American Austin
DJ Tommy ‘spun’ the Oldies music on a sunny but chilly Monday night in Westchester.
Al has ” had my Austin for about 8 years now. The car is a Business Coupe, often referred to as a three window. The regular coupes are known as 5-window coupes. All of these American Austins are only two seaters… well the Business Coupe usually had only one bucket seat for the driver and no passenger seat. Austins get 45 miles per gallon of gas. They have a 13 HP motor and weigh about 1300 pounds. The length is just short of 10 feet bumper to bumper. They were the first true purpose built compact car in America.”
“American Austins were built in Butler, PA. The bodies were pressed by Hayes Body Company, Grand Rapids, MI. In the 5 years that American Austins were built, about 22,000 of them were made. After bankruptcy, the company re-organized and came back as the Austin Bantam Car Company. They made about 7,000 Bantams. When World War II broke out, Bantam made the first Jeep and got it approved by the US Army. They continued to make Jeeps all through the war, but could not produce the quantities that the Army required, which is how Ford and Willys got into the Jeep business. Uncle Sam gave Bantams information to them for production. The factory building still stands in Butler and is trying to be turned into a museum.”
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Music played at the event
- Wasted Days and Wasted Nights by Freddy Fender
- Standing On A Corner by Dean Martin and also, by The Mills Brothers
- Kind Of A Drag by Chicago’s The Buckinghams
- Itsy Bitsy, Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini by Brian Hyland
- Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash
- Battle of New Orleans by Johnny Horton