1911 Austin 10hp Melbourne Two-Seat Tourer with Dickey

Registration No: VL 8654
Chassis No: 10035
MOT: Exempt

• Subject to an extensive restoration and interior retrim in c.2010
• Vintage Austin Register dating authentication, collection of invoices and current V5C document
• Fitted with Dynastart and subject to an engine overhaul in 2005
• A splendid example of an Edwardian motor car
• Photographs included of the restoration

Herbert Austin, General Manager of the Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company, set the Birmingham firm on the road to motor manufacture in 1896 when he designed its first automobile, a twin-cylinder tri-car. The first production Wolseley, though, was four-wheeled and, like Austin's 1896 prototype, carried its single-cylinder engine horizontally. Austin's belief in the horizontal engine's virtues was not shared by Wolseley's directors however, and he departed in 1905 to set up his own company at nearby Longbridge. Somewhat surprisingly perhaps, the first Austin cars were powered by conventional inline fours with side valves arranged in "T-head" fashion. Chain drive was a feature of these early Austins but was supplanted by shaft drive within a few years. Austin had its own large coachbuilding department and offered a wide variety of complete cars, and even in these early days was in the habit of using English place names for its various body styles (there are Melbournes in Derbyshire and Yorkshire). The 1.2-litre, four-cylinder, 10hp model was first introduced – for export only – in 1910, becoming available on the home market the following year, and in 1912 was upgraded with a 1.6-litre engine.

This splendid survivor with two-seater-plus-dickey coachwork is understood to have started life in Australia before being imported into Britain in the 1970s, where it was restored c.1980 by Robert James of Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. Mr. James’s work included rebuilding the engine and four-speed gearbox, with the engine being rebored and fitted with new pistons, tappets and valve springs, plus a new clutch. Concerning the chassis, new shackle pins to the original specification were made up, the springs were refurbished and reset, the steering and radiator were overhauled and the brake cables were replaced. The Austin was finished in a jaunty Blue with a Maroon interior, but it appears never to have been pressed into use until much later. It was not registered until 2000, when it received the number ‘SV 8341’ having obtained a dating letter from the Vintage Austin Register, and it still had not been driven when it was sold at auction in 2005.

Its new owner immediately treated it to an engine overhaul, and it was subsequently subject to extensive restoration and an interior retrim c.2010, which saw it finished to a much higher and more authentic cosmetic standard in Burgundy with Gold coachlines and Mushroom upholstery. The work also included a new hood and, pleasingly, it has been issued with a more appropriate registration than the age-related ‘SV’ number. The engine is now helpfully equipped with a Dynastart, but the car is again in need of light recommissioning after a period of inactivity. Offered with the V5C, the VAR dating letter, invoices, copies of articles and manuals, and photographs of the overhaul, it represents a wonderful opportunity to acquire a rare and thoroughly charming Edwardian which has seen remarkably little use across half a century in this country.

For more information, please contact:
James McWilliam
james.mcwilliam@handh.co.uk
07943 584760