Tractor & Construction Plant Wiki
Tractor & Construction Plant Wiki
Advertisement
Austin Twenty
MHV Austin 20 1919 01 1919 Austin Twenty
Manufacturer Austin Motor Company
Production 1919–1930
15,287 produced[1]
Predecessor Austin 20
Successor Austin 20-6
Body style(s) saloon, tourer, coupé, landaulette
Engine(s) 3610 cc Straight-4
Wheelbase 130 in (3,300 mm)[2]

The Austin Twenty was introduced by the Austin Motor Company in 1919 continuing in production until 1930. After the Austin 20/6 model was introduced in 1927, the car was known as the Austin 20/4.

Model history[]

Before World War I Austin had produced a range of cars but, influenced by the manufacturing philosophy of Henry Ford, Herbert Austin decided that the future was in mass producing a single model. The Longbridge factory had been considerably enlarged to meet war production and it was here that the company had a base to put the theory into practice. During the war Austin had owned a Hudson Super Six a car he clearly admired as its overall layout would form a basis for the design of the new one model policy car.[3] The car would however prove to be too large for the home market and the one model policy was rapidly dropped with the launch in 1922 of the Austin 12 hp in many ways a scaled down Twenty[3].

The engine with its 95 mm bore and 127 mm stroke had a cast iron cylinder block with detachable cylinder head mounted on top of an aluminium crankcase. It developed 45 bhp at 2000 rpm. As an advance on pre war practice the engine was directly bolted to the four speed centre change gearbox which drove the rear wheels through an open propeller shaft.

The chassis, based on that of the Hudson, was conventional with semi-elliptic leaf springs on all wheels and rigid axles front and rear. Wooden spoked artillery style wheels were fitted. Initially brakes were on the rear wheels only but front wheel brakes were fitted as standard from 1925 and a the same time the wheels became steel spoked.

Body types[]

At its 1919 introduction three body types were listed, a tourer, coupé and landaulette. These were joined in 1921 by the Ranelagh fixed head, two door, coupé. For 1922 the Grosvenor limousine and landaulette, a Ranelagh four door, fixed head, coupé and Westminster drop head coupé were added.

Austin 20 Tourer 1920

1920 tourer

A 75 mph Sports variant was added in 1921 with a modified higher compression engine and wire wheels but it was very expensive and only around 23 were sold[3].

As well as the cars, a range of light commercial vehicles was also built on the chassis.

Replacement[]

The car that was destined to succeed the Twenty, the six cylinder 20/6, was announced at the 1926 London Motor Show with production really starting in 1928 and until 1930 the two ran alongside each other but 1929 would be the last year of full production for what was now called the 20/4.

Preservation[]

Add any known examples in preservation to the list below:

Template:PML Austin Twenty

See also[]

References[]

  1. Baldwin, Nick (1994). A-Z of Cars of the 1920s. Devon, UK: Bay View Books. ISBN 1-870979-53-2. 
  2. Culshaw; Horrobin (1974). Complete Catalogue of British Cars. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-16689-2. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Wood, Jonathan (August 2009), "Austin Twenty", The Automobile (UK) 27(6). ISSN 0955-1328. 

External links[]

add relevant web site links here


Austin range vte
Car models:

Austin 7 · Austin 8 · Austin 10 · Austin 16 · Austin 20 · Austin 20-6 · Austin 28 · Austin A35 · Austin A40 · Austin A40 Devon · Austin A40 Somerset · Austin A55 · Austin A60 · Austin A70 · Austin A90 · Austin A95 · Austin A99 · Austin A105 · Austin A110 · Austin A120 · Austin 1100 · Austin 1300 · Austin 1800 · Austin Ambassador · Austin-Healey · Austin Hereford · Austin Maestro · Austin Maxi · Austin (Mini) · Austin Metro · Austin Montego · Austin Princess · Austin Twelve · Austin Twenty

Trucks:

Austin K2 · Austin K4 · Austin K5 · Austin K6 · Austin K8 · Austin K9

Tractors:

Austin model R · Austin 7 tractor

Others:

Austin 'Low Loader' taxi · Austin FX3 taxi · Austin FX4 taxi · Austin Champ · Austin Gipsy

Related companies:

Austin-Healey · BMC · British Leyland Motor Corporation · Leyland Motors Ltd · Nuffield Organisation · Wolseley Motor Company


Smallwikipedialogo This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Austin Twenty. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Tractor & Construction Plant Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons by Attribution License and/or GNU Free Documentation License. Please check page history for when the original article was copied to Wikia


Advertisement