Description Fully restored to show-winning condition 25 years ago and carefully used since; has spent much of the last dozen years in our vendor's lounge; vast file of photos and literature; find a better one! Sir Herbert Austin’s new ‘Baby’ was designed in secret on the billiard table of his home near Birmingham and changed the face of motoring in Britain when it first appeared in 1922.

The car was a miniature version of the contemporary full-size Austin tourer and was fitted with a tiny four-cylinder engine, unlike the strange and oddly-specified mechanical wonders which until then had been the only light cars available.

This sounded the death-knell of the cycle-car and heralded the end of the motorcycle and sidecar combination as the poor-man’s family transport.

The chassis design was simple and conventional: the side rails formed an ‘A-frame’ with the rear springs protruding from the ends of the chassis and a transverse leaf spring at the front.

Electric lighting and starting w...