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By
DAVID PIKE
The Austin A40 did much to help Britain recover financially after World
War II as the country badly needed dollars. Whilst millions of dollars
were poured into Germany and Japan in the form of aid Britain received
little assistance in recovering from the war.
The Managing Director at the time Mr L P Lord travelled to the
USA in May 1946 and after a close study of conditions returned to
the plant and prepared for a large-scale attack on the most
difficult of all markets, with a new car then in a forward stage
of development.
In August two of the A40 cars, known as the Austin Devon, were
shipped to to the USA. Dealers liked them and many were signed up.
Canada, too, became an integrated part of the drive and old Austin
distributorships and dealerships there were greatly strengthened.
As the new A40s began to arrive and pass into the hands of the
public, sales increased and valuable dollars flowed back to
Britain.
To the regret of home-market customers, this 1200 cc car soon
became the country’s best selling automotive export, appealing
to Americans because its styling was close to the native product,
until the real post-war models began to appear in 1949. The
interior was traditionally British although the dashboard had much
plastic and the instruments followed the American style.
The bonnet hinged at the rear and on opening revealed a valve
in head four cylinder engine, a recent, for the time, Austin
development for passenger cars, although Austin had been using
these engines in trucks since 1939.
Underside was a further new development in the form of coil
springing and also the use of fully pressed metal wheels. Neither
Morris or Ford had adopted this improved form of suspension at
this time so Austin had some advantages to sell. Austin preferred
a separate chassis frame, though they did not offer the A40 in a
wide range of body styles: sedans, a utility, a panel van and a
van-based station wagon represented their limit.
Tourers being a local phenomenon were confined to the
Australian assembly plant. The conservative engineers at
Longbridge did not wholly trust hydraulic brakes like
many other British car makes preferring the Girling ‘half
and half’ system with mechanical actuation to the rear.
Early models had a floor mounted gear shift but this was
replaced by a column mounted gear shift in 1951. A sliding roof
was standard in some markets but was, of course, not specified for
those markets like Australia where heavy rains and dust storms
were prevalent.
The 1200 cc engine was of the short-stroke type, viable when
horsepower tax was abolished in Britain. With a power output in
the 40-42 bhp range, top speeds of 112km/h were achieved with a
0-55 km/h acceleration time down to less than 8 seconds and a fuel
consumption quoted at 9 litres/100km with normal driving.
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