11-07-2020, 06:26 AM
Apart from Ford, by WW1 many American cars had reached a high degree of simple more or less standard rugged design, even more so by 1919. His Hudson was reckoned to inspire Austin to keep things relatively simple. So some aspects of the Seven are unexpected, like the torque tube plus open shaft combination. Maybe it was to avoid patents. (Here many rural "towns" and villages were very isolated over poor roads. Insufficent demand and too distant and rugged for the slow busses of the time so horse coaches were supplanted by "service cars", large rugged tourers which could pack aboard several with luggage on the running boards. The notably robust quality early Hudson was a much used make.)