General Manager of the Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company, Herbert Austin set the Birmingham firm on the road to motor manufacture in 1896 when he designed its first automobile, a twin-cylinder tri-car.

The first production Wolseley though, was four-wheeled and, like Austin’s 1896 prototype, carried its single cylinder engine horizontally.

Wolseley’s directors did not share Austin’s belief in the horizontal engine’s virtues however, and he departed in 1905 to set up his own company at nearby Longbridge.

Somewhat surprisingly perhaps, the first Austin cars were powered by conventional inline fours with side valves arranged in ‘T-head’ fashion.

Chain drive was a feature of these early Austins, but was supplanted by shaft drive within a few years.

As well as the fours, Austin also marketed a single-cylinder model and a few sixes prior to WWI.

The 18/24 was Austin’s third production model, made from 1907 to 1913, its engine being enlarged from 4.4 to 4.9 litres from 1911 onwards...