Austin 7

Austin 7 Saloon 1931

Remains of Dalai Lama's Austin 7. Lhasa, 1993

Until the First World War, Austin built mainly large cars, but in 1909 they sold a single-cylinder small car built by Swift of Coventry called the Austin 7 hp.[7] After this they returned to bigger cars.

In 1920 Sir Herbert Austin commenced working on the concept of a smaller car, mainly to meet the needs of young families aspiring to own an affordable motor car. This idea was spurred on by the introduction of the Horsepower Tax in 1921. His design concept marked a departure from his company's conservative motoring past and Austin received considerable opposition from his board of directors and creditors. Because the company was in receivership, Austin decided to carry out the project himself, and in 1921 hired an 18-year-old draughtsman, Stanley Edge, from the Austin factory at Longbridge, Birmingham to aid in the drawing of detailed plans. This work was carried out in the billiard room of Austin's Lickey Grange home.

Edge convinced Austin to use a small four-cylinder engine. The original side valve engine design featured a capacity of 696cc (55mm x 77mm) giving a RAC rating of 7.2 hp, the cast cylinder block featured a detachable head and was mounted on an aluminium crankcase. The crankshaft used one roller and two ball bearings and the big-ends were splash lubricated.[8] Edge also carried out the design of other mechanical components such as the three speed gearbox and clutch assembly. Austin was largely responsible for styling the Seven's design, which was reportedly influenced by the design of the Peugeot Quadrilette. The "A" frame chassis design was believed to have been influenced by the design of an American truck used in the Longbridge factory in the early 1920s.

The design was completed in 1922 and three prototypes were constructed in a special area of the Longbridge factory, and announced to the public in July 1922.[8] Austin had put a large amount of his own money into the design and patented many of its innovations in his own name. In return for his investment he was paid a royalty of two guineas (£2, 2s), (£2.10) on every car sold.[2]

Nearly 2,500 cars were made in the first year of production (1923), not as many as hoped, but within a few years the "big car in miniature" had wiped out the cyclecar industry and transformed the fortunes of the Austin Motor Co. By 1939 when production finally ended, 290,000 cars and vans had been made.[8]

The Austin 7 was considerably smaller than the Ford Model T. The wheelbase was only 75 in (1.91 m), and the track only 40 inches (1.02 m). Equally, it was lighter – less than half the Ford's weight at 794 pounds (360 kg). The engine required was thus also modest – the small 747 cc sidevalve with an actual 10 hp output gave adequate performance.

The chassis took the form of an "A" with the engine mounted between the channel sections at the narrow front end. The rear suspension was by quarter elliptic leaf springs, cantilevered from the rear of the chassis, while at the front a beam axle had a centrally mounted transverse semi-elliptic leaf spring.[8]

Steering is by worm and wheel mechanism.

The Austin 7 had brakes on all four wheels from the start, but initially the footbrake only operated the rear wheel brakes, while the front brakes worked via the handbrake. From 1930, the Austin's front and rear brakes became fully coupled.

In late 1931 the chassis was lengthened by 6" with a corresponding increase in the rear track.

1937 advertisement

The original 1922 four-cylinder Austin Seven engine had a bore of 2.125 in (54.0 mm) and stroke of 3 in (76 mm), giving a capacity of 696 cc and RAC rating of 7.2 hp. From March 1923 the bore was increased to 2.2 in (56 mm) giving 747 cc and 10.5 hp.[8] The side-valve engine was composed of an aluminium crankcase, cast iron cylinder block and cast iron cylinder head. Cooling was by thermosiphon, without a water pump, and the dynamo was driven from the timing gears.

The big end bearings were lubricated by jets from an oil gallery in the crankcase, the oil striking the crankshaft webs which were drilled accordingly. Originally the journal diameter was 1.125"; this was later increased to 1.3125". The three bearing engine (from 1936) used a white metal centre bearing.

The splash-lubricated crankshaft (pressure fed on some sports models) at first ran in two bearings (two ball bearings at the front, roller at the back) changing to three in 1936.[8] An electric starter was fitted from November 1923. The early cars used magneto ignition, but this was changed to coil in 1928.

The 3-speed and reverse gearbox was bolted to the back of the engine and had a variety of ratios depending on the application: touring, sports, racing and trials. A four-speed gearbox was introduced in 1932 and in 1933 synchromesh was added to third and top ratios extending to second gear in 1934.[8]

The back axle was of spiral bevel type with ratios between 4.4:1 and 5.6:1 with 4.9:1 being the most common until the 1930s. A short torque tube ran forward from the differential housing to a bearing and bracket on the rear axle cross member.

