Austin 8

Austin 8
Austin 8 4-door Saloon (circa 1946)
Overview
Manufacturer	Austin
Also called	Austin Wasp (Australia)
Production	1939–1948 56,103 produced
Assembly	United Kingdom Australia
Body and chassis
Body style	2-door saloon 4-door saloon 2-door 2 -seat tourer 2-door 4-seat tourer 2-door van
Powertrain
Engine	900 cc 4-cylinder side-valve
Transmission	4-speed manual
Dimensions
Wheelbase	88 in (2,235 mm)
Length	149 in (3,785 mm)
Width	56 in (1,422 mm)
Chronology
Predecessor	Austin Big 7
Successor	Austin A30

The Austin 8 is a small car that was produced by Austin between 1939 and 1948.

Launched on 24 February 1939, production continued into the war until 1943. Approximately 9,000 - 9,500 of the wartime Austin models were two-seater military 8AP tourers produced for the armed services and government, and the rest were four light saloons, six light saloons, two and four seater tourers and vans. After World War II, the model was made from 1945 until 1948.

By the late 1930s, sales of Austin's big seller, the Austin 7, were declining and the 1938 addition to the range of the 900 cc "Big 7" did little to fill the demand, as despite its larger engine its suspension and handling were still rooted in its early 1920s origins. A restyled and re-engineered range of cars had started to appear in 1937 with the Cambridge 10 with its much more streamlined look, and following the arrival of Leonard Lord development of a proper 8 hp car was accelerated. First the "new" engine was advertised to be 27HP, but later it was corrected to the same rate as the Big 7, which was 24HP.

The new car, which was displayed to dealers in February 1939, kept the 900 cc, four-cylinder, side-valve engine from the Big 7, now with a higher 6.5:1 compression ratio, but had a completely new chassis. This was halfway to full unitary construction in that the main member was a pressed steel floor pan with a box section welded down each side of the car with three others going across the floor. The body was then bolted to this structure. Suspension was by semi-elliptic leaf springs with hydraulic dampers.

Two- and four-door saloon bodies were made as well as two- and four-seat tourers, and vans. About 47,600 were made before war closed production in 1943. In 1945, production restarted, but there were no more tourers or two-door saloons produced in England. Post-war production of the tourer was however undertaken in Australia.

Initially there were four base models of the Austin 8. The model was unnamed and known simply by its RAC horsepower rating, plus the prosaic code that would not have been familiar to many outside the industry and trade.

AR = Austin 8 four door six light saloon.

ARA = Austin 8 two door four light saloon.

AP = Austin 8 tourer, available in two seater and four seater

AV = Austin 8 van

Just before and during the war a special Austin 8 “tilly” was manufactured, the Austin 8AP Military Tourer. Exact manufacturing numbers are not known but according to several sources the number would have been between 9000 and 9500 vehicles, most of them for Royal Army Service. The Military 8AP Tourer is recognised by, vertical louvres in the side bonnet plates of the car instead of horizontal ones, woodwork on the lower part of the windscreen, oil filled air filter, key-less ignition switch, closed wheels instead of pressed spoke wheels, pressed steel grille instead of sectioned casted grille, two seaters only. Please take care of these details, because some civilian cars have been transformed to military vehicles, where these details will indicate its civilian background. You will also find many Austin Tilly 8 saloons in military trim, but these are most probably non original transformations. There are no indications that the saloons were specially made for the armed forces.