Posted by Corey Behrens
Cohort Pic(k) of the Day: 1958 Austin A35 Coupe Utility – Short Bed Version
– Posted on May 9, 2021
Posted by Corey Behrens
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Cute and dumpy at the same time…lovable and cuddly, too.
A smile-generator of a car, extremely nice.
Aside from being the de rigeur four door, the new Hyundai Santa Cruz shows that there are no new ideas.
In the exact same snot gray non-color too!
Sorry, but this is horrible. Pre-BMC Austins ( Healey excepted) were always inferior to their Morris counterparts, in this case the Morris Minor 1000. After the merger, BMC was run by an “Austin” man who tried to ensure that all models were dumbed-down to Austin levels.
+1.
I really can’t think why BMC wasted money producing these. So much unique tooling to produce such an impractical vehicle, and only 477 sold. The A30/35 was considerably smaller (79.5″ wheelbase!) than the Minor, so a pickup based on it was always going to be of dubious value. The spare slung off the tail shows how tiny this thing is. You’d have had more usable space in a sedan, much more in a van or wagon.
A pointless “Take that, Morris!” exercise in egotism from the Austin management.
Apparently it avoided a lot of sales tax by being a commercial vehicle but without a tailgate or any real load capacity it had little commercial use Quite a few survive in NZ for some strange reason but the Morris Minor ute was a better vehicle.
It’ll be Car Tax, which was eventually scrapped 1990ish. People used to put back seats in Mini vans to avoid it.
With all due respect I’m going to have to push back on some comments. I don’t know much about these cars, but someone saw it worthy of restoring and appreciates it. Good for them.
As an owner of a Corvair I have had people tell me to my face these same comments many many times.
If I could I’d buy this in a heartbeat.. Back when I was starting school our neighbors had a 2 door sedan and we often did the school run. Plucky car with a lot of character, and the cutest center dash mounted turn indicator, like a stove knob with a central flashing light.
I love it! This is an adorable little vehicle. Now, I have a “problem.” Attached is a picture from an advertisement for the 1956 Dodge. Based on the evidence in the picture, the family is going on a picnic. Mom is even earing a sundress. Why, Why, Why is she wearing pumps (high heels) to a picnic? Does this enable her to visit the emergency room for a broken leg? Everybody else is 1950’s “cool” with the sons and the father not even thinking of wearing shorts (heaven forbid!). Dad is carrying only one folding chair and he seems to be ready to place it in the rear passenger compartment. Does the trunk not have adequate space? Enjoy the laughs.
Yes, the artist might have thought of something better than Dad with the folding chair. I can attest that the trunk of one of these has plenty of folding chair room.
My previous post didn’t post.
First, that isn’t exactly a Dodge. It’s a Plodge, or Dodge Mayfair as sold in Canada. It’s Plymouth from the firewall back, including the side trim you can see in the ad.
The double thermos bag is what the boy on the right is holding. The boy on the far left is carrying a pre-transistor portable tube radio. They used large special batteries which must have made for a pretty high cents per minute cost.
Anyone know what the girl on the left is carrying? Must be picnic related!
And women dressed in perfectly pressed dresses and high heels is a staple of 1950’s pre-modern feminism advertising and sitcom portrayals.
I think Dad’s just unlocking the car, everyone else has been waiting around for him to get his pipe lit. Even back in the good old days there was an obvious need for keyless entry.
Why? Because women in sundresses look great and the heels are just an excuse to slip them off and go barefoot.
C’mon Thomas, I didn’t really need to explain that, did I?
They must be going out for the day so workers can come and finish the interlock stone driveway.
Cutest (and most impractical) pick-up ever? Can’t help wondering if it was the inspiration behind the Suzuki X-90.
Actually that’s a 1956 Dodge Mayfair, a Canada-only Plodge. The side trim is Plymouth as is the rear end, dashboard and interior. It’s a Plymouth with a Dodge front clip, except on a normal Dodge the chrome on the fake hood scoop continues farther back to meet the Dodge side chrome trim.
In the 1950’s advertising and sitcom world women always wore nice dresses (with possibly a frilly apron when really getting down to work) when doing the cooking and cleaning, which they did all the time when not going on a picnic, always with high heels.
The boy on the left is bringing a pre-transistor portable radio. The girl on the right is carrying a Thermos picnic set with two thermos bottles in it. The girl on the left – ???
Without a tailgate, the bed is less useful than a plain old trunk. Anything big enough to need the extra height would be too heavy to lift in and out, unless you had a hoist in your garage. But the step implies that it was meant as a rumble seat, like the Brat.
But there was a sedan, a van, and a wagon. I’m guessing the step is there to assist loading and unloading.
Perhaps the idea was that it could be used by gardeners and the like for mucky stuff. It does seem that it would be more practical as a cut down version of the van, with a tailgate, like the Morris Minor and Mini pickups.
It’s like a car from a Richard Scarry book.
I always thought the A35 looked like a cartoon car .
Was this a home made / custom or factory job ? .
-Nate
Factory but rare.
Wallis and Gromit drive an A35 van if claymation counts as a cartoon.
Damn bro-dozers. Brit-dozer?
The owner is obviously trying to compensate for something. Embarrassed by his freakishly large tool no doubt.
British El Camino ?
The Austin A40 ute was fairly popular in Australia,but I don’t think they sold this oddity here.
It’s the ancestor of the Suzuki Mighty Boy, which also existed mostly as a tax dodge. The later Mini pickup was actually useful
Might have been a hit with a rumble seat.