THE AUSTIN J40 – A CELEBRATION

Yesterday we celebrated the Austin A40 Devon, and today we pay tribute to its smaller but not less desirable stablemate. The Junior 40 Roadster, aka the 'J40', may not have been as rapid, but it was certainly far more economical as it used no petrol whatsoever. It is also one of the finest pedal cars ever to be built in the UK, so we are delighted to host two members of the Austin family on our stand at the NEC.

Back in 1943, the Government devised a scheme to create factories employing coal miners suffering from pneumoconiosis. Businesses were offered attractive rates and rents as an incentive, and Austin responded with a plan to build a toy car in the South Wales town of Bargoed. The company displayed the prototype in June 1946 at the 'Progress Convention', with the Bargoed plant opening in 1949.

"Children will be thrilled to possess such a model which will induce a satisfying sense of ownership", claimed one J40 brochure, even if £20 9s 4d represented several weeks' wages for the average parent. However, the specification included an opening boot and bonnet, chrome-plated bumpers, a dummy engine with Champion spark plugs, a horn and working lights. Power for these last two features was via twin 4.5-volt batteries.

If these were insufficient inducements to invest in one of the most desirable birthday presents of the period, the J40 also featured a leather-cloth trimmed seat. The pedals were adjustable for leg room, and there was a choice of handbrake positions. The 'cabin' had enough room for a smaller sibling, and the dashboard featured Art Deco fake instruments. As George Harriman, then Austin's Works Manager, told the press, the Junior 40 had "a quality and character beyond anything previously attempted in this field, and the price is correspondingly higher".

In the early 1950s, Longbridge gained a vast amount of publicity when the future King Charles III was given an aquamarine blue J40 with a non-standard windscreen, wing mirrors, and side and spot lamps. Police forces used the pedal-powered Austin for road safety instruction and a J40 guest-starred in the 1954 Norman Wisdom vehicle One Good Turn –

The slogan used for the early J40s was "Just Like Father's Car", which both established that family connection and reflected motoring advertising of that era. Well into the 1960s, it seemed that it was 'Dad' (who often resembled Anthony Steel in the illustrations) who would take the car to the office. Austin rhapsodised of the J40 "What a thrill for 'Junior' to drive a car just like father's, to polish it even better than he does". The next stage would probably be wearing a tweed jacket at the weekends.

The last of 32,098 J40s departed the factory in 1971, although Bargoed made car parts until 1999. Over seventy years after its launch, the Austin-badged pedal car is now even more valued than many a full-sized vehicle and is rightly celebrated for its quality and ambition. And it constantly fulfils the sales copy's promise of being able "to show it off to admiring friends and relatives".