Austin A40 Devon

Some background info on UK-market A40s.

After the war, Austin needed to come up with a fresh design for the post-war market, as their pre-war designed cars re-introduced after hostilities were beginning to look rather long in the tooth. Their solution, introduced in 1947, was the A40 Devon.

Gone were the separate front wings and headlamps mounted outside of the bodywork, and in was a more together design that featured a number of design cues that were bang up to date. Wings and headlamps were now blended into the coachwork, and running boards were now a memory. The car was still on a separate chassis of course (Austin only went unitary with the A30 AS3 a few years later), and this mode of construction allowed for an easy route to selling different variants on the same basic platform as the years progressed. In fact it would enable Austin to freshen up the design of the A40 model, transforming it into the Somerset in the early 50s, yet sticking with the same basic running gear package.

There were some differences with export versions of the A40 Devon, but for now I'm sticking with the UK, home-market, Austins. Power came from a 1200cc engine, an all-iron overhead valve unit that, with refinement, would go on to become the B series and feature in BMC cars for several decades more. Despite visual similarities, the Devon's 1200cc unit is not an A Series (the A Series, which started out at 803cc, was still a few years from entering production and fitment in the A30 & Minor). Some parts however are shared with the later B Series, into which the 1200 was developed for later models.

Early Devon saloons, known as the GS2, featured a four speed gearbox with floor change, and had a hydraulic front, mechanical rear, braking system. The very earliest of the GS2s also had smaller headlamps with the sidelights built in - a short time after production started the lamps were switched to 7" diameter Lucas items, with separate sidelamps. The dashboard on the GS2 was also to a different style than the later, GS3 cars. These later variants would also switch to a column gearshift, and continued in production til 1951.

The Dorset was the 2 door version of the Devon, and is a rare sight now as it was only produced for a year or so, early in A40 production. Rust and the passage of time has done for most of them, and many of the original survivors have been destroyed by drag racers and customisers. The running gear was again shared with the 4 door A40.

Production of the commercial variants began in '47, as with the cars, but continued well into the 1950s (1957 to be exact), as Austins didn't produce a pickup or van version of the Somerset (yet they did do the A70 Hereford commercial when the earlier Hampshire was replaced). The early vans were known as the GV2, and pickups the GQU2 (at the time of the GS2 saloon). The rare estate car, or 'Countryman', was referred to as GP2. When the A40 was revised, and re-named as the GS3, the other variant codes were also updated to a '3'.

As already mentioned, production of the Devon-based pickups and vans continued after the saloon. Late commercials were coded as 'xx4' and 'xx5' depending on variant. The pickup would soldier on to early 1957, when both it and the 10cwt van were discontinued. Early vans had the chrome grille of the saloon, but later ones would come with a different bonnet and had a painted, more utilitarian, grille. Power still came from the 1200cc engine, although I'm led to believe that the proper B Series may have been offered to export customers late in production.

An unusual variation on the A40 theme was the Sports model, which came with the A40 chassis and engine (now fitted with twin carbs), and fitted with a curvy open-top body produced by Jensen. Pictures of the Sports can be seen over here.

What did the main A40 variants look like?

A40 Devon 4 door saloon:

A40 Dorset:

A40 Van (rear spat version, painted grille):

A40 Van (later rear arches, painted grille):

A40 Countryman estate car:

A40 10 cwt Pickup:

Other variants for other markets
Many variations on the Devon theme were produced for the local markets, for example in Australia buyers could choose from the coupe & roadster utilities, hi-lite ute, timberback deluxe utility, and the cut-down 'rouseabout'.

Click here to return to the A40 Devon pages on oldclassiccar.

More info on the oddball overseas versions can be found on the interesting Austin Works site.

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