The Austin 7 continues to rank among the most iconic of British automobiles, despite having been out of production since 1939. It can safely be called one of the United Kingdom’s most influential and popular cars, entering manufacture in 1922 and remaining in continuous offering in a wide variety of styles but with very few mechanical alterations, until 1939. In many ways, it was that country’s “people’s car”, enabling low-cost, reliable motoring for hundreds of thousands of British motorists. It is no surprise, then, that some 300,000 were made, and that they were frequently the basis for “specials” after World War II.

The 7 was simply but durably constructed, with a small four-cylinder engine with a removable cylinder head for ease of maintenance. In some ways, it was remarkably advanced for the time, such as its use of four-wheel brakes at a time when larger automobiles—including the Rolls-Royce—employed brakes on the rear wheels only.

Offered here is a particularly iconic and charming Austin 7, a steel-bodied Four-Seater Tourer of the AF type, produced only from 1930 to 1932. Its Royal Automobile Club of Italy paperwork, a copy of which is on file, records its earliest registration to a gentleman in Genoa in 1934; thus, this example has Italian provenance back to its earliest days. It is believed to have been part of the Quattroruote Collection since 1965, having last been registered for the road in Genoa the year prior.

Charming in scarlet and black, the car remains in very presentable cosmetic order, including its original Genoa registration, an excellent black interior, and Smiths gauges; what appear to be the original chassis and car number tags are in place, and the body number is still visibly stamped into the wood. The car is even complete with a black soft top, which when erected, adds to its charming appearance.

No collection of important European automobiles is complete without an Austin 7. This is an excellent example, with rare Italian provenance for the last eight decades.