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Britain's first mass-produced car? Blighty's equivalent of the Ford Model T? The Austin Seven is one of those special little cars from the dawn of motoring that was able to take both Britain and large portions of Europe by storm, bringing motoring to the masses!

The Austin Seven (or Austin 7) was produced by the Austin Motor Company from 1922 as an economy car. Nicknamed the "Baby Austin", it was one of the most popular cars ever produced for the British market, and sold well abroad. It wiped out most other British small cars and cyclecars of the early 1920's, and effected the British market in a similar fashion to the aforementioned Model T Ford in the US. It was also licensed and copied by companies all over the world, even being the first product of the German company BMW, with the BMW Dixi being a license built Austin 7, as were the original American Austins. In France they were made and sold as Rosengarts, whilst in Japan, Nissan also used the 7 design as the basis for their first cars, although not under licence. For all intents and purposes, an entire myriad of companies we know and love today owe their original foothold on the motoring market to the Austin 7 or one of its derivatives.

One of the winning features for the Austin 7 over the Ford Model T was the contemporary and now traditional design of the car, possessing three pedals including brakes, a clutch and an accelerator. The Model T's throttle was controlled with a lever on the steering wheel and the left pedal was used to engage the gear, with the variation and layout of these pedals being so complicated and confusing that it's a wonder the Model T ever took off in the first place! Indeed the Cadillac Type 53 of 1916 pioneered the conventional three-pedal layout for controlling cars, the Austin 7 brought it to the masses.

The Austin 7 continued in production until 1939, when World War II halted production at 290,000 examples for requirements to the War Effort, but this wasn't the end of the plucky car. Many Austin 7s were rebuilt as "specials" after the Second World War, including the first race car built by Bruce McLaren, who's name now adorns the mighty McLaren F1, and the first car to be built by Lotus, the Mk1.

Such was the power of the Austin 7 name that the company re-used it for early versions of the A30 in 1951 and Mini in 1959.

Today the Austin 7 is one of the most prominent survivors of the pre-war era cars, with the ease of their construction and simplicity of their design making them the best pet-projects you could have. A friend of mine has restored 3 of these cars and uses them whenever possible. Their numeracy and popularity has resulted in them acquiring a huge fanbase, which continues to supply spares and panels brand new to keep the thousands of surviving examples on the road!

Description
Britain's first mass-produced car? Blighty's equivalent of the Ford Model T? The Austin Seven is one of those special little cars from the dawn of motoring that was able to take both Britain and large portions of Europe by storm, bringing motoring to the masses!

The Austin Seven (or Austin 7) was produced by the Austin Motor Company from 1922 as an economy car. Nicknamed the "Baby Austin", it was one of the most popular cars ever produced for the British market, and sold well abroad. It wiped out most other British small cars and cyclecars of the early 1920's, and effected the British market in a similar fashion to the aforementioned Model T Ford in the US. It was also licensed and copied by companies all over the world, even being the first product of the German company BMW, with the BMW Dixi being a license built Austin 7, as were the original American Austins. In France they were made and sold as Rosengarts, whilst in Japan, Nissan also used the 7 design as the basis for their first cars, although not under licence. For all intents and purposes, an entire myriad of companies we know and love today owe their original foothold on the motoring market to the Austin 7 or one of its derivatives.

One of the winning features for the Austin 7 over the Ford Model T was the contemporary and now traditional design of the car, possessing three pedals including brakes, a clutch and an accelerator. The Model T's throttle was controlled with a lever on the steering wheel and the left pedal was used to engage the gear, with the variation and layout of these pedals being so complicated and confusing that it's a wonder the Model T ever took off in the first place! Indeed the Cadillac Type 53 of 1916 pioneered the conventional three-pedal layout for controlling cars, the Austin 7 brought it to the masses.

The Austin 7 continued in production until 1939, when World War II halted production at 290,000 examples for requirements to the War Effort, but this wasn't the end of the plucky car. Many Austin 7s were rebuilt as "specials" after the Second World War, including the first race car built by Bruce McLaren, who's name now adorns the mighty McLaren F1, and the first car to be built by Lotus, the Mk1.

Such was the power of the Austin 7 name that the company re-used it for early versions of the A30 in 1951 and Mini in 1959.

Today the Austin 7 is one of the most prominent survivors of the pre-war era cars, with the ease of their construction and simplicity of their design making them the best pet-projects you could have. A friend of mine has restored 3 of these cars and uses them whenever possible. Their numeracy and popularity has resulted in them acquiring a huge fanbase, which continues to supply spares and panels brand new to keep the thousands of surviving examples on the road!