Working class Austin’s upper class contender

Once you have driven one of these cars, which Rolls-Royce seriously considered as the basis for a new model, it’s hard to fathom why they weren’t more popular. From the safety of what was a more egalitarian New Zealand at the time, it’s tempting to think that, despite Austin having made substantial vehicles before, including 1927’s 3.4-Litre Austin Twenty and the Westminsters of the late ’50s, it had hit a glass ceiling. Its success with small and cheap cars — even though, like both the Mini and the Maxi, they were often innovative — had redefined the brand. Not to put too fine a point on it, snobbery has always been a feature of many car markets, and buyers of upmarket cars inevitably preferred a Rover, Triumph, Jaguar, or Mercedes badge on their bonnets.

As a result, survivors from a production run of just 9993 cars from 1967 to 1971 are quite rare. Many people upon seeing an example on our roads would struggle to name it, although the lines will look familiar. Around 300 to 350 were imported to New Zealand in the 1970s. It’s a tribute to the fondness engendered among their owners, and perhaps their build quality, that a surprising proportion are still either roadworthy or would take very little to get running again. They also keep turning up in surprising places.