100 years of the brilliant Austin Seven

Right car, right time

The Austin Seven was the perfect car for its time. In the decade following the First World War, the British government promised to build new housing that was ‘fit for heroes’, UK women over the age of 21 were granted the right to vote, and tentative steps were being taken towards a more democratic and egalitarian society.  

The Austin Seven brought that ethos to motoring. No longer would the less-affluent buyer have to make do with woefully basic cyclecars. The Baby Austin was a ‘proper’ car and genuinely revolutionary – brilliantly simple in its design and superbly executed.

This year, 2022, marks its centenary, so let’s have a look at what makes it such an enduring favourite…

1. A new approach

When Herbert Austin founded his eponymous car company in 1905 in Longbridge, near Birmingham, he initially concentrated on producing large, luxurious vehicles.

Following the First World War, however, the Austin Motor Company was having financial difficulties and was placed into receivership.

The decision was taken to build a ‘Baby Austin’ that would appeal to the mass-market – a reflection of the increasingly egalitarian post-war society.

The result was the Austin Seven.

2. Back to basics

Throughout the Seven’s production run it used an A-frame chassis, with the engine placed at the narrow front end. Rear suspension was by quarter-elliptic springs, while at the front there was a beam axle with a transverse semi-elliptic spring.

The wheelbase was initially 6ft 3in and the track was only 40in, giving the Seven a tiny footprint.

There was braking to all four wheels, with the pedal operating those at the rear and the handbrake working on the fronts.

3. Small is beautiful

When the Seven was launched in 1922, the four-cylinder engine had a capacity of 696cc. Its RAC rating for tax purposes was 7hp – hence ‘Austin Seven’. 

Early in 1923, capacity was increased to 747cc. It was a sidevalve unit with a cast-iron block and cylinder head, and it used a thermosiphon cooling system rather than a water pump.

The engine drove through a three-speed non-synchromesh gearbox. First gear was selected by moving the long lever towards you and back, with second being away from the driver and forward, and third gear straight back from there.

4. Innovative thinking

Herbert Austin had seconded from the Longbridge drawing office a young man called Stanley Edge to help with the design of the Seven.

The car featured a number of features that Austin then patented, and these were listed on a plate on each car’s dashboard.

It’s said that Herbert Austin personally received a royalty of two guineas for each Seven that was sold. Just under 300,000 would be built before production ended in 1939.

5. A car for everyone

Much was made of the fact that the Seven was easy to drive and maintain.

It was one of the first mass-produced cars to have its controls in what we would now consider to be the ‘standard’ layout, with the throttle pedal on the right, the brake in the middle and the clutch on the left. The gearlever and handbrake were also centrally mounted.

Period advertising targeted women drivers by stating that the Seven was ‘the car for the feminine touch’ and that ‘there is no strain in driving an Austin’.

6. Different shapes and sizes

The Seven was originally produced in open form, and the first saloon version was a fabric-bodied model built by the Gordon England coachbuilding company.

Austin’s own metal-bodied saloon followed in September 1926 and was priced at £165. 

A huge variety of bodies were fitted to the basic A-frame chassis over the years, including two-seaters such as the Nippy and Ulster – the latter being named for Austin’s success in the Tourist Trophy at the Ards circuit in Northern Ireland.

7. Keeping up with the competition

As production continued, Austin introduced various upgrades to the Seven in order to keep it competitive against rivals such as the 1928 Morris Minor. 

The headlights were moved from the scuttle to the front of the car, coil ignition replaced magneto, the front and rear brakes were ‘coupled’, and the starter button was moved so that it could be operated by hand rather than foot.

Detail changes even extended to a small gutter beneath the central bonnet hinge that stopped rainwater falling onto the spark plugs when the bonnet was opened.

8. The Seven reimagined

Founded in 1922 by William Lyons, the Swallow Sidecar Company had initially – as the name suggests – made motorcycle sidecars. Lyons soon expanded into coachbuilding work and acquired an Austin Seven chassis in 1927, with the intention of fitting a Swallow-designed body that featured a detachable folding hardtop.

That feature soon proved impractical, but the Austin Seven Swallow was popular and an order for 500 cars was placed by London-based distributor Henlys.

Bigger premises were needed so Lyons moved his company from Blackpool to Coventry, where it would develop into SS Cars and finally Jaguar.

9. The beginnings of a legend

As well as playing a formative role in the history of Jaguar, the Austin Seven was also instrumental in BMW’s shift towards car production. 

Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach had done a deal with Austin to produce the Seven under licence in Germany, using the model name Dixi. Then, in 1928, BMW bought the factory and took over the rights to build the car. 

It soon dropped the Dixi name and introduced various improvements to the design, before starting to build its own cars – beginning with the 3/20 of 1932.

10. Born to race

Motor racing played a key role in the life of the Austin Seven. In fact, the prototype was driven at Shelsley Walsh hillclimb two weeks before it was officially unveiled at Claridge’s Hotel in London.

Australian-born Colonel Arthur Waite was Herbert Austin’s son-in-law, and he oversaw a team of special-bodied Sevens to compete in the 1923 Boulogne Grand Prix. 

