Do you know what this car is?
Apologies for the poor quality photo
(http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e175/neilshouse/Whatisthiscar9.jpg)
Thanks for looking and good luck with your guesses.
Moved!
British maybe?
It is British, yes.
Made in '50s?
Yes it was made in the 1950s.
Three-wheeled by any chance?
No chance at all.
Prototypefor the Austin A30?
Quote from: D-type on March 09, 2009, 03:15:51 PM
Prototypefor the Austin A30?
It's not, but you are onto something!
squeezed Standard Eight
Not a Standard Eight squeezed or otherwise, D-Type was much closer with his A30 prototype guess.
I tweaked the brightness, etc. A bit more detail is visible here.
Thanks Otto. I've just noticed that I have posted the photo as a mirror image, but as the car is symmetrical I don't think this is a problem!
So, an Austin?
Yes, it is an Austin.
A30/35 family?
Could it be a very early prototype for the original Mini (a.k.a. Austin Seven)? If it is, I've never seen it before!!
Don't know, looks like an Austin A30 with Standard Eight's front end. That's all I can say.
It's not a prototype for the Mini.
It does share some bodywork with the A30.
I don't think it had an official name but was referred to by two different names when it was being developed and tested at Longbridge.
Moved to the pros!
I've found a better quality picture of this one and a few more that may help in the solving of this puzzle.
(http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e175/neilshouse/witc9/witc9b.jpg)
(http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e175/neilshouse/witc9/witc9c.jpg)
and the engine!!
(http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e175/neilshouse/witc9/witc9d.jpg)
Is it a rejected proposal for what eventually became the Mini (i.e. ADO15)? I know that a twin-cylinder air-cooled engine was tried out in the early stages but was rejected on the grounds of inferior economy, noise level, smoothness and engine life. I haven't however seen pictures of the cars, so I don't know if they closely resembled the Austin A35 or not.
One of the names of this prototype was the Austin A20. The 500cc engine shown was designed by a Dr Joe Ehrlich.
Max has got it spot on, the Austin A20 otherwise known as the 'Lightweight 7' prototype, built in 1954.
Jimjarron, your answer was so close I am awarding a point to you, your information about the 2 cylinder 2 stroke engine is correct, it was rejected on the grounds of smoothness, and economy. The Dr Joe Ehrlich designed engine was first put into an A30 Convertible prototype before being used in the A20. It was unusual in that it had 2 pistons per cylinder and 2 bores per cylinder, the pistons sharing a Y shaped con rod, as far as I can work out one piston operated the inlet and exhaust ports and another provided the crankcase pressure, I may have this wrong, if anyone has a diagram of how it all fitted together I would be very interested to see it.
The pictures came from the book 'Post-War Baby Austins' by Barney Sharratt, well worth a read if you are interested in the A30, A35 and A40 Farina.