Please discuss…..!!!!!

“I belong to Austin….” There’s an item in the December edition of ‘The Automobile’, re. a query from Viv Orchard over a plate on the chassis of a 12/4 he owns.

Specifically the plate gives the Chassis Number and H.P. plus the wording ‘This Chassis is the Property of the Austin Motor Co., Longbridge, Birmingham’. Further in the item it mentions that the original chassis was supplied to an unknown coachbuilder for a bespoke body.

Viv conjectures that the original chassis may have had the plate if it had been retained by Austin for internal use, however it is known that the chassis went straight to the coachbuilder when it was manufactured. – The Chassis now has a Ute body (alright a pickup body).

Now I know somewhere in my paperwork and ‘reference books’ / ‘Grey Mags’ I have references to Austin 7 chassis’ supplied to coachbuilders such as Mulliner and Gorden England, having a plate stating they belonged to the Austin Motor Co. and certainly in the 1927 period the coachbuilders chassis’ had a separate numbering system and Ledger Book as well (CH1xxxx) – this is the subject of a tombe being written up at present by one of my correspondants, so you will have to wait for the full details.

Once the coachbuilder had applied their body, the cars were returned to Austin and then distributed through the Austin dealerships.

So the answer to Viv’s question would be it was standard practise for chassis supplied to private coachbuilders to have a plate staing the Chassis belonged to Austin, I believe.......

Sandy

Correct