23-06-2018, 06:41 PM
This is really silly ... for well over fifty years I have always referred to the Ruby-fronted 2-seater as an Opal. I had a 1936 example as my first car, and back in the 1940s my father ran a 1937 version; both were known in the family as Opals.
But I have just been looking through some of my brochures on another matter, and realised that Austins did not, in fact, call this model the Opal! The only reference to the 2-seater being referred to as an Opal is in the 1934 brochure 1212, at which time the model still retained the earlier chrome radiator; all subsequent brochures - 1290, 1292, 1472 & 1539 - give the model name as, simply, the 2-seater.
So, are they Opals, or are they 2-seaters? And does it matter, anyway
But I have just been looking through some of my brochures on another matter, and realised that Austins did not, in fact, call this model the Opal! The only reference to the 2-seater being referred to as an Opal is in the 1934 brochure 1212, at which time the model still retained the earlier chrome radiator; all subsequent brochures - 1290, 1292, 1472 & 1539 - give the model name as, simply, the 2-seater.
So, are they Opals, or are they 2-seaters? And does it matter, anyway