Austin Ten Four
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A complete vehicle, absolutely adapted for touring, which one would not have expected to find upon a French stand. It is an 18-24 chassis, with side entrance body covered by. a very workmanlike looking hood., constructed with mi obvious desire to combine the maximum of shelter with the minimum of air resistance and the Thole is the work of the Austin Motor Company of Longbridge, near Birmingham. Since memories are apt to be short and facts are many, it may be observed that the founder of the company was for many years principally responsible for the Wolseley. designs, and that, whatsoever may have been said against the old Wolseleys on the ground of want of elegance and refinement, no man ever had the hardihood to suggest that they were not wonderful maniples of thorough and conscientious work.

With Rover and Standard having l0 hp cars, it was important that Austin should follow. In April 1932 Chris Buckley the new Sales Manager arranged for about five hundred agents to hear a speech by Sir Herbert, who was not well at the time, that the general public were demanding cars that were at a lower price bracket. This meant that Austin would be introducing a range of models rated a 10 hp. There were fourteen demonstration cars for the agents to try, which were all fixed head saloons. The price of the new car was £168. A sunshine roof was an option soon after, but this was dropped in July when the Saloon de-luxe was announced when the sunshine was standard.
It is interesting that the chassis although designed by Austin were actual made by Projectile & Engineering Co. Ltd. With 21 hp available and a low weight of 15 cwt gave it a good power to weight ratio. It had a top speed of 53 mph with a fuel consumption of up to 35 mpg. It was considered to be the ideal family car which gave four adults generous accommodation. A road test at the time stated it was well made, comfortable, solid vehicle, and if the outline is somewhat square it is due to the fact that practicable considerations such as headroom, body space and passenger comfort were regarded as of more importance than the streamlining contours of a sports car. A sports car the Austin does not pretend to be, but it admirable fills the gap between the 7 and the 12/6. Production of the 10 for 1923 was as follows: Fixed saloon - 14 Sunshine saloon - 1549 Saloon de luxe - 19241 Standard saloon - 667 Tourer - 165 Two – seater - 52 Van - 313 Gordon - 16 Cabriolet - 4 Chassis - 389


As you can see from the above figures customers were willing to pay the extra £20 to get a de luxe model. At the Motor Show in October 1932 other versions of the Ten were announced, a Standard Saloon at just £155. With a four-door tourer and a two-seater tourer with dickey seat at £148. Then in March 1933 along came the Cabriolet version at just £168. In August the sports car version came out using a smaller version of the l2-16 Sports tourer body at a cost of £215, but only four were made that year. In 1934 - 76 were produced but the following year it dropped back to 48, so because of the poor sales even though the price had stayed at £215, it was discontinued. In 1934 there was some styling changes, with the radiator surround in body colour and sloping slightly backwards. The Saloon model was now called the 'Lichfield' with its protruding boot which housed the spare wheel. Another change was in 1936 when a new body style was added called the six light (3 windows down the sides) and named the 'Sherbourne'. 1937 came the very streamlined 'Cambridge' and 'Conway cabriolet', at the same time the Ripley sports was dropped.
In September 1934 the following were now available Colwyn Cabriolet - £178 Lichfield Saloon - £172 Lichfield Fixed Head Saloon - £158 Open Road Tourer - £152 Clifton 2-seater - £152 Ripley Sports Tourer - £215 6-8 cwt Van - £148 Colours available on the Ten were, Royal Blue, Maroon, Black, Westminster Green, Dove Grey, Cherry Red, Turquoise Blue, Primrose. The choice of colour depended on the model ordered, with the last three colours only available on the Ripley Sports Tourer. On the Colwyn Cabriolet and Lichfield Saloon you had an interior visor. The choose of upholstery material was dependent on the model, with a large range, Vaumol Hide, Bedford Cord or Moquette, Best Selected Hide, Leather, Leather Cloth, Mohair. In 1935 the Austin l0 range was updated with the Lichfield having hydraulic shock-absorbers instead of the friction type. The price of the Lichfield went up by just £3, although the fixed-head saloon was kept at its old price. went up slightly to £175 for the sliding-roof version but the, while the tourer version was increased by £6 to £158, Sports and cabriolet versions were unaffected. Lichfield and the Colwyn cabriolet did have small changes by the adoption of a swept roof line in conjunction with a new design of windscreen. In January 1936 along came the Sherborne which only stayed in production to August it incorporated a rear body line that at the time, was called modern streamlining. It was felt that the upright front and streamline back just did not work. It was 7 in longer that the Lichfield and with an extra window on the side must have made it light inside. Some of the features were liked, one been the flush sunshine roof which could be locked at any position from closed to a maximum opening. Interior trim was improved with the rear seat being flanked by arm rests. The seat was slightly deeper than in the Lichfield and the front seats were larger. Rear headroom was not reduced by the sloping rear roof, doors were provided with built-in door locks. The new car cost £178 in this form and the equivalent Lichfield was reduced to £168. You could obtain a Fixed head version for £162 10s, having leathercloth seats and lacking bumpers and interior visor. At the same time the Lichfield version was reduced to £152 l0s.

