Every car is an argument about what matters, and the Austin 16 hp makes its case with 2199 cc 4-cylinder overhead-valve and 67 bhp. British Motor Corporation built from 1945 to 1949 — in a decade split by war, when civilian production stopped and restarted.
The story
The Austin Sixteen (also Austin 16) is a 2.2-litre motor car that was built by Austin from 1945 until 1949. It was the first 'new' car to be produced by Austin following the end of the Second World War. Apart from the name, it shared nothing with the pre war Austin 16. Whilst it used a brand new 4-cylinder 2199 cc, overhead-valve engine—the first to be used in an Austin car, it in fact used the chassis and body of the pre-war Austin 12, which continued to be produced, alongside the other pre-war saloons the 8 hp and the 10 hp. The number Sixteen was not an indication of the actual power output of the engine but rather the result of a calculation used to determine the excise duty (road tax) payable for the vehicle. The engine in fact produced 67 bhp (50 kW) at 3800 rpm.
The car shared a number of features with the famed London Taxi, one of which was the built-in hydraulic jacking system operated from a pump located under the bonnet. The Sixteen had a healthy turn of speed for its day with a maximum quoted speed of 75 mph (121 km/h). In the bitterly cold winter of 1947 Alan Hess and a team of drivers with 3 Austin Sixteen vehicles undertook a publicity run on behalf of the Austin Motor Company to visit seven Northern European Capitals in seven days. Despite extraordinary travel difficulties caused by heavy snow, the vehicles completed the adventure successfully, and the story is related in Alan Hess's book, Gullible's Travels. Steering was by a cam and lever system which provided a dual ratio to ease parking. Suspension was all elliptic (overslung in front, underslung at the
What is underneath
Under the skin sits 2199 cc 4-cylinder overhead-valve; it is rated at 67 bhp; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Kerb weight is 27 cwt, 3024 lb. The gearbox is a 4-speed manual. The wheelbase is 104.5 in / track 56 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
Where it sits in British Motor Corporation's history is not in doubt: the Austin 16, Austin 18 came before it; the Austin A70 followed it. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Abarth Cisitalia 204A. Nearby in the British Motor Corporation catalogue sit the Austin 10 and the Austin 12.
The money
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Austin 16 hp has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.