1. Austin A40 Farina Mk2.
The Mk2 version of Austin's A40 Farina took over from the A40 Mk1 in 1962, and introduced a number of evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, updates to the basic design first seen in 1958. This Surrey-registered example was photographed, possibly in the Alps, in early/mid 1963 - with the photo itself being printed in July of that year.
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The A40's owners are seen looking across at the snow-covered peaks, enveloped in cloud. Despite it being a sunny day, the lady found it necessary to wear a coat, whilst the gentleman, chewing studiously on his pipe, made do with a wooly cardigan. The RHD Austin A40 looks to be a De Luxe model - note the bumper overriders, and opening rear side windows. This particular car has also been fitted with a stick-on rear window demister, and sports an RAC Members' badge on the grille. The lady's sunhat can also be made out on the rear window shelf. If the car didn't have a heater fitted they may well have remained wrapped up when they drove away!
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The early Mk2 A40 Farinas were powered by the same 948cc engine as found under the bonnet of the Mk1 A40 (and the A35 before that), although this would soon be uprated to 1098cc for added pep. Early Mk2s with the smaller engine can also be identified by their smart two-tone interior trim. Other differences between the Mk1 and Mk2 include the latter's longer wheelbase, revised front grille treatment, different bonnet pressing, and subtly altered rear bootlid trim and badging (position). An interesting tale of owning a Mk2 Austin A40 can be found here.
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2. A LHD A40 Mk2
The next Mk2 A40 Farina photograph features a lefthand drive example, parked I believe in a car park. It too has an anti-mist panel stuck to the rear screen, as well as a roof rack, and a radio aerial fitted to the driver's side front wing. A lone rear view mirror can also be seen on the wing, and extra turn signal repeater lamps have also been installed. The lack of bumper overriders point to a base-spec, rather than De Luxe, model.
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Does anyone recognise the estate car parked to the right of shot, or the A40's registration?
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Updates. John dropped me a note regarding this photograph. He tells me that the A40 was registered in Vienna and, regarding the estate car parked alongside, offers the following:
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The car standing beside the Austin is a Wartburg Camping Limousine. Wartburgs were a product of the East German motor industry, built at Eisenach, in Saxony, where most B.M.W. cars were built before WW2. The model (as saloon, coupe or estate) was introduced in 1956 and had a certain popularity in Western Europe in the late fifties and early sixties, largely because it offered a lot of car for little money -- the saloon was a six-seater, if you were all good friends. The estate version, with extended windows and a fabric insert in the roof, was known as the Camping Limousine; from the look of it, whatever it offered, style wasn't it!
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Hans in New Zealand also adds:
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The estate to the right of the Farina A40 in the latest pic is a Wartburg 311 estate, also known as the "Tourist". These were slightly updated versions of the earlier Wartburgs, mainly cosmetic.They were of course still powered by Wartburg's 3-cylinder two stroke. The 353, or "Knight" in the UK, superceded these models in the mid sixties.
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3. Two more Mk2 Farinas.
Thanks to Andrew for this next photo, which dates to the early 1960s and shows him and his dad tending to the family's Mk2 A40 Farina. Regarding the Pininfarina-designed Austin, Andrew adds:
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"In about 1964, my dad paid the local Austin garage to fit new kingpins, bushes, and trunnions (plus new sills perfectly fitted and sprayed) to his 1955 A30. All good profit for Nidd Vale Motors, but was the old 803cc Austin worth spending that money on? Anyway, by 1966 dad decided it was time to buy something a bit newer, bigger and more powerful. So for 385 pounds Stuttard's Garage in Starbeck sold him another Austin - an Austin A40 Mk2, with Farina styling and a few inches longer wheelbase than the Mk1. Power was disappointing. The Mk2 surely had a 1098 engine? No, this was an early Mk2 with the 948cc, getting up Harewood Bank meant changing down to third."
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The above A40 ended up being traded in for a 1966 Wolseley Hornet, photos of which can be seen on this page.
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Clearly, the presence of Pininfarina's masterpiece within the Willoughby household had a lasting effect on Andrew, as a few years after the above photograph was taken, he too invested in a Mk2 Austin A40, in 1098cc guise. His car was registered 591 FUA, a c1963 Leeds issue, and is shown below on a camping trip. Both his car, and that of his father, had single-colour interior trim.
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4. A first car, in 1972.
Thanks to Paul John Skipp now for this next Mk2 A40 Farina photo, again of a grey example. This was his first car, purchased in 1972 for the grand sum of forty pounds. Registered as KMD 609B in 1964, it was around eight years of age at the time of this photo. As Paul says, the car cost 40.00 but the rust was free, and the dreaded tinworm was making its presence felt. A pop-riveted section of metal has been added in at the base of the front wing, behind the wheel, and I wonder whether a cover sill
is also fitted on the driver's side? The rear wing is rusting badly, so will have needed a similar repair before venturing to a garage for its next MOT attempt. Such issues weren't limited to A40s, or Austins even, as most cars of the 1960s tended to suffer with the dreaded metal moth, even at quite a young age, and hands-on motoring magazines filled the shelves of newsagents, packed with handy hints on how to rebuild a rusty wing with Isopon filler, or let in new repair panels with screws and rivets, before completing the job with a re-paint using a modified vacuum cleaner for paint propulsion, or a set of brushes. Happy days.
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Paul's A40 had a number of period upgrades - there's a lone spotlight at the front, pointing to the nearside (perhaps a Wipac lamp?), and the wheels sport a set of Ace stainless steel trims, in addition to their usual Austin hubcaps. A pair of wing mirrors have also been fitted.
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No-one forgets their first set of wheels, and the dawning of real independence for their happy owner, so a first car purchase is a special time indeed.
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A grey A40 was my first car too, a Mk1 that my great uncle bought new. I passed my test in it in 1987 and ran it for a number of years. I have it still, but it now needs restoring. Photos of it in the 1960s, and in more recent times, can be found here.
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Thanks again for the excellent photo Paul, great stuff. If anyone else has old photos of A40s in action, say in the 1960s or 1970s when they were still quite commonplace, it'd be interesting to see them please.
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5. Another parked A40 Farina Mk2.
The following A40 was captured on film in 1966, off the Old Kent Road in Peckham. Lee Phelvin, who supplied the photo, is shown sat on the front wing of his brother's Austin, clutching a cat named Tigger. The two-tone Farina has received a number of minor updates - I can see ventilated full-width wheel trims, an RAC badge, a side repeating indicator on the n/s/f wing, wing mirrors, a door edge protector, and period Castrol GTX oil stickers in the windows. Perfect.
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The A40 Mk2 isn't the only interesting vehicle in shot though. Behind is a split-window VW van and a Thames Trader NC lorry (with the Koln-type cab). Behind the Austin lurks a contemporary rival to the dashing A40, namely a Ford Anglia 105E.
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The wavy wheel rim evident on the A40 appears to be a fault with the negative, and not the result of a heavy impact with the kerb. A section of the car's grille is also somewhat wavy.
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Thanks to Lee for the photo.
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Return to vintage motoring photos - Page 11.
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