Austin A30(1951-56)
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| Austin-Healey 100 |
Austin's first new post-war cars, the dumpy A40 Dorset and Devon, appeared in 1947, followed by the bigger A70 Hampshire, the A40 Somerset, A70 Hereford and designed-for-export A90 Atlantic, whose chrome excesses almost completely failed to attract the American buyers it was aimed at. The car with the most impact on the average British motorist, however, was the fourth-generation 'baby' Austin Seven, called the A30 and launched in late 1951. Pre-dating the 1952 merging of Austin and Morris into the BMC (British Motor Corporation), it was the first unitary-bodied Austin and started off with an 803cc engine, the all-new overhead-valve A-Series unit, which was later fitted into the Morris Minor - ironic, since the A30 was originally intended as a Minor rival. The A30 came as a two- or four-door saloon, or a Countryman estate car, and in total, 223,264 were made. It wasn't a bad car, but the Minor was better, not least because it was wider and handled better. The A30 was replaced by the more powerful A35 in 1956, but the Seven name was not forgotten - it was subsequently used on the early Austin versions of BMC's all-new 'baby' car of 1959, better-known as the Mini.
Austin-Healey 100(1953-55)
Not an outright best-seller, but a very successful sports car much loved by Americans, who bought nearly all of them. A prototype Healey 100 was to be unveiled at the London Motor Show of 1952, but when BMC boss Leonard Lord saw the car the night before the show opened he and its creator Donald Healey struck a deal that would see Austin lending its name - and its engines - to the project. Both saw its potential in the US, but whereas Healey could only make five a week, Lord could produce 200 a week at Austin's Longbridge site. And so the prototype's name was changed overnight, the only time this is believed to have occurred on the eve of a motor show.
The chassis and exterior design were Healey's work, and the engine initially offered was the in-line four-cylinder, 2660cc, 90 bhp engine used in the Atlantic, with a three-speed gearbox with dual overdrive. Named the 100 as it had a claimed top speed of 107 mph, it was the first "affordable" - i.e. not impossibly out-of-reach - 100 mph roadster offered in the UK. BN2-series models, with a four-speed gearbox and higher-powered 100M and 100S versions followed; they were in turn replaced by the six-cylinder 100/6 models, and production was moved to the Morris factory in Abingdon, where they were made alongside the MGA. Over 14,500 100s were made the car stayed in production until 1967 and it is a much sought after today.
