Grand Designs
A century on, this grand design endures
It was back in 1922 that Herbert Austin’s revolutionary people’s car changed the motoring landscape forever, so as the centenary year draws to a close it felt right to revisit it in Grand Designs. The Austin Seven is arguably Britain’s most successful and influential pre-war car. It put ownership of a ‘proper car’ within the grasp of the hoi polloi across the world. It secured Austin’s future and it played a key part in establishing some of today’s heavyweight motor manufacturers, including BMW, Nissan and Jaguar.
The Seven was a revolutionary initiative from an established manufacturer in trouble. It was no bigger than necessary, simple but not crude, built from quality materials and suited to cost-effective mass-production. It was a compelling alternative to motorcycle combinations and flimsy cyclecars, offering engaging, reliable and comfortable transport for the masses.
It was less than half the weight of its American Ford Model T contemporary, which for a decade had been Britain’s most popular car. Plus, with no technical and driving eccentricities such as the Model T’s epicyclic transmission and unusual pedal layout, it could be marketed to a far wider audience.
10bhp POWER
An aluminium-skinned timber-framed tourer body was the only option for the first three years. Numerous revisions and body styles appeared over the Seven’s seventeen-year career.
The top-hat section A-frame chassis is a model of simple functional efficiency and straightforward manufacturing. The front suspension is centrally supported at the pointed end and quarter-elliptic springs are extensions of the splayed legs of the ‘A’ at the rear. The system offers the rigidity of a three-wheeler on a four-wheeled car, without resorting to strong and heavy components.
With sales of the Austin Twenty in freefall, the business in receivership and his authority compromised by a cautious and uncooperative board, Herbert Austin embarked on the Seven privately with the help of just one 18-year-old associate. Austin’s first fullsize drawings are said to have been made on the billiard table at his Worcestershire home.
1.9m TINY WHEELBASE
The Seven was key in the establishment of Jaguar, BMW and Nissan. Swallow Sidecars, which would become SS before rebranding as Jaguar, diversified into cars in 1927, offering stylish bodywork on the Seven chassis. Jensen, Holden and various other worldwide manufacturers also bought chassis in. Automobilwerk Eisenach started rolling out its licence-built Dixi in 1927, before being taken over the following year by BMW, which would continue production under its own name. Datsun established itself with the Seven in 1934, and went on to use, develop and produce Austin technology for decades. Bruce McLaren’s first racer was a Seven-based special.
