Austin

As a young man, Herbert Austin worked on a sheep farm in Australia owned by Frederick York Wolseley. He shared his idea with Wolseley that the sheep-shearing machinery could be improved and was offered a job at the Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Co in Sydney. Austin obtained personal patents for the enhanced machines and, along with his wife and daughter, returned to England where he sold the patents for shares. He was appointed Works Manager in Birmingham where bicycles were produced during slow periods of production. Austin convinced the Wolseley board to invest in car production, which started in 1896. In 1901, the owners Vickers established the Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Co Ltd in Birmingham with Austin as manager and holding a 33% share. However, when Vickers brought in J D Siddeley to make cars similar to Peugeot, Austin, not yet 40, left Wolseley and started his own company, the Austin Motor Co in Birmingham. He created numerous successful vehicle models, including the Seven and Heavy Twelve, among others, in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1938, Leonard Lord joined Austin after being rebuffed by William Morris, and he streamlined the work processes, introduced new models, and got Austin ready for the war. Herbert Austin passed away in 1941 and Leonard Lord oversaw Austin's postwar growth and its merger with the Nuffield group in 1952 as the British Motor Corporation. The company later became part of British Motor Holdings in 1966 and eventually merged into the Rover Group, with the Austin name disappearing in 1987. Browse our entire of Austin scale model cars below or use the filters to narrow your search.