What car is this?

Discuss all things Model T related.
Forum rules
If you need help logging in, or have question about how something works, use the Support forum located here Support Forum
Complete set of Forum Rules Forum Rules
User avatar

Topic author
1925 Touring
Posts: 759
Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2022 6:23 pm
First Name: Austin
Last Name: Farmer
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1922 Touring
Location: N.W. Illinois

What car is this?

Post by 1925 Touring » Mon Jul 24, 2023 8:17 am

One of my coworkers saw this at a show somewhere. Any ideas on what it is?
IMG_20230724_071454.jpg
IMG_20230724_071500.jpg
IMG_20230724_071504.jpg
Just a 20 year old who listens to 40 year old music, works on 75 year old airplanes and drives 100 year old cars.
The past is only simple because hindsight is 20/20.


Dollisdad
Posts: 3564
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2019 10:13 pm
First Name: Tom
Last Name: Rootlieb
Location: Ohio

Re: What car is this?

Post by Dollisdad » Mon Jul 24, 2023 8:22 am

I think it says Austin.

User avatar

Humblej
Posts: 1957
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:23 pm
First Name: Jeff
Last Name: Humble
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1926 Canadian coupe, 1924 TT C-cab, 1924 runabout
Location: Charlevoix, Mi
Board Member Since: 2006

Re: What car is this?

Post by Humblej » Mon Jul 24, 2023 8:30 am

I will go out on a limb and say its a 1911 Austin, based in Illinois.


Bryant
Posts: 1152
Joined: Sat Sep 11, 2021 3:11 pm
First Name: Bryant
Last Name: Shafer
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1926 Tudor transforming to a closed cab pickup
Location: Myersville Maryland
Board Member Since: 2021

Re: What car is this?

Post by Bryant » Mon Jul 24, 2023 8:57 am

Now we are just down to what Model. Anybody?
Bryant
“Whether you think you can, or think you can’t-you’re right.”

User avatar

Topic author
1925 Touring
Posts: 759
Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2022 6:23 pm
First Name: Austin
Last Name: Farmer
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1922 Touring
Location: N.W. Illinois

Re: What car is this?

Post by 1925 Touring » Mon Jul 24, 2023 9:02 am

Someday i'll have to get one, just because my name is Austin. :D
Just a 20 year old who listens to 40 year old music, works on 75 year old airplanes and drives 100 year old cars.
The past is only simple because hindsight is 20/20.

User avatar

TRDxB2
Posts: 6262
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2019 4:56 pm
First Name: Frank
Last Name: Brandi
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: Speedsters (1919 w 1926 upgrades), 1926 (Ricardo Head)
Location: Moline IL
Board Member Since: 2018

Re: What car is this?

Post by TRDxB2 » Mon Jul 24, 2023 9:16 am

https://www.timescolonist.com/driving/b ... ng-4852480
The Austin Automobile Co. idea evolved when Grand Rapids lumber dealer James E. Austin invested in the Michigan Iron Works in 1900. His mechanically talented son Walter took over the operation with the intention of developing a motor car. He set to work on his idea and had his first running prototype ready by the end of 1902.
It had a 25 horsepower two cylinder engine and was a sound enough design that Austin built and sold 13 of them in 1903. Encouraged by this success he got serious about the automobile business. For 1904 he added 35 and 50 horsepower fours and phased out the two cylinder version.
Since most customers who were buying cars in those early days of the automobile were well-to-do, Austin concentrated on the upscale market. The size of the cars was increased from a wheelbase of 2286 mm (90 in.) in 1903 to 2743 mm (108 in.) in ‘05. It would ultimately go to a very substantial 3607 mm (142 in.)
As well as increasing their size, Austin added a 90 horsepower six cylinder engine in 1907, moving it ahead of such respected marques as Cadillac, Packard, Pierce-Arrow and Peerless.
web1_copy_austin-1911.jpg
--
Looks like a 1907 Austin Model LX https://www.conceptcarz.com/z29718/austin-model-lx.aspx
07-austin-lx-t_dv-19-ba-01-800.jpg
The past is a great place and I don't want to erase it or to regret it, but I don't want to be its prisoner either.
Mick Jagger


Allan
Posts: 6609
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 7:21 pm
First Name: Allan
Last Name: Bennett
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1912 van, 1917 shooting brake, 1929 roadster buckboard, 1924 tourer, 1925 barn find buckboard, 1925 D &F wide body roadster, 1927LHD Tudor sedan.
Location: Gawler, Australia

Re: What car is this?

