AUSTIN A40 DORSET/DEVON

2-door saloon, 4-door saloon, station wagon.

Austin's new look with OHV and coil-spring IFS and pastel colours to liven up Cripps-era austerity. Sliding-roof option; column shift on the last ones. Plus point: it's got a chassis. Minus points: uncertain hydromech brakes, woolly handling, and that '41 Chevrolet styling. Dorset two-door (15,939 made, and near-extinct) dropped early 1949; van-based Countryman continues to 1956, along with van and pick-up.