10 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT...
We defy you to look at an A30 or A35 and not at least even crack into a smile. They manage to combine Toytown looks with real world running gear that can be either uprated or enjoyed as it is. Here is our pick of the trivia associated with this landmark A
At the end of the 1940s, there was a strong possibility of the Austin and Morris groups joining forces, which would have brought the Morris Minor into the family fold to slot in below the Austin Devon. But personalities and circumstances got in the way of any such marriage and so thoughts at Longbridge turned to creating a rival of their own. In 1949, the green light was given to the development of a new baby Austin to compete head-on with the Minor.
It was launched in 1951, but the longawaited Austin-Morris merger finally came to fruition in 1952 to create BMC, just as A30 production was getting into full swing. The Austin’s OHV A-series engine was then transplanted into the Minor, but the two cars continued their intense rivalry.
Design faults such as a cantilevered bootlid that covered your luggage with water when opened in the rain were ironed out when the Austin A30 was revised for 1953, revisions that also included improved seats as well as more luggage space thanks to a redesign of the boot’s interior. At the same time the round speedo with cubby holes on either side was changed to an enlarged and squared-off instrument cluster with a full width parcel shelf below. A two-door model was added to the range at this point, and the following year a taller axle ratio of 4.875:1 gave even better economy. An A30 Countryman (estate) and 5cwt van were also now offered, heavier than the saloons but with revised gearing to compensate.
The later A30s may have been an improvement in many respects, but the A35 of 1956 was even better. It was not just the hike in engine capacity from 803cc to 948cc that made a difference, but the engine was extensively reworked at the same time with, for example, full-flow oil filtration and bigger lead-indium bearings instead of the earlier white metal variety. As a result it could run a higher compression ratio, was better able to cruise for long distances and lasted longer between rebuilds too. Exterior clues to mark the A35 out from the A30 included a painted rather than chromed grille, flashing indicators instead of trafficators and a bigger rear screen. A short-lived pick-up was also offered, but barely 500 were built.
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The A30 drew plenty of inspiration from the original Austin Seven, including a narrow track and short wheelbase. It was far more than simply a rehash of old ideas
though, because the A30 was Austin’s very first monocoque design, meaning it had no trace of a chassis underneath. (Unitary construction effectively has a chassis welded to the body, or at least some semblance of a chassis’s structures.) This was a revolutionary move for Austin, and Ken Garrett and Ian Duncan were brought in from the aircraft industry to make it work. And work well – subsequent tests at Morris showed that the Austin had nearly three times as much torsional stiffness as their own Minor, a car which had a chassis frame welded to its floor. The Austin engineers remained very sceptical of the whole idea initially, but were partly won over by the construction of a scale model in cartridge paper which proved surprisingly stiff. Some claimed the Austin was the first truly chassisless car, but Lancia had already done it in 1921 with the Lambda, and Saab beat Austin to market with the 92 (which was also heavily aircraft influenced).
2
Initial styling for the new Austin had been carried out by Raymond Loewy’s design studio in New York who came up with some very sleek lines, but their proposals were altered at Longbridge where management decided that the car had to be shorter to reduce costs and the nose needed more of a family look. Shortening the car also made a higher roofline necessary as the rear seat was now over the back axle, the overall effect being to make the new car look slightly older and more dumpy than had been the case. So if we were being cruel we would say that yes, the family look had been achieved...!
3
A convertible prototype was tried, but not put into production. Saloons are by far the most common variant found today, and so also the cheapest. Vans and the Countryman estate are slightly more expensive, and although they carry a weight penalty, the lower gearing they were given does help to mask this on the road. But it is the rare (and hardly practical) pick-ups that will cost you more than any other variant. Unloved when new thanks to a miniscule load bed, the provision of two occasional rear seats made them liable for purchase tax when new and so robbed them of any potential tax advantage as commercial vehicles. They have, though, managed to skip from unwanted orphan to ultra- chic.
4
It would be a brave (or short-sighted) man who claimed to see any sporting pretensions in an A30’s lines. It was based on the 1938 Austin Seven Ruby dimensions which made it short, narrow and tall and hampered handling in comparison to the Minor. That is not to say they aren’t fun to drive – it is no coincidence that Frank Williams and Jackie Stewart had one as their first car, or that Graham Hill and James Hunt were big fans. Hill used his for both racing and road transport, while Hunt was still driving his 1967 Austin 35 Countryman conversion at the time of his death in 1993. I have often read that James Hunt loved his Austin because it was a car you had to drive on the limit just to keep up with other traffic. Mind you, I have also been told that he carried on driving it because he was skint!
5
The OHV engine was developed for the A30, but destined for a much longer life. This was the first of the A-series motors, a scaled-down version of the Devon’s 1200cc unit (which itself grew and evolved into the B-series). It was a sweet and advanced engine that garnered much praise in its day, and which went on to enjoy a production run of 50 years and some 14 million units.
6
The A30 was launched with the strapline: ‘Once more we have an Austin Seven.’ It was officially marketed as the A30 Seven in an attempt to borrow some of the glory of Austin’s pre-war success story. However, the new car stood on its own merits and nobody wanted or needed to refer back to past glories, so Austin stopped trying to flog a dead horse and finally abandoned that part of the name in 1956 with the arrival of the A35. That didn’t stop them from trying to revive the Seven name once again on the Mini of 1959, but with an equal lack of success.
While there is no reason why a car in standard trim cannot be used very happily on a regular basis (that was, after all, what they were built for), town driving in particular can be made more pleasant with a few subtle twists. These could start in the braking department, from the fitment of A40 brakes up to robbing the discs from a Midget. ( The standard brakes are adequate rather than brilliant and they don’t respond well to subtlety
– if you want to stop, let them know with an enthusiastic stamp on the middle pedal.) There are plenty of period engine tuning modifications too from the likes of Speedwell and Downton, but if you already have Midget brakes, then the 1098cc engine is an easy enough fit as well.
8
None of the A30/A35 range are quite as small on the inside as they look from the outside – the door glass makes use of a clever counterbalancing mechanism to drop out of sight and the lack of complicated winders helps ensure that there is plenty of elbow room. A small glass block glued to the window acts as a handle, and I have heard this described as the ultimate window opening mechanism – quick, simple and virtually indestructible.
The baby Austin contributed to a number of other cars. The A40 Farina for example used A35 running gear under a crisp new two-box body, while the Nash Metropolitan featured a mixture of A30 and A40 running gear. Austin did try out an A30 Sports in 1953 with a glassfibre body, but eventually went instead with the Healey- designed Austin- Healey Sprite of 1958 which mixed Austin A35 and Morris Minor running gear. And as for the A-series engine, we’ve already mentioned that unit’s extraordinarily long life. Along the way it powered everything from the Austin 1100 to the Montego, lasting until the final Mini of 2000 by which time it had twin-point fuel injection.
10
The very different A40 Farina was launched in 1958, but the cheaper A35 was only gradually phased out. Saloon production ended in 1959 as the revolutionary new Mini hit the roads, but the Countryman estate lasted until September 1962. That was nothing compared to the 5cwt vans though, which continued in production all the way through to February 1968. At that point, they were finally retired and replaced by a Minor van wearing Austin badges.