British Austerity Car

I know they're everywhere, but gawd, those things look unstable. Hit a pothole and over we go.

Much like the British 3-wheelers.

Actually, there were plenty of fairly austere vehicles out there, and the degree to which they flourished was subject to their value and performance, legislative restrictions and market popularity. Sometimes, austere was popular, and you paid more. Sometimes, austere was crap, and they disappeared, unless you lived in East Germany.
 
I'm hoping for something a bit better than the bubble cars the Mini was built to kill. The little Messerschmitt KR200 looks like it may have been fun to drive on an empty road or around a track but as for taking it onto roads with busses and lorries it's nothing but a self propelled coffin.
 
Well' there was a minor Morris before the Mini, which out-sold the Topolino and Gogomobile, not to mention the Isetta. The Messerschmitt was well down in the sales charts, I think. I've only seen a couple.

Interesting story about curved body panels. Lord Nuffield the Morris, and Budd, of the Conestoga, established the Pressed Steel Company of Spitfire leading edge fame. The Government thought he was too big a dick to keep it, and took it away, or something like that. It's not really that expensive to build compound curves into sheet metal if you have the machinery. Flat sheet tends to resonate unless reinforced or corrugated, and that costs money too.
 
Why not the Volkswagen Beetle? IIRC after Ivan Hirst salvaged the factory at Wolfsburg and restarted production the company was offered around to various foreign companies all of whom declined.

Because the early 'People's Car' were far behind the curve on features, and each car took over 400 man-hours of labor to produce in 1945, given the poor shape the tooling was in, the early Beetles were near hand built. It took till 1948 and many improvements before were considered marketable in the US.
And yeah, 'Hitler's Rollerskate' or 'Hitler's Revenge' had real image problems.
 

Driftless

Donor
Because the early 'People's Car' were far behind the curve on features, and each car took over 400 man-hours of labor to produce in 1945, given the poor shape the tooling was in, the early Beetles were near hand built. It took till 1948 and many improvements before were considered marketable in the US.
And yeah, 'Hitler's Rollerskate' or 'Hitler's Revenge' had real image problems.

By comparisson, how would the Citroen 2CV & Morris cars have stacked up on time and cost of assembly?
 
By comparisson, how would the Citroen 2CV & Morris cars have stacked up on time and cost of assembly?

Don't know about those, but Ford's smaller satellite plants took around 8 Man Hours for a Model A. Many more parts than the original Model T, and took longer than River Rouge could.
 
Perhaps we need to review what the purpose of an 'austerity' car might be. The driver (pun intended) was the need for foreign exchange not to give the domestic market a cheap no frills car. It would need to use a minimum of good quality steel, rubber etc. and a low fuel consumption would be nice. The domestic market was effectively rationed and buying a new car for use in the UK needed justification to secure a place in the queue.

I think we should turn pour minds less to the Minor and VW and more to the Trabant as a guide to our austerity car. For all it's faults it not only worked and carried 4 people but continues to do so for collectors and eccentrics as we look towards the end of the first quarter of the 21st century. It's faults are many but it was a practical family vehicle even if an East German might have lusted after a Wartburg.
 
APMEP, A version of the "Tillie" pickup and it's saloon forbear updated a bit or a two wheel drive long wheel base (107inch) Land Rover hard top would IMHO have been a winner. Get the 4 wheel drive short wheel base Land Rover out in 1948 as OTL and there you go! OH, and replace the Tillie with the Morris Minor asap.
 
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