The Austin Seven was a hugely important car, simultaneously saving its maker from collapse while mobilising an entire nation. The car stands as a milestone in automotive history as a result, setting the stage for decades of British car manufacturing and, in licence-built (or sometimes copied) form, forming the early efforts of numerous famous manufacturers including BMW and Nissan.
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 four-wheeled transport. It looked the part too, with the right proportions despite its tiny (by 1920s standards) 6ft3in wheelbase and 4ft6in width.
The Seven came about after Austin the company entered administration in 1920 – its big, pre-WW1 designs no longer selling well enough. The smaller Austin 12 – essentially a scaled-down version of the Austin 20 – was hastily brought to production in 1921 but the firm needed to do more.
The answer in Herbert Austin’s mind was a radically smaller car which could be produced and sold sufficiently cheaply to replace the motorcycle sidecar combinations that were pretty much the only transport affordable for the average family. Austin’s fellow directors weren’t convinced however, wanting to keep Austin as an expensive, upmarket brand. As a result, he opted to develop the new car on