Austin Somerset
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:''See Austin A40 for other A40 models.'' The Austin A40 Somerset is a motor car which was produced by the
Austin Motor Company The Austin Motor Company Limited was a British manufacturer of motor vehicles, founded in 1905 by Herbert Austin, 1st Baron Austin, Herbert Austin in Longbridge. In 1952 it was merged with Morris Motors, Morris Motors Limited in the new holdi ...
from 1952 until 1954. The Somerset replaced the Austin A40 Devon and, as a
body-on-frame Body-on-frame is a traditional motor vehicle construction method whereby a separate coachwork, body or coach is mounted on a strong and relatively rigid vehicle frame or chassis that carries the powertrain (the engine and drivetrain) and to wh ...
car, it was comparable in size to its predecessor. It shared a number of components with the Devon which included a similar 1.2 litre
straight-4 A straight-four engine (also referred to as an inline-four engine) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout ( ...
pushrod engine. The Somerset's engine was updated to produce 42 hp (31 kW), compared to the Devon's 40 hp (30 kW), giving the car a top speed of .


Engineering

The Somerset features an updated "Transatlantic" body style with flowing lines as distinct from the Devon's bulky looking body. Resembling the larger Austin A70 Hereford, its design was aimed at improving export sales, particularly to America. Initially offered as only a 4-door saloon, a 3-passenger 2-door
convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a Car, passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary across eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air drivin ...
, of the same body style was introduced in late 1952. The convertible replaced the earlier Austin A40 Dorset. The body of the convertible was made by Carbodies of
Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
and the model was marketed as the Austin A40 Somerset Coupé. This particular style was also known as a 'drophead' coupé in the United Kingdom. The convertible differed from the saloon in having separate front seats that folded forward to give access to the rear. An additional convertible, the Austin A40 Sports, was carried over from the earlier A40 Devon and Dorset range but was discontinued with the arrival of the Somerset Coupé. In 1953 the Austin Motor Company produced a "special" version of around 500 Somerset saloons using the more powerful engine from the 'sports' model which incorporated twin SU carburettors in place of the single Zenith downdraught type. This vehicle featured different interior appointments and two-tone paintwork to set it aside from the standard offering. The Austin Somerset Special had a top speed of while the normal saloon could reach up to . The standard Somerset interior contained two close fitting front seats, finished in leather, which could be arranged as a bench seat and a large deeply cushioned rear bench seat which could accommodate three passengers. With a centrally mounted
dashboard A dashboard (also called dash, instrument panel or IP, or fascia) is a control panel (engineering), control panel set within the central console of a vehicle, boat, or cockpit of an aircraft or spacecraft. Usually located directly ahead of the ...
or instrument panel, Austin incorporated a four speed, plus reverse, gearbox into the car's design which was controlled by a column mounted gear change lever. Four-wheel, foot-operated hydraulic brakes, and a handbrake operating on the rear wheels only, provided the car's stopping power.


Performance

A sports convertible version of the A40 tested by ''The Motor'' magazine in 1953 managed a top speed of and could accelerate from 0- in 28.6 seconds. A fuel consumption of was recorded. These figures were all obtained on the contemporary low octane fuel. The test car cost £705 including taxes. The Austin A40 Somerset saloon's reputation for being somewhat slow and lumbering to drive is not wholly deserved. It had to endure poor-quality petrol supplies in 1952, and in consequence had retarded ignition settings to tolerate the low octane rating of the fuels available to avoid the engine knocking or 'pinking' condition that was well known in those times. In fact,
British Motor Corporation The British Motor Corporation Limited (BMC) was a United Kingdom, UK-based vehicle manufacturer formed in early 1952 to give effect to an agreed merger of the Morris Motors, Morris and Austin Motor Company, Austin businesses.Morris-Austin Merge ...
later produced a kit to improve the performance and fuel consumption of these cars once premium fuel supplies resumed under the popular petrol brands. This kit comprised a replacement distributor and an optional cylinder head gasket that was thinner and therefore raised the compression slightly from the standard 7.2:1. An ''Autocar'' magazine road test published 18 April 1952 achieved a maximum of (mean) and (best), and a 0-60 mph acceleration of 36.6 seconds, whereas the example registered new in February 1954 and given a Used Car Test published in the Autocar series dated 8 April 1960 returned a 0-60 mph time of 27.9 seconds. The standing quarter mile was down from 24.4 secs to 23.2 secs, a marked improvement on the former result taken in 1952 and directly comparable with the
Mini The Mini is a very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally ...
850 launched in 1959, that was considered to be fairly brisk then.


Production

Over 173,000 Somersets were sold before it was replaced by the A40 Cambridge in 1954. 7,243 were convertibles. In December 1952 an agreement was signed with the Japanese automobile company
Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...
to build Austin vehicles under licence using Complete Knock Down Kits (CKD) supplied from the UK. In April 1953 the first Japanese assembled Somersets rolled off the assembly line ready for sale on the local market to which it was restricted. Assembly ceased in November 1954 when the factory switched to the A50 Cambridge.Alan Bent (2016). ''The complete guide to classic Datsun cars and trucks; Austin A40 and A50''. Retrieved on 6 April 2016 from http://www.earlydatsun.com File:Austin A40 Somerset 1200cc mfd 1954.JPG, Austin A40 Somerset Saloon File:Austin Somerset convertible.jpg, Austin A40 Somerset Coupé File:Austin A40 Somerset (ca 1953) at Schaffen-Diest 2013.JPG, Austin A40 Somerset (ca 1953) at Schaffen-Diest 2013


References


External links


Austin Counties Car Club
€”Owners club website {{British Motor Corporation cars, 1952-1966 A40 Somerset Cars introduced in 1952 Sedans Convertibles Rear-wheel-drive vehicles sv:Austin A40