The Austin A35 is a

small family car The C-segment is the 3rd category of the European segments for passenger cars and is described as "medium cars". It is equivalent to the Euro NCAP "small family car" size class, and the compact car category in the United States. In 2011, the C ...

that was sold by

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

from 1956 until 1968. About 280,897 A35s of all types were produced.

Design

Introduced in 1956, it replaced the highly successful Austin A30. The name reflected the larger and more powerful 34 hp (25 kW) A-Series

inline-four engine A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the ...

, enabling a slightly higher top speed and better acceleration. The A35 is very similar in appearance to the A30, except for a larger rear window aperture and a painted front grille, with chrome horse-shoe surround, instead of the chrome grille on the A30. Both have wheels. The semaphore turn-signal indicators were replaced with modern front- and rear-mounted flashing lights. A slightly easier to operate remote-control gear-change was provided. Much of the improved performance is a result of different gearbox ratios. The A30 has the first three ratios close together then a big gap to top (fourth gear). The A35's ratios are better spaced and give a higher speed in third gear. A35-59

Like the A30, the A35 was offered as a two- or four-door saloon and two-door "Countryman" estate and also as a

van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

. The latter model continued in production through to 1968. A rare

coupe utility A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

(pickup) version was also produced in 1956, with just 477 sold. Drawings were made for a sports tourer, but no prototype was actually built. The A35 passenger cars were replaced by the new body shape A40 Farina models in 1959 but the estate car version continued until 1962 and van until 1968.

Performance

A two-door de luxe saloon with the 948 cc engine was tested by the British '' Motor'' magazine in 1956 and was found to have a top speed of and could accelerate from 0- in 30.1 seconds. A fuel consumption of was recorded. Referring to the A35, from Staton Abbey (1969?). The Book of the Austin A30 and A35. Pitman Press: p 148. "...The new cars were thoroughly proved by tests carried out on the German autobahnen, during which drivers of much larger cars were astonished to be passed by three small Austins which were being driven flat out all day, averaging 60 mph for 25000 miles!..." ".....a privately-owned works-tuned A35 was driven for seven days around the Montlhéry track, near Paris, in a record-breaking run at an average speed of 75 mph, covering nearly 12500 miles...." With standard fit of

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

all round, in both the A30 and the A35, the front hydraulic with rear hydro-mechanical brakes (the hydraulics acted upon the hand brake at the rear) needed regular adjustment to keep the stopping distances reasonably short. The A35 was quite successful in 1950s saloon car racing, until supplanted by the Farina A40, but some still appear in historic events. In recent years a special Academy class of racing has been introduced by th
HRDC
(Historic Racing Drivers Club), featuring A30 and A35 saloons. These cars feature sealed

Marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or ...

engines, and are a restricted class, meaning that owners are limited to a specific range of parts from specified suppliers.

Production

*Saloons A2S5: (two-door) 100,284, * Saloons AS5: (four-door) 28,961, * Saloons Total: 129,245 *Van & Countryman, AV5 & AP5: 138,356 * Van AV6: 13,222 * Countryman AP6: 74 * Van AV8 (1098cc): 45,685 * Van AV8 (848cc): 14,230 * Pick-up: 477 * CKD (completely knocked down) 13,320 * Total: 354,609

Engines

* 1956–62 - 948 cc '' A-Series'' I4, 34 hp (25 kW) at 4,750 rpm and 50 lb·ft (68 Nm) at 2,000 rpm * 1962–66 - 1,098 cc '' A-Series'' I4, 55 hp (41 kW) at 5,500 rpm and 61 lb·ft (83 Nm) at 2,500 rpm (van) * 1963–68 - 848 cc '' A-Series'' I4, 34 hp (25 kW) at 5500rpm and 44 lb·ft (60 N·m) at 2,900rpm (van)

In popular culture

The A35 van featured in two

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films: A Matter of Loaf and Death and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

References

External links

Austin Memories
��History of Austin and Longbridge
Austin A30/A35 Owners' Club
{{Automobiles made by BMC, BL and Rover Group companies, post-1945 A35 1950s cars 1960s cars Cars introduced in 1956 Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Sedans Station wagons