1918 Austin Twenty EXP1 Prototype Tourer- The very car that Edgar Wren drove nationwide to drum up orders for Austin's upcoming 20hp model- Rescued from a hedgerow as a rolling chassis and treated to an extensive restoration during the 2000s- Featured in numerous publications: The Autocar (1918), The Austin Advocate (1919) and The Automobile (2009)Herbert Austin was nothing if not ambitious. By the outbreak of the First World War the company that bore his name was Britain's fifth largest motorcar manufacturer. However, the firm with which he had begun his motoring endeavours, Wolseley, was the biggest. Accepting government contracts for aircraft, shells, heavy artillery and 3-ton lorries saw the Austin Motor Company prosper during WW1 and its workforce expand from 2,500 to 22,000. Sensing an opportunity to leapfrog his rivals and taking a leaf from Henry Ford's book, Herbert Austin decided to offer just a single model when peace returned. Hugely impressed by the Hudson Super Six he ran during the hostilities - an example of which had successfully completed the first two-way transcontinental trip from New York to San Francisco and back in 1916 - he challenged his designers to create a similarly well-engineered machine. The first prototype Austin Twenty began to take shape in the chassis erecting shop at Longbridge during 1917 and an abridged specification was published in that September's issue of The Austin Advocate magazine. Like the Hudson Super Six, the newcomer featured a substantial ladder frame chassis equipped with all-round semi-elliptic leaf-sprung suspension, rear wheel brakes, an engine of monobloc construction with in-unit, centre-change gearbox and a sheet metal radiator cowl. Displacing 3610cc, its unstressed sidevalve four-cylinder engine developed 40bhp @ 2,000rpm (an output sufficient for Austin to later warrant that the chassis could reach 70mph). Eminently tuneable, privateer Felix Scriven's `Sergeant Murphy' and the Works' `Black Maria' both proved that an Austin Twenty could beat a Bentley 3 Litre or Vauxhall 30/98 in competition (Scriven's mount reaching 104mph at Brooklands).Labelled P1's (with `P' signifying Post War), two prototype Austin Twenties were readied for 1918, a Landaulette and a Tourer. Road registered as `OB 6912', the latter sported a commodious four-door, five-seater body with a prominent hood well and internal storage for two spare wheels. With dreams of producing 25,000 cars a year (a gargantuan increase on the 3,000 that Wolseley had managed in 1914), Herbert Austin despatched Works test driver Edgar Wren on a nationwide trip aboard `OB 6912' to drum-up interest. With a projected price of just £495 for the Tourer, and thanks also to the efforts of sales organiser Alfred Dupuis who travelled the Commonwealth and was reliant merely on photos and specification sheets, Austin had attracted some £6,000,000 worth of orders by July 1919. Unfortunately, the company could not fulfil them. The government tax on excess war profits meant that Herbert Austin could not afford to fully equip his expanded factories and the awful carnage of World War One had resulted in a severe shortage of skilled labour. Without the hoped-for economies of scale, Austin found itself losing money on every Twenty sold and thus had to introduce a `temporary surcharge' of £100 per car in October 1919. Things went from bad to worse with the global economic slump of 1920-1921 and by December that year Austin was in receivership. The company famously bounced back with the Twelve and Seven models and the Twenty remained in production until December 1929 by which time some 15,287 had been made. Famously long-lived, it was not unheard of for a Twenty to cover in excess of 1,000,000 miles. Indeed, the motoring historian and long-term Twenty owner Mike Worthington-Williams has suggested that the model is `the hardest wearing machine of all time'. Presumed lost for many years, `OB 6912' was re-registered with the DVLA on August 2nd 1983. A rolling chassis when found, it was treated to an extensive `ground up' restoration during the 2000s with replacement parts being sourced or made as necessary. Using period photos as a guide the car's Tourer coachwork was painstakingly recreated and fitted with such niceties as an Auster screen, fold-out occasional seats and deep-button Black leather upholstery. There can be comparatively few cars that have been featured in magazine articles ninety-one years apart but as well as gracing the pages of The Autocar in November 1918 and The Austin Advocate in July 1919, `OB 6912' was the subject of a four-page article in The Automobile for August 2009. Described by the vendor as being in `excellent overall' condition with regard to its engine, gearbox, electrical equipment, interior trim, bodywork and paintwork, he succinctly sums-up `OB 6912' as `a true piece of British motoring history'.PLEASE NOTE: All estimates are subject to a buyer's premium of 16.2% incl. VAT
We found 24987 price guide item(s) matching your search
There are 24987 lots that match your search criteria. Subscribe now to get instant access to the full price guide service.
Click here to subscribe- List
- Grid
-
24987 item(s)/page
A George III oval silver teapot, Henry Chawner, London 1790, bright cut engraved, the sides with an upper frieze of alternating oval paterae and shells, flowers and scrolls, two cartouches, one with traces of a monogram, foliate lappet filled and wrigglework borders, wooden scroll handle and bone finial, 12ozs, 26cm wide. Illustrated.
Stone Island jacket 'Serie100' a thermochromic dyed jacket which changes colour, a linen waistcoat labelled Idol with patchwork applique, all heavily beaded and fringed with glass buttons, shells, etc., a Top Shop tie-waist shirt, a Bench shirt with zip pocket and a Tiger silk sleeveless blouse with printed modern design (5)
A CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE TUREEN AND COVER, Qianlong, decorated with later European gilding. 15cm wide; together with a small Meissen onion pattern ring stand formed as two scallop shells with raised loop handle; a late 19th century stoneware flagon. 27cm high; a cream stone and silver mounted ink well; a lead cast heraldic panel
A Wonderful Large and Impressive 19th Century French Ornate Carved Gilt Wood and Gesso - Cushion Mirror. All In Original State with Original Mercury Mirror, Urn / Fire Leaf Decoration to Top of Mirror, Shell Design to Four Corners of Mirror. The Whole Being a Very Ornate and Impressive 19th Century French Period Mirror. 44 Inches wide & 72 Inches High. One of Shells to Top Left Corner Missing, All Other Aspects are Excellent.
