Austin A45

1948Wolseley

Just read an article in this month's Classic & Sports Car which mentioned the Austin A45, being "a small-engined [version of the A55] available in the Republic of Ireland"

I've never heard of it before, but does, or did, anyone here have one?

carchaeologist

Maybe this will help?

Blue850

Never heard of an A45 but there was a 1200 version of the Wolseley 1500 for the Irish market

carchaeologist

How come we always got the rubbish poverty spec cars!:p

cian1500ww

Blue850 wrote: »

Never heard of an A45 but there was a 1200 version of the Wolseley 1500 for the Irish market

How can you tell the difference?? Our 1500 is a genuine Irish car and I always presumed it was 1500cc :eek:

Blue850

cian1500ww wrote: »

How can you tell the difference?? Our 1500 is a genuine Irish car and I always presumed it was 1500cc :eek:

http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/BMC_B-Series_engine

You should be able to tell by the first 2 digits of the engine number.

carchaeologist

Would they have been badged differently?

G Luxel

Blue850 wrote: »

Never heard of an A45 but there was a 1200 version of the Wolseley 1500 for the Irish market

I think, from reading some of the classic magazines, that there were only 150 of them....and as there are no present pictures of an A45, then I take it that the car is now ''extinct''........

mathepac

I ran across this site owned by the Dalziel family in the UK. Scroll down to the "period 1953-1961" and below the picture of a pre WWII Austin Seven is a picture of a car identified as an A45, which I think is actually an A30 / A35

http://www.coldal.org/dalzielfamily.html

Blue850

Just had a read through this excellent book, 110 Wolseley 1500 1.2s were built for the Irish market and the A45 was a 1200 B-series engined Austin A55, no production figures for the A45.

The 1200 B series engine was discontinued in 1957 with the last engines fitted to the Irish market cars, so anbody out there with an original Irish reg 57 A55 or 1500 should take a closer look at it

sophiearchives

Hi,

I'm an archive assistant in a car museum, and can confirm that the Austin A45 Cambridge was a CKD (complete-knock-down) behicle made and exported for the Irish market.

I've been working on a record for A45 vehicles and stumbled across your post just now which helped clear things up with my own research!

Many thanks, Sophie.

Blue850

Capri

Blue 850, you get the Inspector Clouseau award I take my hat off to you.

This is definitely the beginnings of the 'Irish engine size' disease, road tax 'saving' of £5/9/11 (nearly 1 weeks wages back then :eek: )and the car was £21 cheaper (= 1 years tax :rolleyes: ).

I had a 56 (?) A40 Cambridge RIK *** but they all had 1200 engines back then http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Austin_A40_Cambridge_rear.jpg

Bit like how the Fiesta/Ka lost the market here with their 1100 engine when the Micra had a 1000 engine. In Italy and France Ford did a 940 Escort and Fiesta (and maybe Ka ) but couldn't be ar*ed doing it for here it seems:mad:

kev1.3s

Ferrari also built a 208 which was a 2.0 litre version of the 308 for the Italian market, would have went down a treat here.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

It's so funny/depressing to look back at these ads and see the disease of Irish Chape Tax obsession permeating even then.

corktina

they also did an A33 and a third which was slower but lasted longer

Capri

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

It's so funny/depressing to look back at these ads and see the disease of Irish Chape Tax obsession permeating even then.

'Chape tax and daysel ', make you want to retire to the US.! Funny how blind the government is, they try to tax us silly, but end up losing a bundle! '

swarlb

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

It's so funny/depressing to look back at these ads and see the disease of Irish Chape Tax obsession permeating even then.

And what is wrong with wanting something cheaper ? Do you honestly think that the British car industry made millions by offering 'chaper' (as you quaintly put it) models for the Irish market. Do you think that your average British motorist, when offered a model of car, chose the more expensive option, rather than be accused of being 'cheap'. Have we that much of an inferiority complex, that we assume that everything 'cheap' is dumped on the Irish.
Fiat, for example, always offered a 'cheaper' or smaller engine size in it's own market, for the very same reason we chose smaller engines here, simply because of price, and what people could afford.
As an example they (the Italians) got an 1100cc 128 3P, while 'we' got the vastly more powerful, and expensive 1300cc version.
Ireland, is, and always has been, a 'poor' country, in relative terms to the UK, mainland Europe, or the USA, and for the foreseeable future, will maintain that status.

corktina

yep, in certain markets (not Ireland) Ford offered an 1100cc Cortina.

swarlb

corktina wrote: »

yep, in certain markets (not Ireland) Ford offered an 1100cc Cortina.

And why were we not offered the 'in the gutter poorhouse spec' Cortina, who is this other country that is obviously 'more dumped upon' than the Irish.
I was watching an older episode of 5th gear last night.....the discussion was
The 'new' 2 wheel drive Range Rover, cheaper option for those that cannot afford a 4 wheel drive one.
A selection of 'fuel saving devices'...none of which worked as it happened.
A comparison between a few family saloons.....and which one offered the best choice as regards 'affordability'
Not once, did they mention that the 'Irish' would get these 'poorer' options.

If we keep beating ourselves down, we deserve to be walked upon.

Capri

We got, and still get, what the manufacturer's Irish branch thought in their wisdom the Irish wanted - rightly or wrongly :mad:
We never seemed to get the real basic (no heater / no chrome grille ) Anglias / Minis , same with the smaller engined Fiestas/ Escorts that Italy and France got. Colours too seemed more 'conservative' than the bright reds/yellows offered in other markets, even for Jags /Mercs.
(Wasn't there something about 'unlucky' Green / Red cars :rolleyes: )
If, for arguments sake, you ask for a new Golf L in orange here you'll probably be told that they don't offer it here, but go up to Newry and you'll see one for sale. The lot down here aren't interested in 'difficult' sales, just 'buy what I have in the showroom and f**k off '