Among the many variants of coachwork on the ubiquitous Austin Seven chassis, there can be little doubt that one of the most individual and individually prized is the ‘top hat’ style two door coupe.

There were a handful of factory bodied designs offered through the 1920s, but arguably the most handsome or ‘top hatted’ of them all were the few bodied by Maythorn & Sons of Biggleswade in the UK, this is one such example.

The car was purchased by the current owners from the Knox family of East Aurora, New York in 2000.

For those not familiar with the Knox name, they will almost certainly be familiar with the name of Seymour Horace Knox’s first cousin and business partner, F.W.

Woolworth.

Like his cousin Knox built ‘Nickel and Dime’ stores which were eventually merged to form the F.W.

Woolworth company in 1913, with their headquarters in the famous Woolworth building on New York’s Broadway.

It is understood that the Austin was a wedding gift from Seymour H.

Knox I’s wife to her daug...