The Seven was a successful racer in its class all the way through the 1920s and into the 1930s, with variants including the low-line car known as ‘Slippery Anne’. 

11. A versatile design

The Seven was fitted with a range of commercial bodies and was even adapted for military use. 

The latter included scout cars, wireless carriers – for which the bodies had to be significantly wider than standard – and models that were modified into pick-up trucks and machine-gun carriers for the Home Guard.

There was even a ‘desert spec’ cooling system developed for use in Africa, which featured a water pump, a larger radiator and a four-blade fan.

12. Stretching the Seven

In late 1931, the Seven’s wheelbase was extended by 6in and the rear track was now 43in rather than 40in – all of which led to more interior space and an improvement in ride and handling.

Reporting on the changes in November that year, The Motor noted that ‘two adults of average stature can be accommodated with comfort to such a degree that even long journeys would not become arduous’. 

Despite the increased dimensions, the magazine concluded that the Seven could still ‘be stored in a space little larger than that required for the accommodation of the garden roller or mowing machine’.

13. The Twin Cam

The ultimate developments of the works Austin Seven racers were the Murray Jamieson-designed cars of the 1930s.

In an attempt to stay competitive against the latest MGs, Jamieson first designed a supercharged sidevalve engine for use in a beautifully proportioned single-seater.

Two were built before Jamieson then came up with the Twin Cam. Powered by a completely new twin-overhead-camshaft blown ‘four’, this famous car – of which only three were ever made – was raced in period by the likes of Kay Petre and Bert Hadley.

14. The ‘Baby Austin’ grows up

Introduced in late 1934, the Ruby retained the basic ingredients of the existing Seven but packaged them in a much more up-to-date and practical design.

Period road tests noted that the rear seats, for example, were now roomy enough for two adults rather than either two children or one adult, and by the time the Ruby was launched the gearbox had four speeds with synchromesh on all but first gear. 

The body shape was also updated, with The Motor commenting that, ‘with the new and modernistic lines… this Austin looks as good as it is’.

15. Affordable motoring

By 1935, Austin was stating in its advertisements for the Seven that it cost a ‘penny a mile’ to run.

‘The Austin Seven,’ it said on one poster, ‘presents the small-car man not only with the cheapest form of road travel, but with a sound motoring investment.’

Despite all of the updates and improvements to its comfort and performance, the main selling points of the Seven were still its affordability, simplicity and reliability.

16. A pioneering force

Such was the Austin Seven’s following that it inspired the formation of the 750 Motor Club in 1939. It held some summer trials before the outbreak of war and then played a central role in the development of the British motorsport industry once hostilities had ceased.

Jack French and Holly Birkett were influential figures in the late 1940s, and it was Birkett who proposed a ‘750 Formula’ for motor racing that would be based around the Seven’s engine and chassis.

This proved to be an ideal place for budding designers to cut their teeth, and the 750 Motor Club’s list of alumni includes Colin Chapman, Eric Broadley and Gordon Murray.

17. Kiwi icon learns the ropes

Bruce McLaren was only 13 when his father finished the rebuild of what had been a pretty dilapidated Ulster, but the little car taught the young New Zealander some valuable lessons in car control when he started buzzing it around the family’s back garden.

When his father told him that he’d have to maintain it himself, Bruce quickly grasped the importance of good preparation, and he collected numerous class wins once he was finally old enough to race it. 

The Ulster was constantly modified by Bruce during his three years with it, and the car is now owned by the eponymous company that he founded during the 1960s.

18. The Big Seven

In 1937, Austin added the Big Seven to its range. Designed to complement rather than replace the standard Seven, the new model was fitted with a 900cc engine and was a more expensive proposition – the saloon version cost £155, £25 more than the saloon version of the Ruby.

At 7ft 3½in, the wheelbase was longer than it was in the Seven, and the option of a four-door layout added to its practicality. 

When The Light Car road-tested a Big Seven, it concluded that it was a car ‘which should appeal to the thousands of owners of Austin Sevens who are looking for something a little bit ahead of that car. [It] is not only bigger, but it also a little faster and distinctively livelier’.

19. Inspiring Issigonis

Among those who made use of the Seven’s robust and easily tuned engine was Alec Issigonis. During the 1930s, Issigonis and George Dowson built the monocoque Lightweight Special, which featured independent suspension all round and used rubber as the springing medium.

Its engine was initially a supercharged Seven unit, but after the war this was replaced by a Wolseley motor. Issigonis and Dowson regularly drove it in speed events and it survives to this day.

When Issigonis’ revolutionary Mini was launched in 1959, the Austin version was initially given the Seven name.

20. A special breed

There is perhaps no car in history that has been so widely converted into specials of all kinds than the Austin Seven. And not only in period – even today, 100 years after the model first appeared, enthusiasts are finding that it still makes the perfect basis for a competition machine or an invigorating road car.

The list of Seven-based specials includes everything from the rear-engined, chain-drive ‘Austerity’ hillclimb car to the ‘chopped’ saloon that Mike Forrest raced in 750 Formula events. 

One of the most well-known is ‘Simplicity’, which was built by Jack French and is pictured here.