A30 Van / Countryman conversion.
Firstly thanks to Ray for sending these old photographs to me, and agreeing to them being shown here.
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Back in the 1950s, many vans were purchased and then converted into estate cars, as part of a dodge to avoid purchase tax that applied to factory-built estates / station wagons in the UK. The Austin A30 shown above dates to 1956, and was photographed after the conversion in around 1960. It looks like a very neat conversion, and to the uninitiated could well be a factory-built Countryman rather than a van. A close look at the real car would have shown a roof vent, which was only fitted to vans and not the factory-built Countryman estates.
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Sadly this particular Austin didn't survive for too long - Ray adds "I had it for about seven years, then sold it to my father in law. Shortly after that it got whacked in the side by a Dormobile, not a pretty sight". So unfortunately it came to a sad end, crashed into by a camper van (I wonder if the Dormobile was based on the Ford 400E or Bedford CA?).
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Ray's A30 was fitted with a number of popular accessories, such as full width wheel trims, spot lamps, flashing indicators, radio aerial, wing mirrors, and headlamp peaks. A look at a second photo of Ray's A30 van, shows a different style of radio aerial fitted, and a little character hanging from the rear view mirror. Also just visible on the back window, a triangular tourist sticker, the type that you could buy in towns and villages popular with tourists and holidaymakers.
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You can find photos of other A30s and A35s elsewhere on the site, such as this collection of pics showing a later A35 van.
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Return to Motoring Photographs Page 2.
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