AFY 376 - 1934 Austin 16 'Berkeley' Saloon

Jardine (White Heather), Morecambe

The Austin Motor Company was founded in 1905 by Herbert Austin, and a plant at Longbridge, Worcestershire (later in Birmingham) was established. The company was merged in 1952 into the British Motor Corporation Ltd.

The Austin Sixteen was introduced as a medium saloon in 1927, and in production until 1936, the four door saloon being given the model name 'Berkeley'. From 1934, synchromesh gearing on 3rd and 4th gears was added, and an automatic gearbox was offered as an alternative, although few automatic models were sold.

First registered on 10 May 1937 with Lancashire County Council, this car had only one previous owner at Morecambe and was licensed as a Hackney Carriage at an annual rate of £10.0.0d. It was operated by Mr Jardine, who traded as 'White Heather' and also owned the Chevrolet LQ coach that is now also in the Society's collection. Among Mr Jardine's customers was the late broadcaster, Wilfred Pickles, who travelled in the car to and from his hotel in the Lake District when he was at Morecambe for a summer season. It was licensed until the end of December 1961.

In the early 1970s, the Society's founder secretary, Mr Vincent LeTall and Society president Mr Herbert Jones were spending a long weekend in Morecambe with their families to see the illuminations, and the manager of the hotel was a fellow vintage vehicle owner. The existence of the Chevrolet coach, in the care of Jim Jardine's widow, came up in conversation.

This led Vincent, with his daughter Wendy to meet Mrs Jardine one evening at the holiday flats she managed. A cautious conversation took place at the door, but they did see the 'Chev' but at its side was the taxi, also from the 'White Heather' fleet. At that time, Mrs Jardine did not want to part with the vehicles, but kept in contact with Mr LeTall over subsequent years.

Two years later, he received a letter saying "fetch both car and 'bus but please ensure that they are always safely kept in preservation". Bradshaws of Sturton sent a low-loader to Morecambe and the poor driver came back to Vincent's private museum in Ingham (at his house) non-stop - he was too scared to risk his valuable cargo to possible vandal attack. Quite a non-stop marathon on the roads of the 1970s.

'AFY' was a non-runner when acquired, in need of a complete engine rebuild. Some work was carried out in 2002-04, including the discovery that the amber lenses of the direction indicators had been painted black with just a narrow line of amber on show. This was to conform with Wartime Blackout Regulations.

October 2011 - Work has restarted on the 16. So far the rear seat has been removed (not an easy task), the fuel tank and most of the interior trim revealing some woodworm in the plywood panels. Also the spare wheel housing - yet another difficult task!

January 2012 - Good progress is being made on the Sixteen. This includes welding new steel in the rear wheel arches and rear mudguards. The rear window glass has been removed, with new rubber seals required when the glass is replaced after repainting. On the subject of paintwork a discovery has been made that originally the car was two-tone in colour: i.e. the lower half was maroon whilst the top half was black.

Some time in the past a sheet of aluminium was placed over the roof thus covering up the sun roof (sliding head); this was common practice when the roof seal was poor and leaked.

the spare wheel carrier receives attention, December 2011	Interior has been stripped for attention, December 2011

LINKS Austin & Longbridge Federation Austin Memories

NOTE - This car is currently in the workshop building and not on public display.

this page last updated 21.1.12