Austin A40 Somerset Saloon

Click Here for Full Screen Image - Click Here to Download Image

In February 1952 Austin launched a facelift A40 to replace the ageing Devon which had first appeared in 1947.

The new A40 made quite a bold statement when unveiled. Its transatlantic styled all-enveloping body looked quite contemporary, a shift away from the conservative looks of its predecessor. Carrying on with the Home Counties name theme, the new car was christened the A40 Somerset. Little more than a restyled Devon, it had the same 1,200cc straight-four pushrod engine though slightly uprated to give 42bhp and a respectable top speed of 72mph.

Aimed very much at the export market, the Somerset shared its curvy, transatlantic body shape with the much larger A70 Hereford, and while initially available only as a four-door saloon, it was soon offered as an elegant two-door three-seat convertible made by Carbodies of Coventry and marketed as the Somerset Coupe. Inside, the Somerset continued the American theme with a fashionable (but not at all precise!) column gear change, a large, comfortable front bench seat and an umbrella handbrake lever. The convertible differed from the saloon in having separate front seats that folded forward to give access to the rear.

The 42bhp 1.2-litre four-cylinder ohv engine was just about adequate with a top speed of 70mph, the tough little car selling well in export markets, particularly Australia where many were assembled from CKD kits supplied from England. In a strange quirk of fate, they were also manufactured under licence in Japan, some years before the tide of exports was to turn the other way.

Despite the Somerset's leisurely performance, its good looks meant that it managed to sell well during its short production run, which ended in 1954 with the launch of the all new A40 Cambridge. Between the two Somerset models, some 173,000 found customers.

This 1954 A40 Somerset was acquired by Albert Knight in August 1983 and was fully restored shortly afterwards. Mr Knight kept a very detailed log of all subsequent service work in a small hardback note book in the history file, also including a log of petrol consumption used from 54,573 miles up to 70,259 miles. However, the pinnacle of the A40’s glamourous career came in July 1992 when it won a prize in the Devon Coast Run; to celebrate Albert waxoyled its chassis legs! Acquired for the Stondon Collection in October 1997, it has been on display ever since.