BUYING GUIDE
As the car which at once both put Britain on wheels and saved the Austin company, the Seven is an important link in the history of the British motor industry. Marketed as ‘a real car in miniature,’ it offered the first chance for average families to trade up from a motorcycle and sidecar to proper fourwheeled transport. It looked the part too, with the right proportions despite its tiny (by 1920s standards) 6ft 3in wheelbase and 4ft 6in width.
Over its 16-year lifespan, some 290,000 Sevens were sold in styles ranging from boxy saloons to sporty twoseaters, and from 1937 the Big Seven took the recipe and upsized it slightly as society became more affluent. Today the cars make a delightful introduction to the world of pre-war motoring and their handy size makes them simple to work on even in a domestic single garage. Here then is what you'll need to know before taking the plunge into Austin Seven ownership.
History
The Seven came about as an indirect result of Austin's involvement in WW1. The firm had been producing cars at the Longbridge plant since 1905, and by early 1914 had become sufficiently successful to float as a public company. Shortly afterwards of course, war was declared and the Austin factory immediately turned from car manufacture to munitions, expanding dramatically as a result.
In 1918, the lucrative wartime contracts dried up pretty suddenly, but
