A measurement in time
Q: When was the 3½” crankshaft stroke dimension first used on an Austin engine?
A: 3½” was first used on the original Austin Ten of 1932.
Top marks to readers who got that correct. What is more astonishing is the fact that the last Austin/BMC/British Leyland/ARG/Rover engine to be built around this crank dimension was produced in 1999, some 67 years after its birth. How and why did it happen?
To dig for its roots at the Austin company, we have to go back to