Austin 10 - 4 1931 - 1948 Total produced 283,092

Saloon page4_2

Saloon Fixed Head Engine 1125 cc 20bhp at 2,600 rpm Length 11ft 2ins Width 4ft 6ins Height 5ft 4ins Wheel Base 7ft 9ins Track front 3ft 9ins rear 3ft 9ins Road Tax £10.00s Price ex Works 1934 £158 Saloon De Luxe, Engine 1125 cc 20 bhp at 2,600 rpm Length 11ft 7ins Width 4ft 6ins Height 5ft 4ins Wheel Base 7ft 9ins Track front 3ft 9ins rear 3ft 9ins Road Tax £10.00 Price ex Works 1934 £172.

10/4 Cabriolet page4_3

Engine 1125 cc 20 bhp at 2,600 rpm Length 11ft 10ins Width 4ft 5.8ins Height 5ft 4ins Wheel Base 7ft 9ins Track front 3ft 9ins rear 3ft 9ins Road Tax £10.00s Price ex Works Aug 1935 £178

Tourer 2-Seater page4_4

Engine 1125 cc 20 bhp at 2,600 rpm Length 11ft 10ins Width 4ft 6ins Height 5ft 3ins Wheel Base 7ft 9ins Track front 3ft 9ins rear 3ft 9ins Road Tax £10.00s Price ex Works 1934 £152


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10/4 Open Road Tourer 4-Seater

Engine 1125 cc 20 bhp at 2,600 rpm Length 11ft 7ins Width 4ft 6ins Height 5ft 5ins Wheel Base 7ft 9ins Track front 3ft 9ins rear 3ft 9ins Road Tax £10.00s Price ex Works 1934 £152

Sports Tourer. page4_7

Engine 1125 cc 20 bhp at 2,600 rpm Length 11ft 1.5ins Width 4ft 6.5ins Height 5ft 4ins Wheel Base 7ft 9ins Track front 3ft 9ins rear 3ft 9ins Road Tax £10.00s Price ex Works 1934 £215.10s

6-8 cwt Van page4_8

Engine 1125 cc 20 bhp at 2,600 rpm Length 11ft 11ins Width 4ft 6ins Height 5ft 10ins Wheel Base 7ft 9ins Track front 3ft 9ins rear Road Tax £10.00s Price ex Works 1934 £148.00s

page4_9 Lichfield Engine Compartment Lichfield Saloon,

Engine 1125 cc 20 bhp at 2,600 rpm Length 11ft 7.5ins Width 4ft 6.8ins Height 5ft 4ins Wheel Base 7ft 9ins Track front 3ft 9ins rear 3ft 9ins Road Tax £7.10s Price ex Works 1935 £172.10s Lichfield Fixed Head Saloon, Engine 1125 cc 20 bhp at 2,600 rpm Length 11ft 7.5ins Width 4ft 68ins Height 5ft 4ins Wheel Base 7ft 9ins Track front 3ft 9ins rear 3ft 9ins Road Tax £7.10s Price ex Works 1935 £158.00s Open Road Tourer, Engine 1125 cc 20 bhp at 2,600 rpm Length 11ft 7.5ins Width 4ft 6.8ins Height 5ft 5ins Wheel Base 7ft 9ins Track front 3ft 9ins rear 3ft 9ins Road Tax £7.10s Price ex Works 1935 £152.00s Clifton 2 seater, Engine 1125 cc 20 bhp at 2,600 rpm Length 11ft 10ins Width 4ft 6.8ins Height 5ft 5ins Wheel Base 7ft 9ins Track front 3ft 9ins rear 3ft 9ins Road Tax £7.10s Price ex Works 1935 £152 Ripley Sports Tourer, Engine 1125 cc 30 bhp at 2,600 rpm Length 11ft 0ins Width 4ft 6.5ins Height 5ft 2ins Wheel Base 7ft 9ins Track front 3ft 9ins rear 3ft 9ins Road Tax £7.10s Price ex Works 1935 £215