introduction austin 10 1939 staff car

[neil mitchell]

hi all, my name is neil and i run wiltshire landrovers in melksham,i am no stranger to mv,s as l have quite a collection built up over quite a few years. my latest vehicle is a 1939 austin 10 ,although black and chrome it was evident the vehicle had been painted in british military green and after removing the black from the doors it uncovered its service number which is m5881250. after looking at bart vanderveens original vehicle directory to find information on the type of vehicle i was amazed to find the vehicle pictured carries the same service number as mine,i would be very pleased if anyone could help me find out any history of the car or service number of information on the picture in barts book. thanks all.

[shane.c]

Hi Neil and welcome to the forum,

[Tony B]

Welcome in Neil. Post pictures please. Sounds like a lovley little vehicle.

[neil mitchell]

Welcome in Neil. Post pictures please. Sounds like a lovley little vehicle.

 

hi tony,thanks for reply,i see there is a picture of my car already on the site,how can i find out what unit it was issued to? i also need to tie the chassis number to the military number, all help greatly recived,thanks,neil.

[ford 369]

welcome aboard .always liked those little staff cars

[Richard Farrant]

hi all, my name is neil and i run wiltshire landrovers in melksham,i am no stranger to mv,s as l have quite a collection built up over quite a few years. my latest vehicle is a 1939 austin 10 ,although black and chrome it was evident the vehicle had been painted in british military green and after removing the black from the doors it uncovered its service number which is m5881250. after looking at bart vanderveens original vehicle directory to find information on the type of vehicle i was amazed to find the vehicle pictured carries the same service number as mine,i would be very pleased if anyone could help me find out any history of the car or service number of information on the picture in barts book. thanks all.

 

Neil,

If that census number you have uncovered is correct, then the car was built about 1944, a contract for about 1,800 of these cars.

[stevenivers]

Welcome aboard Neil

[Richard Farrant]

Hi Neil,

 

Thanks for the call earlier today, here is the details you asked for;

 

Contract No. S7442 Cat. Ref. 146 Austin 4 seater 4x2 saloon Car, WD No's M5880012 to 5881811

 

Hope that is of help to you.

regards, Richard

[neil mitchell]

Hi Neil,

 

Thanks for the call earlier today, here is the details you asked for;

 

Contract No. S7442 Cat. Ref. 146 Austin 4 seater 4x2 saloon Car, WD No's M5880012 to 5881811

 

Hope that is of help to you.

regards, Richard

 

hi richard,thanks for info,been in touch with museum at gaydon and they confirm the build date of austin as 19th july 1939,on chassis number grq181203,the m5881250is definatly the number on both doors,any ideas? cheers neil.

[Richard Farrant]

hi richard,thanks for info,been in touch with museum at gaydon and they confirm the build date of austin as 19th july 1939,on chassis number grq181203,the m5881250is definatly the number on both doors,any ideas? cheers neil.

 

Neil,

I reckon somebody in the early days of restorations, has painted those numbers on after seeing the photo in Bart's book, remembering those books date back nearly 40 years now, then the car was "civilianised" by a subsequent owner. it is too much of a coincidense to find these particular numbers and without doubt, they are from a contract dating c.1944.

[neil mitchell]

Neil,

I reckon somebody in the early days of restorations, has painted those numbers on after seeing the photo in Bart's book, remembering those books date back nearly 40 years now, then the car was "civilianised" by a subsequent owner. it is too much of a coincidense to find these particular numbers and without doubt, they are from a contract dating c.1944.

 

hi richard, been in touch with previous owner one of two since 1946,he bought car from his friend in 1974, his friend is still alive and tells him the car has always been black. the second owner has had the car up untill last year and knows nothing about it beeing ex military, obviously this means the

[neil mitchell]

hi richard,have managed to contact previous owner of the car,he was the second owner,he bought the car from his friend who had owned it from 1946,this chap is still alive and said it has always been black. the second owner bought it in 1974 and owned it untill last year,he knows nothing about it beeing military,to me this means the number on the doors have to be genuine.if your number dating is correct which i am shure it is there seems to be an unexplianed gap in its history ,anyone with any info or ideas please pass them on,cheers,neil.

[79x100]

If the chassis is from 1939 and the doors from 1944 then the inference is that they didn't start out together. Vehicles were sold off, often in batches to dealers at post-war sales and then civilianised by them. Perhaps one of the dealers bought an early car with damaged doors and a late model, perhaps with front end damage ?

 

If the vehicle is made up from parts with widely different dates then it should be possible to see that from the colours. 1939 bodywork will be Khaki Green No.3 and a 1944 build probably British Olive Drab (unless it was still in the even more visibly different SCC No.2 Brown used in between).

 

If you can post some photographs of the flatted-back panels then I think that confirmation of the shade should be possible.

[neil mitchell]

hi all,after spending a huge amount of time reserching the strange history of my austin 10 staff car the picture is now complete. Most of the information has come from the austin 10 owners club,richard beddall of the mvt,rlc deepcut and the heritage center at gaydon. The car was built on 19th july 1939 as a standard civvy vehicle at longbridge, it was sent to a dealership in bristol and was registerd GHU127,the car was not sold and was reterned to longdridge after war broke out. At the factory the car was turned into what they called a specification vehicle,this means the vehicle was militarised so it was clear to everyone on the build lines the level of trim, colour,tyres etc that the mos determined. The car stayed at longbridge until 21st august 1944 and on longer needed it was worked into an order for 1800 cars and was isued a service number being M5881250 under contract number 57442. Longbridge had a habit of taking photos of there spec vehicles and this explains the factory picture in barts book with the old austin works in the background. In 1946 the car was demobed and sold to a dealer in gloustershire,it was turned back into a black and chrome saloon car,the dealer went to register it only to find it allready had a 1939 number being GHU127. The car was sold to a farmer in chew valley in 1946. The finished car was at the mvt show lacock at war this august. I hope this makes sence to everone cheers, neil.