Reliant used a derivative of the Austin Seven engine for their early three-wheelers, before developing a new aluminium alloy engine (used as the replacement for the Austin Seven engine by the 750 Motor Club in their Formula 750 motor sport) introduced in the 1962 Reliant Regal 3/25.

Gordon England Brooklands replica

Gordon England Sunshine saloon number 263

Herbert Austin's son-in-law, Arthur Waite, soon began to achieve remarkable sporting successes beginning at Brooklands in March 1923 and the next month at Monza. Another driver, E C Gordon England, persuaded Sir Herbert to provide him with a racing 7. Waite and Lou Kings (chief tester) then experienced a run of failure brought about by inadequate engine lubrication for racing conditions. Meanwhile, Gordon England, flushed with success from establishing six new class records at Brooklands, had built a special lightweight 2-seater body weighing just 20 lb (9.1 kg) and entered it in the 1100 cc class for the Junior Car Club 200 mile race at Brooklands in October 1923. There England finished in second place and during the race won another five class records.[9]

As a result, two new sports models were offered by Austin in January 1924, the Sports and the Brooklands Super-sports. The Brooklands Super-sports was a replica of England's record-breaker. Each car was sold with a Brooklands certificate proving a speed of 80 miles 0 chains (80.00 miles, 128.75 km) per hour. By 1925 Gordon England held nineteen 750 cc class records.[9]

The first Austin 7 saloon was made by England's coachbuilding company. England had been an aircraft designer with Bristol Gordon England biplanes. His fabric saloon body based on aircraft principles was said to be the smallest closed car in the world. Its body weighed 28 lb (13 kg) less than the tourer and at £210, almost double the £112 chassis price. It showed there would be a market for an Austin-made steel-panelled saloon which was introduced in September 1926 at £165[9] (equivalent to £10189 today)

Until fabric bodies fell from fashion in the early 1930s the Gordon England Fabric "de luxe" Saloon remained in Austin's catalogue at a £20 (14%) premium over Austin's standard steel saloon. It was accompanied by their 2-seater Gordon England Cup Model.[10]

1931 Austin Seven Swallow saloon

1931 Austin 7 Swallow, rear quarter

In 1927, William Lyons, co-founder of the Swallow Sidecar Company (after WW II Jaguar Cars), saw commercial potential in producing a re-bodied Austin 7. Buying a chassis from dealer Parkers of Bolton Lyons commissioned Swallow's talented employee, coachbuilder Cyril Holland, to produce a distinctive open tourer: the Austin Seven Swallow. Holland (1895-1983) who joined Swallow in late 1926 had served his apprenticeship with Lanchester and would become chief body engineer.[11][12] The height of saloon car fashion of the day was to have the back of the body fully rounded, this was called "dome" shaped.

With its bright two-tone colour scheme and a style befitting more expensive cars of the time, together with its low cost (£175), the Swallow proved popular and was followed in 1928 by a saloon version: the Austin Seven Swallow Saloon.

Approximately 3,500 bodies of various styles were produced up until 1932, when Lyons started making complete cars under the SS cars marque.

Such was the demand for the Austin Seven Swallows that Lyons was forced to move in 1928 from Blackpool to new premises in Coventry. It was, in part, the success of the Swallows that laid the foundations of what was to become, by 1945, Jaguar Cars.[13][14]

Versions of the Austin 7 were made under licence by American Austin from 1930, Dixi (later bought by BMW) in Germany from 1927 and Rosengart in France from 1928. Austin 7s were also manufactured by Nissan (Datsun) but reports differ as to whether these were built under licence or were unlicensed copies. In addition, rolling chassis were exported to Australia to have locally made bodies attached.

• 
  US
  American Bantam 1939
• 
  Japan
  Nissan (Datsun) 16 1937
• 
  Germany
  BMW 3/15 1930
• 
  France
  Rosengart LR4 1928
• 
  
  Austin Seven 1936

In the aftermath of World War I the Australian Government imposed a tariff on imported vehicles, with tax concessions applying to rolling chassis, as a stimulus to develop a sovereign motor vehicle industry. The chassis concession acted as a financial incentive for local coach-builders to import factory built rolling chassis, and fit uniquely Australian designed and built bodies, leading to the establishment of an Australian motor vehicle bodybuilding industry in the early 1920s.

