My story starts some 50 + years ago in the small Scottish village of Fochabers.  Your hero (me) was 17 at the time, and had succumbed to a horrible dose of the flu, and thus was bed- ridden for a few days.  My dear old dad (god bless him) for some reason that I will never know, decided that he was going to select and purchase my first car (with my savings) without telling me.  So having finally crawled from my death bed, was proudly informed that I was the lucky owner of one 1954 Austin A30.

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Now, I had discussed the various vehicles that were on my impending shopping list with my parents, and an Austin A30 was never mentioned. Undaunted, I was ceremoniously handed the keys, and taken outside to view my new transport of delight.

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Dear God, it was horrible. The car had been (hand?) painted in some sort of gold / baby poo colour, the interior had been trimmed (?) in a self-adhesive black pvc quilted material (for safety!). I was gutted. My expectations of my first car had centred around a Mini or an Anglia, something with a bit of street cred, and possible performance potential. Instead I had a pram with an 803cc A series engine that could barely get out of its own way!

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From “The Motor” circa 1953, the factory claimed top speed of the A30 was 70MPH/110KPH (they lied) The magazine road tested it and achieved 67MPH/108 KPH, then had another go a few months later and then it only struggled up to 62MPH/100KPH.  A ball of fire it was not.  One also has to take into consideration that these figures were done on new vehicles, with engines in prime condition. My example was some 14 years old, and time had not been kind to it. 

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So off for my first run I went, first impressions have been pretty well wiped from the memory banks, but I can vaguely recall the sheer lack of power, its inability to keep up with normal traffic (this was 1968) on any road signposted over 30MPH, and finding myself being generally being pushed into the verge of the road by any and all traffic, generally travelling at around the speed limit 70mph.

 

It was terrifying.

 

Now, on my daily commute to work from Fochabers to Elgin, there were a number of hills to be negotiated. Even with a flying run at them the loss of any momentum was rapid, and so I ended up struggling up these gradients and about 30mph, foot to the floor and the local bus hard up my exhaust pipe.

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Other points of interest were brakes that at best gave a little retardation then locked up, steering that wandered all over the shop due to wear and remould cross ply tyres, that also attempted to shake you to bits over 50MPH. The party trick however was a gearbox that would jump out of second gear on the over-run so badly that it could self-engage first gear!

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So embarrassed by the car, I used to park it two streets away so my work mates would not see it!

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I soon decided to try and kill it, so drove it flat out everywhere… at 60MPH, but the damn thing would not succumb. So, plan B was hatched. This was to ensure it failed the annual MOT inspection. As I was working as an apprentice mechanic at the local Ford dealership, I got in the ear of the workshop inspector to ensure the A30 met a swift and ignominious end.

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And thus, it was in mid May 1969 that the car tragically met its end, and was broken up for spare parts. Not long after, I spied a maroon 2 door Mk1 Cortina 1200 in our used car department, and shortly thereafter I was behind the wheel of the above Cortina, and that was to be another, but much happier adventure. 

The End.

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Postscript.

My hatred of the A30 has softened over the years and I now look at it in historical context. Designed just after WW2 and launched in 1951, it was a very advanced product in its day. Its engine was tuned for economy and to cope with the infamous pool petrol of the day, 70 octane! So it’s little wonder its performance was staid. That the car ran through to 1956 and then in A35 guise (with larger engine) to 1959, is testament to its underlying sound design. But it was a car of its time, and by the late 1960s its time was long gone, and they quickly disappeared from the UK motoring scene.

 

Today they are much sought after for historic racing, and even have their own class.  How times have changed.  

Mike.