*Army Cyclist Corps. A handwritten letter from Lance-Corporal A.G. Coaling, From the Line, Monday, 17 August 1915, written in pencil and addressed to Sam, thanking him for the letter and papers, 'We are not allowed to say much about the war in our letters in case they get into spy's hands. We are having a gruelling time being well above our knees in mud and water in the trenches for 8 hrs at a stretch The sights we see would be enough to turn anyone's heart up. Dead bodies all over the place. When digging in the trenches it is nothing to chop a dead body in half. We come across legs, arms, heads and all manner of things buried We have been moved up and down the line being used mostly as an auxiliary Division. The Germans seem to be pushing the Russians back I expect they will be trying it on us next. The Scotch are making a name for themselves out here. The Germans are terrified when they see the Scotch advancing As I am writing this letter shells are coming over to within 100 yards of where I am sitting. I had a near shave yesterday. A shell burst a few yards away from me killing and wounding 2 men. Two or three minutes after another shell made a terrible mess of a poor chap. And the cyclists have had a very hard time although they have not been able to do their proper work since the retreat of Mons. We have been doing infantry work, engineering, sapping, Intelligence Corps work and artillery work and it is as the General of the Division said, 1 cyclist is equal to 10 infantrymen. The infantry have had a very gruelling time though', 2 pp. on ruled paper, brown stain to upper and right margins not affecting legibility, 4to, together with a real photo postcard of Coaling in uniform with his bicycle, signed in pencil to verso, somewhat creased, spotted and slightly soiled (2)
Indian cotton Childs tunic, possibly Kutch embroidered with flowers and mirrored decoration 70 cm long, a Banjara tribal embroidered bag with cowrie shells, embroidered panel with mirrored decoration and a printed cotton cloth Provenance: 'More Stitches', From an important collection of Historical textiles .
A pair of Victorian Minton Majolica fish plates. The borders moulded with leaping fish between scallop shells in coloured enamelling stamped and printed marks 1496 with the Victorian date lozenge mark. Complete with an early 20th century watercolour painting in which the 2 plates appear. Measures 26 cm diameter.
A Louis XV Carved Walnut Settee, circa 1730, with an elaborate serpentine frame carved with acanthus, shells and cabochons, now upholstered in cut silk velvet, on cabriole legs, 75cm wide, 105cm high, 76cm deep Provenance : Alexander and Berendt; Christie's, London, 10 June 1993, lot 52. Sold Christie's New York, 20 May 2014, part of lot 230Please Note: The dimensions of the sofa in the catalogue are incorrect and should read: 106cm high, 207cm wide and 76cm deep.
A LATE 19TH CENTURY CONTINENTAL WALL CLOCK, circular foliate embossed gilt metal 14.5cm dial with enamel Roman numerals, mounted on a shaped rectangular gilt wood frame, moulded with shells, female mask mythical sea creatures and scrolls, height approximately 50cm x width 46cm, with pendulum and key
A PEARL EXPORT 5 PIECE DRUM KIT. with two Maxwin by Pearl Rack Toms, two Paiste Cymbals , stands and a Premier Bass Drum Pedal, all shell are silver grey (some moisture damage to finish, but not shells, on two or three shells), 23'x16' Bass Drum, 12'x10' Tom Tom, 13'x11' Tom Tom, 16'x16' floor tom ,14'x6' snare drum (chrome finish), 10'x6' Rack Tom and 8'x5' Rack Tom, the cymbals are Paiste 101 18' Crash/Ride and a 1000 Rude 16' Crash/Ride, the hi hats are unnamed and are 14' in diameter with holes in the bottom hat
A 'Tulip' dining table and chairs, after a design by Eero Saarinen, circa 1970, comprising circular table, and a set of six chairs, including two arms and four side chairs, splayed pedestal bases in white lacquered metal, the table with white Formica top, the chairs with fibreglass shells and removable upholstered seat pads, table diameter 121cm, height 72cm (7)
A fleet air arm Australia pennant mid 20th CenturyPennant decorated with a plane landing on a aircraft carrier, an America F-111F Baghdad bash 'Lets Party' jacket, the jacket size Large with depiction of a F-111F, two 20mm shell cases dated 1942, two 30mm A.F.V. shell cases, with black pilots jacket, two 20mm aircraft canon shells dated 1940 and 1942, 2 pounder no.1 mark II shell and two boxes of inert WWII and earlier round bullets (11)
A Newlyn arts and crafts copper twin handled vase, of tapering design with loop strap handles, the body decorated with fish swimming amongst reeds with limpets and shells, stamped to underside, 23.6 cm highAreas of rubbing to the decoration.Small scratches and scuffs (mainly around the base).Several small dents to the main body (possibly part of the decoration).Patina present.
J Dennis, oil on canvas, Still Life of Game Bird and Hare, with a shotgun in the background and shells in the foreground, signed and dated 1897 to lower right corner, 90cm by 70cm, in old gilt frameCrackling to the canvas paint.Two scratches to the right hand side of the canvas.A strip of canvas in the top left has ripped and been painted over.The back of the canvas has been covered and therefore we are unable to determine the condition.
-
24987 item(s)/page