Here we have a beautiful example of an Austin A30 from a member of our club, Tom Nevin. It’s of a 1958 vintage and still looking splendid in black.

Launched in 1951 as a competitor to the Morris Minor, the A30 boasted a fully stressed  monocoque chassis-less construction, which made it considerably lighter than a lot of its competition. Arriving initially as a four door, a number of derivatives came later in its life such as two door and estate variants, the estate being very popular with tradesmen due to its stiff and hard wearing construction.

The engine was a A-Series straight-4 that was highly advanced for the time and returned an average fuel consumption of 42 mpg. Top speed was 62 mph (100 km/h) and the A30 could accelerate from 0–50 mph (80 km/h) in 29 seconds.

As well as being manufactured in the UK, the A30 was also built in Australia by Austin Motor Company (Australia) and BMC (Australia) from 1952 to 1956. There are a good few examples still on the roads today but not many could meet the high quality of Tom’s car. Here’s to many more years of Tom enjoying budget 1950’s motoring.