100 years of the influential Austin Seven

It took conventions of larger cars of the time and scaled them down into tiny dimensions. The result was the first affordable British car for the masses. While sales began slowly – and below-target 2500 were built in the first year of production – by the time it ceased to built in 1939, around 290,000 had been built. Such volume means many survivors today and a a whole industry exists to support them.

Variants of the Seven were built in France, Japan and Germany. Indeed, BMW’s first smalll car, the Dixi, was a Seven built under licence and the coachbuilt Swallow version helped to lay the foundations for Jaguar. The Seven also provided a platform for race engineers. The first cars built by Colin Chapman and Bruce McLaren were assembled using the Austin Seven’s chassis. Given what those companies went on to, the humble Seven’s influence is still felt in today’s motor industry.

There were 35 body styles for the Seven available from the Austin factory, and countless aftermarket adaptions. See how many you can spot in our centenary celebration.

You can watch all of the action at Revival 2022 by watching our live stream!

Photography by Jordan Butters