Post by Allan » Tue Jul 25, 2023 2:19 am

Austin, a cheaper option would be to import an English Austin. Lots of different models and years of manufacture. An Austin 7 next to that behemoth would be a real contrast.

Allan from down under.


Norman Kling
Posts: 4634
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2019 1:39 pm
First Name: Norman
Last Name: Kling
Location: Alpine California

Re: What car is this?

Post by Norman Kling » Tue Jul 25, 2023 12:18 pm

I would never have thought that car would be an Austin. I thought they were very small cars. See picture of one my parents had when I was born. They called it an "American Austin". That picture is of my mother sitting on the Austin.
Norm
Attachments
american Austin.jpg


NY John T
Posts: 436
Joined: Wed Nov 25, 2020 12:45 pm
First Name: John
Last Name: Killelea
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1926 Touring, 1927 Tudor, 1925 Touring
Location: Northport NY
Board Member Since: 2020

Re: What car is this?

Post by NY John T » Tue Jul 25, 2023 12:30 pm

Read up on the Bantam 's history in Butler Pennsylvania. They created the very first jeep, no.1. but Willys and Ford took over production of army jeeps during the war and Bantam made jeep trailers.


Mike Silbert
Posts: 76
Joined: Sat Feb 08, 2020 11:30 pm
First Name: Mike
Last Name: Silbert
Location: Sykesville Md
MTFCA Life Member: YES

Re: What car is this?

Post by Mike Silbert » Thu Jul 27, 2023 12:04 am

Some history of the British Austin company for those that are interested
The Austin Motors Ltd was founded in 1905 in Longbridge England.
It was founded by Herbert Austin after disagreements while running the Woolsey company over engine design
They made large expensive cars in the beginning and had success until WWI changed Europe and drive them to bankruptcy.
This is not a Austin Motors Ltd car, the design is wrong.
At the critical edge of failure he was fighting with company management and against their desires secretly designed a new car in his own parlor using the pool table using a young draftsman (Stanley Edge) designed the Austin Seven
The 1922 Austin seven was built to be their answer to the Model T Ford.
It was smaller, lighter, less powerful , and cheaper than the Model T.
It was so simple the 4 cylinder engine only had 2 main bearings.
It was a success making almost 300,000 cars from 1922-1939 ending up all over the world
There were many spin offs of the Austin 7 as the American Austin (later the Bantam and Jeep), the BMW Dixi, the German Rosengart, the first Nissan cars and probably more. It also was the basis for many race cars including the first lotus cars, and builder Bruce McLaren,
Today it still has a huge following of owners and enthusiasts just like our beloved Model T's.
Austin made larger vehicles but none to the success of the smaller ones it made.
Later on they made the first Mini Cars, before Cooper and BMW
They also made the Austin Healey sports car.
Eventually bad designs, corporate mergers, and the downfall of the British Auto Industry killed Austin Motors.
For more information look it up on the internet.

User avatar

TRDxB2
Posts: 6262
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2019 4:56 pm
First Name: Frank
Last Name: Brandi
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: Speedsters (1919 w 1926 upgrades), 1926 (Ricardo Head)
Location: Moline IL
Board Member Since: 2018

Re: What car is this?

Post by TRDxB2 » Thu Jul 27, 2023 12:35 am

From my entry aboves viewtopic.php?f=2&t=37675#p291348

Americans mostly learned of the Austin automobile name from an Americanized version of the little English Austin Seven called the American Austin/Bantam built in Butler, Pensylvania, during the 1930s and early forties. They came to know it again after the Second World War when such imported English sedans as the Austin A40 and A50 and Austin-Healey sports car began arriving.

There was, however, another Austin built in the United States besides the American Austin/Bantam. It was from the Austin Automobile Co., totally unrelated to those revised small English cars, and is barely remembered now. Designed and built in Grand Rapids, Michigan, early in the twentieth century, it was at the opposite end of the automotive spectrum from the miniature Austin/Bantam.

