Jeep Roots: ’30 American Austin

Herbert Austin was one of the pioneers of the British Motorcar industry. He ran Wolseley and left after a dispute with his partners. In 1905 he founded his own company using his own name. Around the same time, William Morris (not the agent), got into the business. He was pretty successful despite the Depression. By 1930, the Austin was the most produced car in Great Britain. In 1929 The American Austin Company was founded. They were going to build the Austin Seven under license from the Austin Motor Company. They had a short run, filing for bankruptcy in 1934. They re-organized under the name American Bantam and their contribution to automotive history was the development of the Jeep prototype! Hence the Jeep Roots reference. BTW, the Seven was built by BMW in Germany as the Dixie and in Japan as the Datsun. All we have on this offering is that it is an original 12,800 mile car. That’s pretty incredible. It is a true Micro-Car when you compare it to another period car side-by-side. Micros are really popular right now and pulling down some significant money. And it is kind of cute. Hagerty has nothing on this model so I guess the marketplace will again be asked to place a value on one. We did find 2 auction sales – $32,000 and $9,250 without details. The asking price is $16,500 and you can contact the seller by clicking here.