At the end of WW II, it was apparent that Britain was good at designing and building battle tanks.

One could therefore be forgiven for thinking that some now redundant tank designers may have found their way into the drawing office of the Austin Motor Company.

The Austin 16 was produced from 1945 to 1949 and should not be confused with the pre-war model of the same name.

The Sixteen designation actually referred to the likely road tax rather than the horsepower.

Using the chassis of the pre-war Austin 12, but with a totally new body and powerful four cylinder overhead valve engine of 2199cc, the sixteen was said to be capable of 75mph from its 67bhp.

A four speed manual gearbox was fitted and a built -in hydraulic jacking system shared with the London Taxi of the period.

During the bitterly cold winter of 1947, a team of three of these vehicles undertook a run to visit seven North European capitals in seven days.

This fine example has had just three previous owners and has been ...