1929 Australian-bodied Austin 7 Meteor (Coach-builder A. Robinson & Co. Castlereagh St, Sydney)

The largest and best known of these Australian coach-builders was Holden's Motor Body Builders. Holden built Australian-bodied Austin Seven tourer and roadster models from the mid-1920s.

However, several smaller coach-builders built limited numbers of Australian-bodied Austin Seven sports models between 1924 and 1934. Some examples of these Australian-bodied sports models are; the Standard Sports, built by Flood Motor Body Works, St Kilda Road, Melbourne; the Wasp built by William Green, Parramatta Road, Petersham, Sydney; the Moth built by Geo Sykes, Gordon Road, Chatswood, Sydney; the Comet built by Bill Conoulty, Sydney; and the Meteor. The Meteor was built by several coach-builders (Flood Motor Body Works, St Kilda Road, Melbourne; Jack Lonzar, Kent Town Adelaide; and A Robinson & Co., 181 Castlereagh St, Sydney), with individual variations to the common design.

In 2007, during an episode of Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson and James May studied a number of early car designs (including the Ford Model T and the De Dion-Bouton Model Q) and concluded that the Austin Seven was the first mass-market car to be fitted with a "conventional" control layout, as found on modern cars (although the earliest car they found to use this layout was a Cadillac Type 53 in 1916).

[2]

Tourers

Austin 7 Chummy Tourer 1929

1934 Austin 7 PD Tourer (pre-Opal)

Type	Name	Description	From	To
XL		prototypes	1922
AB		Aluminium-bodied four-seater	1922	1924
AC			1924	1926
AD		Four seater	1926	1929
AE		Four seater. Two inches wider than AD	1929	1929
		Two seater	1929	1930
AF		Steel-bodied four-seater	1930	1932
AH		Pressed-steel body. Four seater	1932
AAK	Open road Tourer	Cowled radiator		1934
AH		Pressed-steel body. Four seater	1932
PD		Two seater	1934
APD	Opal	Two seater	1934	1936
AAL	Open Road Tourer	Covered spare wheel	1935
AH		Pressed-steel body. Four seater	1932
APE	New Opal	Two seater	1936

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Saloons

Austin 7 Box Saloon 1933

Austin 7 "New Ruby" saloon

Type	Name	Description	From	To
R		Aluminium or fabric saloon	1926	1927
RK		Aluminium or fabric saloon	1927
RL		Steel saloon	1930
RG		Fabric saloon	1930
RN		Long-wheelbase steel saloon
RP			1932
ARQ	Ruby	Saloon	1934
ARR	"New" Ruby	Saloon	1936	1939

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Cabriolet

Austin 7 Pearl Cabriolet 1935

Type	Name	Description	From	To
AC	Pearl	Cabriolet version of ARQ Ruby.	1934
ACA	"New" Pearl	Cabriolet version of ARR New Ruby.	1936

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Sports

Austin 7 Ulster 2-Seater Sports 1930

Austin 7 Nippy 2-Seater Sports 1934

Type	Name	Description	From	To
50 mph		Aluminium bodied. Long tail		1926
E Super Sports		Aluminium bodied. No doors	1927	1928
EA Sports	Ulster	Aluminium bodied. No doors
EB 65	65	Aluminium body, steel wings. Rounded tail.	1933	1934
AEB	Nippy	All steel	1934	1937
EK 75	Speedy	Aluminium body. Pointed tail.
AEK	Speedy	Redesignation of EK 75		1935

The Ulster gained its name from a strong performance in the 1929 RAC Tourist Trophy held at the Ards circuit in County Down, where Archie Frazer-Nash finished third and S. V. Holbrook finished fourth.

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Arthur Waite won the 1928 100 Miles Road Race (later known as the 1928 Australian Grand Prix) driving an Austin 7.

In Australia Arthur Waite won the 1928 100 Miles Road Race driving an Austin 7. C E A Westcott did win the 1936 RAC Rally.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Austin 7.

• The Austin Seven Clubs' Association Details of the various Austin 7 member clubs throughout the UK and the rest of the world. Also the Austin 7 Archives and Register of surviving cars.
• The Pre-War Austin 7 Club The largest club purely for the Austin Seven.
• A7 Components Spare parts for all models of Austin 7.
• Austin Seven Owners Club A meeting place for owners of Austin Sevens or those interested in old cars in London and the Home Counties.
• Austin Seven Special Register The Register for Austin 7 based Specials.
• Autocar re-tests an Austin 7
• Austin 7 racers at AustinMemories.com