While Austin/Bantams were tiny cars with four cylinder engines of less than one-litre, the Grand Rapids Austins were large and luxurious. They started with two and four cylinders for the first four years, and then went to sixes and eventually 12s.

The Austin Automobile Co. idea evolved when Grand Rapids lumber dealer James E. Austin invested in the Michigan Iron Works in 1900. His mechanically talented son Walter took over the operation with the intention of developing a motor car. He set to work on his idea and had his first running prototype ready by the end of 1902.

It had a 25 horsepower two cylinder engine and was a sound enough design that Austin built and sold 13 of them in 1903. Encouraged by this success he got serious about the automobile business. For 1904 he added 35 and 50 horsepower fours and phased out the two cylinder version.

Since most customers who were buying cars in those early days of the automobile were well-to-do, Austin concentrated on the upscale market. The size of the cars was increased from a wheelbase of 2286 mm (90 in.) in 1903 to 2743 mm (108 in.) in ‘05. It would ultimately go to a very substantial 3607 mm (142 in.)

As well as increasing their size, Austin added a 90 horsepower six cylinder engine in 1907, moving it ahead of such respected marques as Cadillac, Packard, Pierce-Arrow and Peerless.

Ironically, Henry Ford, also of Michigan and the champion of light basic cars, had brought out the luxurious six cylinder Ford Model K a year earlier. It was not Henry’s preference, but built at the insistence of his financier Detroit coal merchant Alexander Malcomson. It was to appeal to people like himself in the upscale market and Ford discontinued it when he got free of Malcomson.

The progressive Austin added electric lights in 1911 and moved the steering wheel to the left side. In 1913 Austin fitted an exclusive two-speed rear axle for more relaxed highway cruising, just beating out Cadillac with this feature.

With its wheelbase now up to 3581 mm (141 in.) for between-the-axles seating, an overdrive and its big six cylinder engine, Austin confidently adopted the motto “The Highway King.”

During the First World War (1914-1918) Austin began offering a lighter, less expensive model, but believed its future still lay in big luxury cars. Thus in 1917 it went exclusively to a V-12 engine a year after Packard introduced its famous V-12 “Twin Six.” It thus jumped ahead of Cadillac and Peerless who both had V-8s. Pierce-Arrow had a six.

The big luxurious twelve cylinder model attracted such celebrity customers as newspaper publisher William Randolf Hearst and boxer Jack Johnson, the black man who defeated white James Jeffries in 1910 for the world’s heavyweight championship in “The Fight of the Century.” The win caused race riots and murders.

The end of the First World War brought an economic recession that created hardship and cutbacks in the automobile industry. Even General Motors fell into the hands of the bankers for the second time, ousting founder Billy Durant for the second and last time.

With only luxury cars and no lower priced models to fall back on Austin went out of business in 1920. Production had never been high, probably no more than 1000 cars over 18 years. Another American luxury car had passed into history.

As a small footnote, in 1930 when Austin of England was planning for American production of its tiny Austin Seven it chose Butler, Pennsylvania for its plant. When Grand Rapids officials heard this they immediately set out to have them manufactured in their town based on its historic ties to the Austin name.

Although the Grand Rapids Austin had no connection with the English Austin, Grand Rapids worked hard to entice the new company. But the Butler people would have nothing to do with this and pledged some $450,000 to keep American Austin in Butler. Unable or unwilling to stay in the game, Grand Rapids quietly bowed out of the picture
The past is a great place and I don't want to erase it or to regret it, but I don't want to be its prisoner either.
Mick Jagger

User avatar

A Whiteman
Posts: 1125
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2019 3:36 pm
First Name: Adrian
Last Name: Whiteman
* REQUIRED* Type and Year of Model Ts owned: 1926 TT, 1923 Colonial Roadster, 1924 'Bullnose' Morris, 1925 'Bullnose' Morris, 1936 JD AR
Location: South Island, New Zealand

Re: What car is this?

Post by A Whiteman » Thu Jul 27, 2023 3:24 am

Well, I can say I knew that car! All the way here in little old New Zealand, not 2 miles from where I live is an Austin V12. Looks every bit as impressive as the car at the top but with a massive V12 engine. A 'nice piece of kit' as we say.
And, se, it has nothing in common with Austin of England except the same surname.....

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic