Military Model

[Archivist]

Could someone more knowleadgeable than I give a more precise description to this model than just 'Military' please. Can anything be gleaned from the Miltary number painted on the bonnet? I suspect the bulb horn is not an official fitting. 

And who doesn't love a pith helmet...

Yes, I'm still working through them!

   

[Mike Costigan]

1930 Mulliner-bodied scout car aka reconnaissance car

[Archivist]

Thanks Mike, I thought possibly Mulliner but needed to be certain. I knew I could rely on you!

Hugh

[Chris KC]

Mulliner perhaps, but was this car by any chance assigned to a Bantam battalion?

[Chris Garner]

There is a marvellous book entitled " From Cairo to Siwa across the Libyan Desert with Armoured Cars " by Major T. I. Dun describing a trek made in 1932 comprising ten Rolls Royce armoured cars, six motor cycles and three Mulliner Austin Seven scout cars, all supported by lorries carrying supplies and water. No photographs unfortunately, just a few line drawings.
The book is rare and expensive to purchase!

[Tony Griffiths]

Unless Mulliner was using up bits and pieces, we can date the car to the first half of 1930. The wings have the edge beading but the bonnet is a short type.

[Sue80]

Great picture, thanks for sharing, are there any more? War Office designation was - Car, 2-seater, 4 x 2 Austin Seven (War Department Type)
Interesting air scoop for the commander's left knee!
I'm struggling to find references for bonnet numbers.
Any information on these would be greatly appreciated for researching the history of my 1929 military Seven.

[Mike Costigan]

The scuttle vent is a typical Mulliner feature.

Hugh, I seem to recall you had a guest speaker at one of the Archive open days (probably the one when you first acquired the Military brochure) who was ex-Army and had a wealth of knowledge on the vehicle markings; might it be worth contacting him?

[Chris KC]

I think I'm right in saying that the marking on the bonnet is the War Department "census number", which is simply a running inventory number. "J" denotes the class of vehicle.

[Archivist]

Yes, quite true, Mike. I had not thought about that connection. Richard Joyner had held the position of Assistant Curator of Horse Power: the Museum of The King’s Royal Hussars in Winchester. The Military Brochure is scanned and is awaiting a release to the Archive web site, just slightly held up at the moment, but I am trying to deal with that along with the other work that is being done.

Looking back through my email, I see that you had provided a photo of the Mulliner prototype (amongst others) This and the others, with your permission, can become part of the Military collection on the Archive web site (in time..).

There were a number of different Military production models, of course, most made by Austin themselves. Production figures of these and those from Mulliner are not known, of course. There are schematic drawings of the Austin versions on the Archive web site - starting at https://archive.a7ca.org/collections/tec.../td0189-2/


  1928 Mulliner prototype.JPG (Size: 160.9 KB / Downloads: 238)