Austin Austin 7 History

Launched in 1922, the Austin 7 did for Britain roughly what the Model T did for the United States: it was small, cheap and reliable enough to wipe out most of the cyclecars and rival economy cars of the era and put ordinary families on four wheels. Around 290,000 were built before production ended in 1939.

Its influence ran far beyond Austin. The design was licensed and copied worldwide — the first BMW car, the Dixi, was a licensed Austin 7; it was built in the US by the American Austin Car Company (which evolved into American Bantam); it was made in France as the Rosengart; and Nissan based its earliest cars on the design. The Swallow coachbuilder's rebodied Austin 7s helped launch what became Jaguar, and post-war Austin 7 specials underpinned the first Lotus and an early Bruce McLaren race car.