After messing about with and writing about old cars for more years than I care to remember, I've sampled everything from Alfa to Zastava but there are a few which will always stand out. Naturally, some are exotics like the Jaguar C-Type and ‘50s Bentley Continental, but perhaps surprisingly it's the more humble machinery which leaves more of an impression. Two which immediately spring to mind are the Frogeye Sprite and the Austin A30/ A35, both of which provide grins per mile far in excess of what you'd expect from the modest power outputs of their A-Series engines.
Launched as the A30 in 1951, the baby Austin was born from the failure of a proposed Austin/Morris collaboration in 1949 which meant that Austin needed to create a competitor to Morris's…
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Classics World (Digital) - 1 Issue, April 2025