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Austin A40 Devon VanNicely signwritten light commercial vehicle, early 1950s.Another photo from Les' infinite archive of old vehicle images, this time featuring the 10cwt panel van version of the popular Austin Devon. The basic A40 chassis was used across a number of A40 derivatives - A40 Sports (convertible), Dorset (2dr saloon), Devon Van / Pickup / Countryman / Saloon / Convertible, and went on to be used under the later A40 Somerset's bulbous coachwork. All Devons are rare now, and vans are keenly sought after for their advertising potential, even 50+ years after they were built at Longbridge.Return to Motoring Photographs Page 2.  In the 1950s, coachbuilders really put their creativity to good use with their novel ideas for advertising on commercial vehicles. Nowadays, vinyl cut lettering is all the rage, but back in the days of black & white and powdered egg, it was the combined efforts of coachbuilders and gifted signwriters that brought colour to the roads of an otherwise grey era, a time when Britain was putting itself back together after having been nearly flattened by the Luftwaffe. This A40 has been liveried in the colours of Fibrosine, a cream aimed at those suffering with rheumatic woes. In addition to the smart signwriting, an enterprising type has fitted a tube of this handy balm on the A40s roof to really catch the eye, and passing bluebottles no doubt. Early Devon vans had the enclosed rear spats over the back wheels as found on the factory pickup, whereas they later went over to this shape of rear arch, reminiscent of the style that would be adopted by the designers of the later A55/A60 commercials. If anyone has more old photographs of fabulous signwriting applied to vans, please send them in and I'll feature them here too. Hopefully, images like this will help to inspire people restoring old vans to paint them in a similarly elaborate way. More information on A40 Devons can be found here. | |
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Some more A40 Devon links: A40 Devon restorations (NZ) Austin Works Austin Counties Car Club |
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