Austin A90 Atlantic Convertible - 1950

            ‘Export or die’ was the British motto after the Second World War, which had brought the country economically to its knees. With this in mind, at the end of the 1940s the Austin Motor Company hired Argentine Dick Burzi to give one of their dropheads a more trans-Atlantic look. Appropriately, the car was named the Austin A90 Atlantic. But that was all that was original about it: for the rest, it looked suspiciously like the three-year older Alfa Romeo Pininfarina, which had been seen at the Austin plant in Longbridge. The English clone had a streamlined, drop-shaped body, with sober wings mounted above the rear wheels. Winged ‘A’s above the front wheel arches, chrome strips on the nose and a third headlight built into the radiator were its only distinguishing features. Its main plus-points were the hydraulically operated hood and windows, which was luxury indeed by the standards of Britain in 1949. The later saloon version took things a step further, with a three-part rear window that could be retracted automatically into the boot. The export models were given exuberant colours, ranging from gold to turquoise. The primary colour for the British market was battleship grey! Sadly for Austin, their new strategy was not a success: the Americans did not like the Atlantic. This was bad news, since half of the 7,981 dropheads and coupés made by the company between 1949 and 1952 were intended for export. In reality, only a fraction ever made it stateside. The Austin wasn’t even a big hit in the UK. Its price of 824 pounds was beyond the reach of most Brits, and for the elite market its four cylinders couldn’t compete with the power of the new Jaguar. To cap it all, the Atlantic turned out to be a rust bucket, gathering corrosive mud in the folds of its bodywork. As a result, few of them survived to see the end of the 1950s. Instead of being the flagship Austin had hoped for most were cannibalised for parts for the nippier Austin-Healey 100. The grey Atlantic that rolled into the Winter Circus at the end of the 1970s is therefore something of an exception. Only an estimated hundred cars have withstood the ravages of rust and time. Of these, less than half are in working order.

2.660 cc
4 In-line
88 hp

Mahy - a Family of Cars
09/09/2021 - 31/10/2021

Vynckier Site
Nieuwevaart 51-53
Gent
Belgium
   

Taken in: Belgium / Flanders / Arrondissement of Ghent / Sas van Gent Wijk (show map)

Taken on: September 23, 2021

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Sets appears in: • Mahy : a Family of Cars - Gent, Belgium 2021 • BMC (Austin - Morris - Princess - Riley - Vanden Plas)

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Camera: Nikon Df, f/10.0, 2.5 sec, 26mm, ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon Df
Lens:	24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture:	f/10.0
Exposure Time:	2.5
Focal Length:	26mm
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	-1/3 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Saturation:	High
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.6 (Macintosh)
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