- Austin: Twenty-Eight 1938
List of Models Post-WWII
- Austin: Sixteen 1945-49 - (35,400 produced)
- Austin: A30 1951-56 - (223,264 produced)
- Austin: A35 1956-68 - (280,897 produced)
- Austin: A40 Devon 1947-52 - (289,897 produced)
- Austin: A40 Dorset 1947-49 - (15,939 produced) - Two-door version of the Devon
- Austin: A40 Somerset 1952-54 - (173,306 produced)
- Austin: A40 Cambridge 1954-57 - (30,666 produced)
- Austin: A40 Farina 1958-67 - (342,162 produced)
- Austin: A40 Sports 1950-53 - (4,016 produced)
- Austin: A50 Cambridge 1954-57 - (114,867 produced)
- Austin: A55 Cambridge 1957-58 - (154,000 produced)
- Austin: A55 Cambridge Mk II 1959-61 - (149,994 produced)
- Austin: A60 Cambridge 1961-69 - (276,534 produced)
- Austin: A70 Hereford 1950-54 - (50,421 produced)
- Austin: A70 Hampshire 1948-50 - (35,261 produced)
- Austin: A90 Atlantic 1948-52 - (7,981 produced)
- Austin: A90 Westminster 1954-56 - (25,532 produced)
- Austin: A95 Westminster 1956-59 - (28,065 produced)
- Austin: A105 Westminster 1956-59 - (6,770 produced)
- Austin: A99 Westminster 1959-61 - (15,162 produced)
- Austin: A110 Westminster 1961-68 - (26,105 produced)
- Austin: A125 Sheerline 1947-56 - (about 9,000 produced)
- Austin: A135 Princess 1947-56 - (1,910 produced)
- Austin: Allegro 1973-82 - (642,340 produced)
- Austin: Ambassador 1982-84 - (43,500 produced)
- Austin: Gipsy 1958-68 - (21,208 produced)
- Austin: Maestro 1983-94 - (605,410 produced)
- Austin: Maxi 1969-81 - (472,098 produced)
- Austin: Metro 1980-91 - (1,518,932) produced)
- Austin: Metropolitan 1954-56
- Austin: Mini 1959-2000 - (1,581,887 produced in GB) - Project ADO15
- Austin: Montego 1984-95 - (571,457 produced)
- Austin: Princess 1975-82 - (224,942 produced)
- Austin: Westminster 1968-71
- Austin: 1100/1300 1963-74 - (2,200,000 produced under all badges) - Project ADO16
- Austin: 1800/2200 1964-75 - (280,000 produced under all badges) - Project ADO17
- Austin: 3-Litre 1967-71 - (9,992 produced)
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ British Motor Cars 1950/51
- ↑ The Automobile Vol. III. Edited by Paul N. Hasluck and published by Cassell and Co in 1906
- ↑ Automotor Journal 1906/05/05
- ↑ Automotor Journal 1906/06/02
- ↑ The Autocar 1906/04/28
- ↑ The Autocar 1906/05/05
- ↑ Automotor Journal 1906/11/17
- ↑ Automotor Journal 1906/12/08
- ↑ Automotor Journal 1907/11/16
- ↑ Automotor Journal 1908/07/04
- ↑ Automotor Journal 1908/11/21
- ↑ The Autocar 1909/10/08
- ↑ The Autocar 1909/10/23
- ↑ The Autocar 1910/03/12
- ↑ The Autocar 1910/10/29
- ↑ The Autocar 1911/11/04
- ↑ The Autocar 1912/04/20
- ↑ The Autocar 1912/04/27
- ↑ The Autocar 1912/12/21
- ↑ The Autocar 1913/01/04
- ↑ The Autocar 1913/09/13
- ↑ The Autocar 1913/11/01
- ↑ The Autocar 1914/05/23
- ↑ The Austin 1905-52 by R. J. Wyatt. Published 1981. ISBN 0 7153 7948 8
- ↑ The Austin 1905-52 by R. J. Wyatt. Published 1981. ISBN 0 7153 7948 8
- ↑ British Motor Cars 1950/51
- ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- ↑ 1963 Motor Show
- British Lorries 1900-1992 by S. W. Stevens-Stratten. Pub. Ian Allen Publishing
- British Aircraft Manufacturers since 1908 by Gunter Endres. Pub 1995
- Wikipedia
- Ian Allan - British Buses Since 1900 - Aldridge and Morris
- The Engineer of 10th December 1920 p582
- 1961 Guide to Key British Enterprises: Motor, Motor-Cycle and Commercial Vehicle Manufacturers
- Trademarked. A History of Well-Known Brands - from Aertex to Wright's Coal Tar by David Newton. Pub: Sutton Publishing 2008 ISBN 978-0-7509-4590-5