Austin A40 Pickup

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In 1947 Austin launched its first post-war family saloon range, the A40 Devon and A40 Dorset. Both cars were built on a separate chassis but with modern saloon body styles and overhead valve 1200cc engines rated at 40hp (hence the A40 name).

The Devon proved to be the more popular of the two cars, its four-door body being ideal for small families, and by 1951 Austin had decided to drop the two-door Dorset from the range. Other A40 Devon variants were also available including a Countryman estate car, Van and Pickup as well as a Sports version.

The Devon served well during its production run, earning much needed export orders from around the world, but was eventually replaced in 1952 by the larger, more bulbous A40 Somerset range. However, the Devon-based Pickup remained in production until the end of 1956, the rear load bay being made in aluminium by Jensen of West Bromwich.

First registered in June 1955, this particular A40 Pickup has had just four owners from new, according to the V5, and has been in the current ownership since 2009. Bought by the vendor from a gentleman in St Albans who had owned it for the previous 10 years or so, the plan was to give it a quick tidy up and get it on the road but, as is so often the way with these things, it didn’t quite pan out like that. By his own admission the vendor got rather carried away. So carried away, in fact, that he was to spend the next four years on this ‘tidy up’ with the wonderful results you see today.

Virtually every part of the vehicle has been restored or replaced as necessary in what turned out to be a body-off restoration, the whole process being recorded on a disc of images in the history file. The full extent of the work carried out is too detailed to list in full here but you can see from the photos that it has all been done to a high standard and the Pickup now looks wonderful in Bottle Green with Taxi Black wings and sign-written doors and tail-gate advertising Park View Motors of Blackwood, Austin Sales & Service. The load area has also been re-timbered and fitted with a neatly tailored cover.

Naturally it has also been restored to fine mechanical fettle with all the running gear overhauled as necessary, including the fitment of a new clutch and flywheel plus numerous other items. A new set of period-correct cross ply tyres have also been fitted which set it off to a tee. The only jobs that the vendor has not got round to yet are to replace the door and windscreen rubbers and to repaint the dashboard to the same high standard as the coachwork.

Said to drive as a good A40 should, it has seen show use only since the work was completed a couple of years ago and is only reluctantly being offered for sale because the vendor feels that it is just not getting the use that it deserves.

Supplied with an assortment of useful spares including a period steel sunvisor, this handsome pickup is a rare survivor as most of its brethren have long since succumbed to the rigours of their hard working lives. It now needs an enthusiastic new owner who can preserve it for future generations to enjoy.