1930 Budd Austin 7 Saloon

[Tony Griffiths]

Henry - is the first time this picture has been shown? Your description of how this Austin mirrored contemporary American car styling is most interesting (though the sloping windscreen would have reduced the reflection from headlights behind - the standard Seven sometimes having a rear-window blind to do this - although the Budd appears to have one of those too). The radiator carries an ordinary Austin script and what might be standard UK-market headlights; could this indeed have been an attempt by the Austin Company to have a saloon styled for the American market - or even for the home, just as many car companies have brought in outside designers to freshen their range? One wonders if Austin ever contemplated a proper, all-welded, sheet-steel Budd body? https://www.hemmings.com/blog/article/edward-g-budd/ What elegant front wings - with the wide beaded edge echoing the pattern employed on UK Sevens from around mid-1930.