History
From 1906 Herbert Austin built high quality hand built cars of various horsepower until World War 1 intervened. After the war financial circumstances and new production methods resulted in a completely different line of Austin’s emerging using mass production.
The 10/12 hp model was introduced in 1912 with modern features such as a four speed gearbox, a five bearing engine with full pressure oil feed and a pump driven cooling system. In total some 2,246 of this model were built in 5 years and was the most popular Austin model of the era.
We acquired the remains of our Austin in June 2007 after it had been owned by an enthusiast in Boonah since at least 1960. Whilst the parts had been kept under cover for many years, much was missing including most of the bodywork of the car and the internals of the gearbox.
Completing the chassis required a great deal of research and manufacturing missing parts. We rebuilt the bodywork to what Austin’s called the “Melbourne†design because the few remnant body parts we had, suggested it had been fitted with this style. The body was rebuilt from catalogue drawings and photos and measurements taken from similar cars.
Our car has a raked steering wheel and the unusual Austin-Sankey detachable wheels suggesting a sporting two seater style.
We are grateful to all the professional people and our wonderful friends who helped or provided advice and information.
We sold the Austin in November 2014.
Modifications
No modifications but lots of tinkering to make it run nicely.
