Austin seven

History is written by the victors, and nothing in the automotive world holds as true to that saying as the Austin Seven. There had been light cars before it, some uncannily similar, but none had quite so perfectly captured the elements that we now so easily recognise as a ‘small car’ as the beautifully simple creation that Sir Herbert Austin and his borrowed apprentice, Stanley Edge, put together in 1921.

By 1923 it was ready: a 696cc, four-cylinder, three-speed, open-topped car on a strong but cheap-to-make A-frame chassis. It could seat two adults and two children, all for the modest sum of £155 – although by 1934 the price of entry was just £100. At first, the sceptics at the top of Longbridge, who had sidelined Sir Herbert’s passion project, felt their doubts confirmed as sales plodded along at an unexciting pace. Was this new car any better than a Jowett Seven, a Rover Eight, or, most worryingly perhaps, the ill-fated Belsize-Bradshaw V-twin?

But 1924 was the Seven’s year. A few tweaks here and there, the engine up to 747cc with an electric starter, a fan and a speedometer, and word soon spread of Austin’s horsepower-tax-beater. By the end of ’26 nearly 15,000 had been built and the car that had started out as a simple open Chummy was maturing into a full range of body styles from the factory and coachbuilders alike.

The motorsport crowd also loved it, thanks to its low cost, mechanical simplicity and lively performance. The sidevalve ‘four’ made 10.5bhp even in its earliest form, while later versions such as the 1930-’33 Ulster upped that to 24bhp, or 33bhp and 75mph with a supercharger. Off track, its low weight – just 360kg for the chassis – won it legendary status among the trials crowd.

‘Our’ sporting Seven is a little earlier. This 1927 example wears a rare two-seater, single-door Semi Sports body by H Taylor & Co of South Kensington, on a 9ft-long chassis with sprint gears. Wearing a £175 price-tag, it was elevated above factory models with an attracti