Austin A40

Austin A40 - 216

page last updated: 03 January 2012

216

austin a40

The Austin A40 Farina was part of the 'squaring off' of the BMC car range - prior to this they were typically like the Riley Pathfinder and the Austin Cambridge from the 1956 launch range - rounded and organic in shape. The Farina cars all had pointed tail lamps with little pointed vertical fins and roughly square grilles with headlamps in the top corners forming the wing line which follows through the body - they also have very squared-off roof lines. I always thought that they were odd having the bottom half of the back end opening, with the rear seat folding down, but the window bit at the top did not open - except on the rare 'estate' version. It was a hatch back with no hatch. My sister had one as her first car, it was the later version with the larger grille and was a very good car, reliable & practical. Later it was superseded by the 1100.

The A40 was added to the Corgi range in 1959. It was available as either a freewheeling car or as a 'Mechanical', that is with a friction flywheel motor which picked up momentum as the car was pushed along making it continue under its own power when it was released. A number of Corgis around this time were offered with this feature but it was dropped after a short time as it was not that popular and sales were low. Consequently the mechanical versions are often scarcer and more valuable.
The freewheeling car is usually two-tone blue although you will find it in red and black occasionally, colour does not though seem to affect value. The mechanical car is also always more highly priced than the freewheeling car and always black over red.

These are very hard to find at a sensible price, mine is a little worn but acceptable overall - as was the price.


		The Austin A40 Farina was part of the 'squaring off' of the BMC car range - prior to this they were typically like the Riley Pathfinder and the Austin Cambridge from the 1956 launch range - rounded and organic in shape. The Farina cars all had pointed tail lamps with little pointed vertical fins and roughly square grilles with headlamps in the top corners forming the wing line which follows through the body - they also have very squared-off roof lines. I always thought that they were odd having the bottom half of the back end opening, with the rear seat folding down, but the window bit at the top did not open - except on the rare 'estate' version. It was a hatch back with no hatch. My sister had one as her first car, it was the later version with the larger grille and was a very good car, reliable & practical. Later it was superseded by the 1100.
The A40 was added to the Corgi range in 1959. It was available as either a freewheeling car or as a 'Mechanical', that is with a friction flywheel motor which picked up momentum as the car was pushed along making it continue under its own power when it was released. A number of Corgis around this time were offered with this feature but it was dropped after a short time as it was not that popular and sales were low. Consequently the mechanical versions are often scarcer and more valuable. The freewheeling car is usually two-tone blue although you will find it in red and black occasionally, colour does not though seem to affect value. The mechanical car is also always more highly priced than the freewheeling car and always black over red. These are very hard to find at a sensible price, mine is a little worn but acceptable overall - as was the price.