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Making your special day even more special
"Herbert"
is a 1928 Open Road tourer.
There were only 69 Open Road tourers produced by the Austin factory in 1928,
so Herbert is really special. He is of course named after the Austin factory
founder Sir Herbert Austin who started production in 1905.
When found by me in about 1992 Herbert was in sorry state having been pulled
to bits by various owners and just left. He had changed hands several times
and each time there became less of him. Herbert's savior was the fact that
the main body & doors were made of aluminium, so he did not rust
The Open Road was produced by the factory at a time when tourers were going
out of fashion because they were not very waterproof, so saloons were becoming
more popular.
Herbert & the other Open roads were Austin's last effort to make them
more watertight. The side curtains are of better quality manufacture, they
are not detachable, are spring loaded & fold away into the doors
he was finally registered back on the road in 2005 after what appears to be
about 40 years laying around in bits.
Herbert has been restored as closely as possible to the same standard that
he left the factory, including the diamond deep buttoned leather upholstery
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"Elizabeth" is a 1929 Austin 12/4 saloon. We bought her as a parts car for “Herbert” (above). She looked terrible, having sat under a plum tree for many years in Cromwell in the South Island. However a start was made in 1992 and in 1996 her first Vintage Car Club outing was a national rally held in Christchurch. All the door and roof frames are made of wood. The right front door has the only piece of original wood.
We found out that she used to be called “Emmanuel”, but we had already christened her Elizabeth. She has never shown any signs of being confused over her sex change.
One thing we did find out was that she had been a special order from the factory when purchased new, and had been ordered with more leather in the upholstery than was usual. We restored her to her former glory is beautiful plum coloured leather. She is a wonderful car, and has given us many miles of pleasure
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