Chris, I have not researched this but the late model "R" saloon seems to share a lot of similarities with the German Dixi version. Is it possible that the Austin company bought unused bodies from Dixi and built them up into cars for the buoyant British market? They seem different enough to have been built by a separate concern.
Here is my "R" saloon, manufactured late 1926. Clearly three pieces of wood.
Thanks, by the way, I went out to the garage to take this photo and discovered that a mouse had set up shop under the back seat, hence the loaded mousetrap!
It had chewed a blanket on the back seat, shame really as it was one of the last woollen blankets produced by Salters mill in Trowbridge. I bought it in the late 1970's, just before they closed, the last working mill in Wiltshire...
https://www.trowbridge.gov.uk/portfolio/salters-mill/
This is the German car I'm thinking of, the Dixi 3/15.
Dixi 3-15.jpg (Size: 74.18 KB / Downloads: 205)
Here is my "R" saloon, manufactured late 1926. Clearly three pieces of wood.
Thanks, by the way, I went out to the garage to take this photo and discovered that a mouse had set up shop under the back seat, hence the loaded mousetrap!
It had chewed a blanket on the back seat, shame really as it was one of the last woollen blankets produced by Salters mill in Trowbridge. I bought it in the late 1970's, just before they closed, the last working mill in Wiltshire...
https://www.trowbridge.gov.uk/portfolio/salters-mill/
This is the German car I'm thinking of, the Dixi 3/15.
Dixi 3-15.jpg (Size: 74.18 KB / Downloads: 205)